Re: Characteristic Sounds


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Posted by Rick Denney on March 08, 2004 at 11:17:13:

In Reply to: Characteristic Sounds posted by Observer on March 07, 2004 at 08:45:08:

The broad sound that floats under the ensemble is one traditional American sound. It has lots of upper harmonics, but it is still a very deep sound without being dark. Get a recording of St. Louis with Mike Sanders playing. Gene Pokorny also has this sound. Mike reveres Chester Schmitz as an orchestral player, which lets you know in part who he was modeling.

But I think the Power Sound is also more American than not, even though it's played on German-style instruments. It comes in large measure from the typical American use of a contrabass tuba as the standard instrument, as opposed to the European norm of using an F tuba (though, of course, all that is changing). It's a sound that commands respect, but it is still a tuba sound, where the older recordings I have of European orchestras seem to use the smaller F tuba as an extension of the trombone section more than anything.

Roger Bobo, Tommy Johnson, Mike Sanders (when he was playing an Alex), Chester Schmitz (when he was playing an Alex) all had the Power Sound. Yes, there is overlap, and that's the point. When Mike switched from the Alex to the Yorkbrunner, his sound concept changed profoundly. But there is more similar at their core than would seem apparent in these discussions. So, I'd have to conclude that the American tuba sound (in orchestras, anyway) is to present the tuba as a solo player, with a unique tone color intended to add something noticeable.

And, yes, I think Jacobs was the archetype for the broad orchestral sound (and perhaps others before him, such as Donatelli, who did not leave us a recorded legacy). He helped establish that sound concept when European orchestras had much thinner brass sounds using much smaller instruments. William Bell struck a middle path, it seems to me. The differences are subtle now, but I suspect they were more obvious in those days. The widespread availability of recordings are homogenizing those regional differences. When Jacobs was first active, the main route for a sound concept to move from one orchestra to others was through itenerate conductors.

For solo work on smaller instruments, compare Hans Nickel to Gene Pokorny.

Rick "who thinks the fellow who said Gene didn't have life in his sound wasn't at the Army conference" Denney


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