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

[Dennis Clason]

According to the slip cover of Brain's Strauss Concerti (with Karajan), 
it was a matchstick in the 1st valve slide of a Couesnon (piston!!) 
valve horn.

David Guion wrote:
> 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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>>     
>
>
>
>   

-- 
--
Dennis L. Clason, Ph.D.
University Statistics Center
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico