Sad to say, Holton did not know how to capitalize on this opportunity, and tried to expand the market by building instruments in the school-preferred key of BBb, and tried to make some profit by holding the line on costs and build quality. They were the only instrument in the grand orchestral tradition being made in those days (unless you count the Conn 2xJ, which had top-action valves and was not intended for orchestral use), and players seeking to follow that path sought them out. Holton made only handful at a time, perhaps every few years, as demand trickled in. Holton, eager to provide an instrument for Jacobs to endorse, made a near copy of the big York. They attracted Holton, an old-line American instrument maker, as a sponsor. This is the instrument featured in my article on ball-and-socket valve linkages.ĭuring the 1950's, Jacobs and his colleagues in the Chicago Symphony formed a brass quintet. I don't think the newer examples are louder, but they did lose some of that quality and sound more like C tubas to my ears. The instrument that found me was an old B&S Symphonie, dating from the days before the B&S F tubas were modified by Parantoni and Tucci to be louder. And it had a particularly character to the sound that was more interesting to me than the small C sound of many current large F's. Enlisting the aid of trusted ears, I conducted a test of projection, and while the Yamaha was literally unhearable in the Elephant Room of the Army Tuba Conference, the new instrument was clearly heard. My only choice to be louder would have been to choose a shallow mouthpiece and go for a laser-like trombone sound. I found this hard to bear, considering that my lips were flapping out the bell of the Yamaha. The response from the conductor was that my sound just wasn't getting out. My current band plays lots of orchestral transcriptions, and I played a Berlioz work on the Yamaha. Recently, I've added a larger F tuba to give me an instrument I can use with a full ensemble.
0 kommentar(er)
