Posted by Jim Andrada on July 17, 2002 at 04:21:32:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: John Williams Tuba Concerto posted by Anthony on July 16, 2002 at 12:48:27:
Wow! What an idea! Tell it like it is regardless of the flames.
I couldn't agree more with what you're saying and you made one heck of a point about MUSICALITY!
Frankly, I don't care how skillfully one operates the tuba, I care about how musical he/she is!
My wife was a concert pianist in her "younger" days and she's pretty demanding when it comes to music. I was playing a Floyd Cooley CD and she looked up in amazement and said something to the effect of "This isn't a tuba player, it's a musician who just happens to play tuba"
Since then I've run a bunch of CD's by her
Her verdicts (and I agree)
Musicians: Cooley, Fletcher, Morgan, Mead (Euph), Nakariakov (Trumpet)
Tuba players: Sheridan, Bobo, Baadsvik
Undecided: Pilafian, Hilgers
Obviously these are personal opinions only
But these's one thing that we find really interesting - the "Tuba Operators" as a group seem to have more advanced technique than the tuba-playing musicians. I'm wondering if it isn't partly a case of the guys with the super technique somehow having developed as technicians to where there is so little challenge in playing the instrument that they in some way lose interest in "merely" playing beautifully and start "pushing the envelope" and looking for more technical challenge to the detriment of their musicality.