Euphemistic?

A couple of times I have mentioned the stats we get from Blogger showing how many visits we get, these stats also show which posts have been visited. This week I'm a little surprised to see that four people have looked at one of my posts from April 2014, Euphonia, Euphonium, Euphonious, so I went back had a look at it myself. In that time a lot has changed, indeed almost everything referred to in that post has changed.

One of the stand out things is that I comment that I will be playing "as Paula" this puts it firmly into my "still cross dressing but trying to work it all out days", in those days I was as concerned about what I would wear to a concert as what I was playing. Earlier and I would not have dared go out and perform, later and there would have been no "as" these days it's very much just me.

My lovely big B & S
5 valve CC. Still very much part 
of the family since
January last year

Then I notice I refer to the "London Euphonia Orchestra" as a new orchestra ~ well of course back in 2014 they were new, but now may consider themselves to be reasonably established. I played with them twice before I lost patience with the inexperience of the leader and conductor. This is one of those many musical groups which seem to be founded primarily to give one person the opportunity to conduct. For us conductors I know it can be difficult to get that first gig, but this is not the way to get experience. I remember at the final rehearsal for that first concert with them the leader was still trying to sort out the bowings (something which should have been settled five weeks beforehand) and the conductor hadn't worked out how to set up his stand! I am sure that both will have improved beyond measure by now, but at that point I didn't need to be the one training them!

I'm not so sure about orchestras but I often muse that there are too many concert bands (in South London at least) as there are simply not enough heavy brass (horns, trombones, euphonium and tuba) player to go round them all. I suspect that a large part of this is the number of bands again formed to give somebody a conducting opportunity. In the last couple of years I know I have played in at least four that fall within this category. I suppose I shouldn't complain, after they do give me plenty of playing opportunities!

Not my new Euphonium, 
but one quite similar

Maybe if we had a few less bands then the ones that are left would be full of players and not constantly trying to recruit or poach the few decent players of the more "esoteric" instruments in the area.

Finally, those instruments ~ I do still have that euphonium, but only for a few days, and the big CC has gone, replaced by an even bigger but much less shinny CC. I have bought the replacement for the old euphonium, and have today taken it in for a service and a simple repair before using it in anger. Once I get it back I will be passing the old one on to a friend.

I have also recently bought a new EEb tuba, I have mentioned it before but haven't actually shown any pictures, mostly because I haven't taken any! It is quite an unusual instrument a Besson four valve compensating instrument, but with front valves rather than upright. I have only ever come across one other tuba player using one ~ and I think that was probably a different model. Designed primarily as an Orchestral instrument it works well in bands as much as it does in the orchestra. I'll be honest I think I'm in love with it, it just seems to work well in every environment I play in, and looks as good as it sounds.

I still haven't taken any photos of it so here is a stock photo of the same model ~ isn't it pretty!

I'm losing it!

My favourite jacket ~ Missing! 

Or maybe that should be I'm losing them. I'm not sure of the time scale or the series of events, but over the last couple of weeks I have discovered that several items are missing. Perhaps a better way of saying it would be that I can't discover the whereabouts of 2 scarves, my favourite jacket, and at least a couple of earrings ~ of course not a pair but two separate earrings ruining two pairs.

Also in the last week I have failed twice, TWICE! to check pockets for tissues before loading the washing machine.

All in all I seem to be a bit of a mess, but for the life of me I can't think why? I'm less stressed than often, I've cut my work load right down, but somehow I seem to be just as scatty as ever.

At the same time I also seem to be losing, or more accurately spending, a lot of money, after an unfortunate MOT I have just changed my car for something not nearly as much fun, but hopefully more sensible. It's only a couple of months since I bought a new tuba, and now I have just bought a second hand euphonium on eBay.

I'm expecting the euphonium to need a bit of work before I can use it in anger, so am awaiting the delivery man eagerly to see exactly what I have let myself in for!

So if you find my earrings, my scarves, my lovely black brocade jacket, or indeed my marbles, please let me know.

