Posted by Rick Denney on March 10, 2003 at 02:21:49:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Different Question About CC vs. BBb posted by AW on March 10, 2003 at 01:56:49:
You have probably seen the list of ensembles in which I've played in another thread, so I'll summarize by saying it's been a lot of them. They've ranged from mediocre all-comers community bands to audition-membership amateur bands with high standards, given that their members still have to work for a living doing something else (often music-related).
In all that, I've never played in a tuba section that had worse intonation than the flutes. Or the horns. Or the trombones. Or the saxophones. The trumpets tend to be together, but they also tend to be sharp, sharper, sharpest. Likewise the clarinets and the oboe. If you think treble instruments in community bands routinely set a high standard of intonation, then you and I don't live on the same planet.
In the band that Ray and I played in together, he, as a solid pro with a graduate performing degree, was the principle and was therefore responsible for the sound of the section. Two of the remaining three players were band directors with music degrees and plenty of professional gigs under their belts. And then there was me, but if you leave me out of it, the section, taken singly or as a whole, could play in tune by any standard. Still, Ray, who played a C, had to work a little harder to make sure of that result, and achieving that result took skill not available to many amateurs.
If you play that third of the major chord a bit flat, then the tubas ought to be a bit flat when playing C's and D's in the common keys of Bb and Ab. A little flatness on that partial is often not that much of a problem. That's why band music is often written in flat keys.
I think you guys are setting unobtainable standards that will make those of us who do our best with limited results think we shouldn't be playing in groups. And if it's true for me, how much more true might it be for someone like Jeff, who is just starting out after a long layoff? Sheesh! Give the guy a tuba that will work and play well with others as well as possible, and then let him play. That's what community bands are for.
Rick "responsible only for his own playing, not for carrying the torch of the entire tuba-playing population" Denney