zbd1960

OK, this is about as non-rock'n'roll as you can get... I've been trying a new instrument of a type I have never played before. As you know, I play cello as my main instrument and I also play sax (mostly tenor and baritone). Well, I've never played a brass instrument...

I started looking because of my challenge in trying to find groups where I could play sax. After a certain amount of looking around and assorted e-mail trails, I landed at Kirkby Stephen's beginners' group with their brass band...

The culture of brass bands is interesting. They are very keen to recruit people of all ages from young children to much older people. They will lend you instruments. They have stocks of good quality - but older - instruments to lend. The provide free tuition. There is a strong focus on community.

So, I end up with a 1970s Boosey & Hawkes Imperial silver euphonium.

My recent Fridays has been a 6pm session with the beginners' group in a back rom whilst the 'training band' rehearses in the next room.

On Friday, the main band gave its community Christmas concert. The training band plus beginner me played three items as part of the concert.

I have the advantage of being able to read music and I've played in groups before. Just the slight matter of getting the right note out when you blow...

Someone caught me not doing much...

And yes, GAS attack, I've bought a second-hand Besson Sovereign (B&H were bought out). 

In case you're wondering - the range of a euphonium is similar to cello and baritone sax. 

Last night was my first concert with Keswick Choral Society. Main Christmas concert. Full house. Went well, no obvious disasters!

The biggest piece we did was by Cecilia McDowall: Christus Natus Est which is a working of various Medieval tunes including Personent Hodie, Entre le boeuf, Gaudete, etc. This is a contemporary work written in 2007. 

Just had the final rehearsal for tomorrow's concert in Keswick. 

4 hours ago, bass_dinger said:

 

 

 

So, in less than three months, you have progressed from absolute beginner, to performance.  That is impressive, not just for you, but also for the brass band.  They clearly have a training and teaching route for new musicians. 

Just to set expectations.... the beginner parts are simple and I'll be involved in three pieces on the gig. And it's much harder than learning the sax, which I started in my early 50s 

It's a busy time at the moment - as usual at this time of year - with various concerts etc. Tuesday will be main choir concert in Keswick. Next Saturday I've got my first public outing with euphonium and brass band (I'm with the beginners and contributing a few notes to pieces performed by the training band and the main band). Following week the community choir is providing three sets to entertain the guests at a well-known hotel by Ullswater.

I've had to decline various events due to either diary clashes, or in the case of the brass band I can't justify the distance for a short session in a café etc., especially given my novice status. 

So, a secondhand Besson Sovereign euphonium

A large box was delivered today... and yes it contains a musical instrument. And yes, it is at the low end of the spectrum, but it's not a bass (I have plenty of those already). 

I started a new instrument in September (because I don't have enough already...).

I already play tenor viol (and bass but I sold mine a while ago); cello; sax (mostly tenor and baritone, but I have sop and alto as well); electric bass; and organ. Until now, I have not attempted to play a brass instrument. So, I started on euphonium with a local brass band. Brass bands are really good and they generally have instruments you can borrow on a long term basis. The range of a euphonium is similar to cello and baritone sax. I've been playing on a Boosey & Hawkes Imperial, which dates to 1974 according to its serial number.

Hadn't realised there'd been such a long hiatus...

We've arrived at that time of year when if you're in various types of music groups you end up running around like an idiot. Back when I sang with my first singing teacher's choir, I'd have about six gigs just with his choir, on top of whatever I was doing with other groups. When I played with the big wind band, they'd do about six as well. During that time, I sang with two other choirs, to which you coudl add about another four or five events, making about ten or eleven in total. 

It's not quite that bad now. The local community choir I sing in has three gigs lined up but I can only do two of them as I'm in London for the first one, which is this week. The choral society has one main concert plus a couple of charity events, the latter requiring some volunteers for carol singing. I'm only doing the main concert for that group, which is next week. The brass band has lots of little gigs - at least half a dozen - which vary in requirements from a handful of players to larger groups, plus a main concert. Due to the travel involved, I've limited myself to just the main concert.

There is various news to report, so I will write some more posts shortly.  

Since I live on my own and have always done so since leaving home forty-odd years ago, I have often bought myself something 'significant' for the solstitial festivities. Back in 1982 it was Linn Sondek, which is still here sitting in the lounge.   

Unless Santa has a spare gold brick or two, I suspect the tree will be unadorned

> C18th English cello and bow

> A shiny Besson compensating 4 valve euphonium...

11 hours ago, Rob MacKillop said:

 
Me too. My wife has. 6-string bass viol, which I’ve been playing for a while, but I’ve just recently received a 7-string, and am ‘in transition’. Most of my repertoire remains for six strings. 
 

Good to know there’s another viol player here! 

Most of the rep that needs 7 strings with the low A is the French solo repertoire.

I mostly play tenor. I got rather frustrated at the lack of people to play with for consort playing. I'd only get o play on weekend workshops etc which gets very expensive. 

22 hours ago, Rob MacKillop said:

Yes, I’m aware of all that, thanks. I forgot to mention I also play a 7-string Viola da gamba, but only well enough for the simpler Bach movements. 
 