New Toy

Again, I started writing this post some time last year at some point during a lock down, and never quite got around to completing it. Since then it has been sitting in the "Drafts" box waiting for some love. As I seem to be on a bit of a roll posting wise, at least until I go back to work tomorrow, I thought maybe it's time for completion. The new bits are in italics.

Some of my friends seem to think I have developed a dangerous habit of acquiring instruments, personally I don't think I have that many, and anyway the phrase "Too many instruments" is in my books an oxymoron.

Rehearsing for a Trombone Quartet

I have had my beloved Yamaha Bass Trombone (Precious) for about 30 years now, in some ways I feel as though I should be thinking about a replacement, but it is possibly the best instrument in my collection, and a replacement would be excessively expensive ~ maybe that could be an aim for a retirement present. 

Then I have my two tubas, a vintage Besson New Standard EEb which I have customised to make it a bit quieter and easier to play. Known as Baby (short for Baby Besson) as it is a bit smaller than a contemporary EEb I love this instrument, although she is now a bit bruised there are some pieces that she's just perfect for. 

Big Shiny

Until recently my Conn CC was known as "New Toy" but since I've had her for over ten years she is now known as "Big Shiny" For the last few years this has been my prime instrument for both orchestra and concert band, she has a big sound, looks great and I find the rotary valve tubas easier on my back than upright ones. The down side is that she's not really a professional standard instrument, this shows in the quality and thickness of the brass, the outcome is that as well as a few intonation problems, she dents way to easily, and if I really give her "the beans" the sound will "crack".

That's the serious selection, then come the toys! Not really toys but the ones I really can't claim any great level of proficiency on. I have been messing about with Bass Guitars for a few years now without gaining much in the way of ability, maybe there's something in that old adage about old dogs and new tricks. Last year I got given the best birthday present! A lovely sexy black five string Ibanez electric bass. I was gradually getting better, but find it difficult to practise on my own so my progress has stalled.

Partly because I have been having so much trouble getting used to five strings, I have now acquired a black four string Ibanez as well. It is lighter, slightly shorter scale and takes lighter gauge strings ~ all this adds up to much easier to play, but not as full a sound. I have gigged on both and can see the strengths of both, so I think they are both "keepers".

Then there is the Euphonium, an old unlacquered Besson Westminster, I know how to play the Euphonium, and I do have one ~ that does not make me a euphonium player! It is not just about proficiency on the instrument, I feel it is also a state of mind. I like to hide at the back playing a supporting role, otherwise I will have my back to the audience when I'm performing. I suspect euphonium players need to be a bit more of a show off. They are great solo instruments and get all the best bits in both Brass and Wind Bands. It's great fun every now and then, but I would never neglect my Basses in favour of euphonium ~ that means my scruffy but serviceable old Besson is quite good enough for anything I'm going to do.

I always maintain I do not play Tenor Trombone, so why do I have one? Well in theory I am just looking after it for the Croydon Brass Band, It's a fairly old but very nice Yamaha Bb and F (in the Conn 88H copper bell style) It is very nice, and I do play it every now and then, usually in an orchestra where the part is more 3rd tenor than proper bass. I also have a pBone, you know, just for shits and giggles.

After this lot it just gets silly, I don't really know why I have a Cornet, a Violin, a recorder and various bits of percussion, they just seem to turn up.

Too many? no! That's why I'm a very happy bunny to have just welcomed into the family a lovely big five valve B & S CC, and can I just point out that this is no "Toy", and that it is Big and it is Clever!

Manic!

This is a busy time of year for any musician, but for brass players it does feel as though demand is particularly high. This last weekend I have had two performance and an additional rehearsal.

Saturday evening was one of the weirdest performances I have yet managed, in the same concert I managed to play Euphonium with the band, an EEb Tuba solo, told some jokes, and played "Dustbin Bass" dressed in a ball gown and donkey jacket! By way of justification perhaps I should point out that this was a concert themed around "Old Time Music Hall" and we were performing "My Old Man's a Dustman" ~ I trust the irony that I was the one who used to be a dustman was lost on the vast majority of people there!

