[Trombone-l] Acoustics of brass instruments

[Daniel Pliskin]

Gabriel, Sam and all,

You talk about hand soldering tubes together.  Do you want to start with the 
high technology that goes into solder or the high technology that goes into 
brass.  And the list goes on.

I think it's all wonderful that you can still envision yourselves as 
creating great music solely by your own efforts, but that's a completely 
near-sighted view of where the world is today.  Sure all the tubes are 
straightened by eye, but where did the tubes come from?  Have you ever made 
a tube or a bell, for that matter, by hand?  I have and praise the Lord for 
high-tech tubing manufacturers.

Even the most basic commodities, take a handful of brown rice.  How did it 
get to you?  Well it was trucked, using a turbo-charged computer-controlled 
fuel injected diesel engine.  And all that time, the truck was being tracked 
by GPS.

So, for me, it’s all well and good to use your ears.  I haven’t had much 
luck building trombones with my ears, though.  I generally use my hands.  
But anyway…use your ears.  But your ears will work a lot better if you get 
your heads out of the sand.

DanP