Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "American" vs. "German"


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Posted by Rick Denney on October 02, 2001 at 12:03:50:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: "American" vs. "German" posted by Tracy B. on October 02, 2001 at 11:10:42:

It seems to me that the PT-6, the VMI Culbertson Neptune, and maybe even the 2165 seem to fill the middle of the continuum between the American and German concepts. It is, of course, entirely wrong to think of those two influences as binary conditions that are either satisfied or not. All tubas fall somewhere on that spectrum, and some tubas can cover a larger range of that spectrum depending on the player and mouthpiece, or so it seems to me. My own York Master isn't all the way at the American end by any means, and my Miraphone really isn't all the way at the German end either. It seems to me that an Alex or a Rudy embody more of the German qualities than my horn, and a Conn 2xJ or a large Martin, Beuscher, York, or (to a lesser extent) Holton more clearly represent the American qualities. That doesn't mean they are like each other, just that they are at extremes in this one aspect.

Lots of horns lie in the middle. I've always thought of the Meinl-Westons as being a compromise between the two influences, and also the VMI and B&S tubas, though less with some models (e.g. VMI 2103) and more with others (the VMI 3301, to name two BBb examples). These are my own impressions from hearing good players play them and from attempting to play them myself at various times. Others can draw their own conclusions.

Rick "steadfastly avoiding any value judgement one way or the other" Denney


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