While it may not have been the musically fulfilling concert I have played I am quite sure that everyone had a fabulous, fun filled evening ~ helped by three special arrangements I put together for them, a carrot clarinet, and some other equally weird and wonderful performances ~ all culminating with an abridged rendition of Tchaikovsky's 1812 with the audience providing the canon effects by bursting paper bags.

We can always rely on All Saints Concert Band providing an entertaining evening.

Sunday was a bit more sensible with Croydon Brass playing some carols and Christmas tunes at our new home at Stanley Halls ~ If everybody else enjoyed themselves as much as me then it was another very satisfactory evening.

I am now beginning to learn something of the physical strain of conducting, on Sunday morning I had my first regular rehearsal with the Allegra Concert Band as their new MD ~ before the evenings performance. By the end of the day my shoulder and right arm were feeling the strain, and I was certainly ready for a couple of pints!

If any more photos from the weekend surface I will be sharing them!

Desert Island Discs VII

Most of my music selections have been orchestral, and that more or less reflects my listening choices, this is something completely different ~ not a fiddle in sight! Holst's First Suite in Eb was one of the first pieces of "Proper Music" originally composed for Wind Band, and still one of the best. It will sometimes be heard on Classic fm in Orchestral arrangement, but that misses most of the musical point!




I have played this piece countless times, as it is a bit of a "stock" piece for wind bands and I am well known as a band tart (I'll play with anybody).   All too often bands will just go through the motions and miss much of the music by simply playing the notes, indeed the very familiarity of it can be it's own downfall.

With a Platinum Award from 2014 

a lot of water has flowed under that bridge since!

I think I would have included this suite in my selection even it didn't have any particular significance for me, but of course it does.   A good few years ago when my band the Croydon Symphonic Band was going through a bit of a rebuilding process we played this suite in the National Wind Band Festival. It was a piece we knew and felt we could play, we were short of a couple of players and had to make up for that, indeed if I remember correctly I had to play one of the euphonium solos, while playing the tuba part for the rest of the piece.   We didn't do very well and got a bronze award, but this was the start of a process that led to us subsequently receiving several gold and platinum awards at the festival finals!

Way before that, when I was very young (about 13) and I had only recently started to learn to play the tuba I was encouraged to join the local schools band ~ The Croydon Schools Wind Orchestra as it was known at the time.   Looking back I understand that I got in, not because of my natural talent or precocious ability to make rapid progress on the instrument, but simply because I was the only one in the Borough learning the Tuba, and the incumbent was about to leave school.

After only a few months in the Band we had a concert as part of the Croydon Schools Music Festival, this was at Croydon's Fairfield Hall, at that time it was still a leading state of the art venue, a major national, or indeed international concert hall seating over 1,500.   We were to play the first half of the first concert of the Festival, there was also a choir and an orchestra for the second half.   Every parent of every child involved was in the audience along with quite a few aunts, uncles, grannies and grandfathers ~ the hall was full!   Now, I had sung at the Fairfield before but this was my first time on stage, I was a little nervous, then I found out that the seating plan for the band meant that I would be sitting on the (conductors) left hand end of the back row, right at the front of the stage.   The Holst was our first piece, and yes it starts with a Tuba solo.   Looking back I think this was a break or make moment for me, if had not played well that night I may well have given in to nerves and stopped playing, but all went well and the rest ~ as they say ~ is history.

Advent Calendar XV

I've had quite a weekend! I have played in a first performance of my new Christmas Suite, Played Carols with over 40 other tuba players on teh steps of St Paul's and Concert with the LGSO which included two, yes two Tuba Solos.

We played the Ravel Orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, on movement, Bydlo, or The Ox Cart is basically a Tuba Solo,  The only problem is that it is too high to play on a modern bass tuba.   The usual practise is for the second trombone player to play the solo in a euphonium, but it transpires that none of the trombone players at this concert play the euphonium in concert pitch. So it was left to me to put it in on Euphonium, having to make a quick change between instruments. I enjoyed playing Baba Yaga much more!

We also had our annual TransPALS Christmas dinner, we had great fun, cemented so old friendships and reinforced some new ones. ~ and thank you to all of you who voted, I followed the popular choice and wore the little black dress, but looking at all these Betty Christmas pictures I think I need to get myself something red and glittery!