It is thought that lute players still played circa French baroque pitch for solo work, but for ensemble work that could vary up and down depending where you were based. As a lute player, I often use all-gut strings at 392, sometimes even slightly lower if the instrument seems to want it. Baroque pitch is a musical feast. 
 

Yes, the 6th suite is for 5 strings, and the 5th suite has the first string down a tone. 
 

I’m not looking to arrange other music for the bass, just the cello suites, which I’ve been exploring on and off for 40 years or so. It’s always refreshing to explore them on different tunings and instruments. As I’m focused on the 4-string bass these days I thought I’d put some thought into how best to play them, and I quickly came to the conclusion that EADG would cause many problems. Once you’ve played them in 5ths tuning, and seen how perfectly they fit, it’s worth pondering at least how to emulate that on the bass. 
 

Hmm…maybe a piccolo bass 😎

I have enough of a challenge trying to play a standard 6 string bass viol without trying the 7 string French type bass

A=415 is the 'usual' baroque pitch which is a semi-tone down from A=440.

There is some debate that one of the suites was written for a 5 string cello.

What would probably work on a bass is the viola da gamba sonatas as viols are (mostly) tuned in 4ths. Viols have 6 strings, so you have the problem of a third in there. A bass viol is same size as a cello and the tuning from the bottom is D G C E A D with the bottom D being a tone up from a cello's bottom C.

The violone is the db size viol and it comes in two tunings. Either a a 5th down (octave below tenor viol tuning) at GCFADG or an octave down at DGCEAD. 

Evidently taken over by a Polish company.

Attempting to pervert the course of justice is a very serious offence

Most of us are self-deprecating by nature, especially Brits... When I changed career paths at age of 25 and went from being a bank clerk to a mainframe assembler programmer, I struggled to call myself a 'computer programmer' for quite a while. Later, when I started singing lessons and started perfroming in concerts regularly, I struggled with calling myself even an 'amateur musician' and definitely not 'musician'.

I think the terms musician and artist get tangled up with various layers of meaning. Those terms apply at many different levels and often people use the terms solely for what you might call the 'elite' levels, whereas as they apply to all/most of us at any level. I play or sing then I'm a musician - doesn't mean I get gigs at prestigious venues. I'm a serious amateur photographer and I have had work in exhibitions, so yes in that context I'm definitely an 'artist'. Do I make a living out of music or photography? No. And perhaps that's what people are thinking when they use the terms - they are applying them to professionals who make a living from their activities.   

Backm from hols and I attend a workshop yesterday run by a local music charity (Drum and Brass) aimed at getting more people of all ages involved in music making. We were asked to bring instruments along (I took a tenor sax) and the session was about conducting. Groups and ensembles of all kinds need conductors and without them groups either don't happen or fold... so this is aimed at getting people started on that road. 

I have ended up having to conduct at times, e.g. the conductor is stuck in traffic, or is ill.

Some of the session was about organisation/admin such as rehearsal room layout, repertoire selection, rehearsal planning, etc. 

I think following yesterday I am going to be asked to help out with one group... I will report more in due course.

Agree, your browser auto-completed the password. G4M are still going - I ordered some bits from them a few weeks ago.  

Singing last night in Patterdale in a concert with the community choir. Mostly American Song Book stuff and musical theatre.  

Hi, welcome

Hi, welcome

Interesting word salad. Do they even know what words like 'triptych' actually mean? 

Yesterday, I had the first of what should now be regular singing lessons. It was only a short one due to temporary issues around a teaching venue. That will be resolved once the teacher has got a new house. I also went to my first rehearsal with a new choir. First impressions are favourable.

I have about six months or so to go of not being able to play sax owing to the bone graft and tooth implant. In a random fit of wanting to do something different, I had a go at playing a brass instrument for the first time (I did clear it with the dentist first). I went to a local group that was having a 'have-a-go' session for newcomers. I opted to have a got at a euphonium and got some noises out of it, some might even have born resemblance to a note. 

The euphonium is the same pitch as both my cello and baritone sax - it starts on the Bb below bass clef and cello and sax both start on the C. An annoying aspect is that in band repertoire, the euphonium is regarded as a transposing instrument in Bb and is written for in treble clef. This is so that a player of another instrument can just play it if needed as the fingerings are then the same. Away from bands, it is treated as being chromatic, non-transposing, and the music is at concert pitch in bass clef. If you want to play both, you need to learn two sets of fingerings.

Saxes have the same issue. They have always been fully chromatic as they were invented in the mid-C19th and did not develop from a more primitive instrument. Nevertheless they are treated as transposing to avoid having two sets of fingerings for Eb and Bb instruments. 

Definitely if you get the chance sign-up for a play day somewhere. The UK Amateur Orchestras FB page regularly has adverts from groups organising them - and there is a specific page as well for play days (UK Orchestra Play Days). These are ad-hoc events with no commitment beyond the day. 

Community choir rehearsals have resumed... we have a concert at the end of the month.