[Trombone-l] Always good to check out the horn a head of time

[David Guion]

It seems to me that Dennis Brain deliberately stuck a pencil in his horn to
improve the intonation of some partial--this right after the war when buying
a better horn was out of the question.

On Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 10:19 PM, Chris Tune <christune at christune.com>wrote:

> Great story.  A very well known trombonist in town here, had his horn
> refurbished about two or three years ago.  The technician asked him if he
> wanted this: (at which point he handed him a pencil with pocket clip that
> apparently had been living in the horn for an enormous amount of time).
>
> He said, "Oh, that's where that went!"
>
> He had been missing the pencil for some time.  It had been in the neck
> section.
>
> I imagine it played a bit better after the unwelcome inhabitant had vacated
> the premises.
>
> [seems you hear stories like this fairly frequently]
>
> Chris
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: trombone-l-bounces at samford.edu [mailto:
> trombone-l-bounces at samford.edu]
> On Behalf Of Ray Horton
> Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 10:57 AM
> To: Trombone-l at samford.edu
> Subject: [Trombone-l] Always good to check out the horn a head of time
>
> I happened upon this little anecdote while searching for something.
>
> Perhaps it could be a practice technique?
>
> ---------
> Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2002 15:49:24 -0700
> From: Grant Green
> Subject: [CB] Stuffy subcontrabass tubas
>
> Alan Cole forwards the following:
>
> Dear Friends:
>
> A friend & Potomac Brass Quintet (of Virginia) colleague who plays tuba
> & bass trombone had the privilege, back when he was a Harvard graduate
> student, of playing a solo concerto on the university's immense
> sub-contrabass tuba, a real museum piece that was seldom played & only
> then for special occasions. In practice while working up the solo, he
> found that the humongous tuba responded radically differently from any
> tuba he had ever played before, even to the extent that he had to make
> up alternate fingerings as he went along. Plus its sound was unfocused &
> stuffy, as he might have expected from such an outsized instrument. But
> he's a good player & before too long was able to work up the solo. He
> chalked up the instrument's funny response & oddball fingerings to its
> super size. The whole time he was practicing on the extra-big tuba, it
> was in its accustomed upright position right where it was kept in
> storage backstage, because it was way too hefty to move around
> unnecessarily & without help. At dress rehearsal for the performance,
> some helpers joined in moving the beast to center stage, & while they
> were at it they discovered & removed from inside the bell of the big
> tuba a roll of carpet that had been placed there for some unknown
> reason. My friend the soloist said that with the rug taken out, the
> venerable tuba sounded lots better, blew much freer, & played OK using
> conventional fingerings.
>
> -- Alan Cole,
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-- 
David Guion