I try to remind myself that (in a perfect world) I play music on an instrument, rather than just that I play an instrument. This helps to keep me from staying in a very narrow lane with the tuba and euphonium. Jon Sass certainly has an open mind when it came to making music on the tuba. Think wide ...

I’m not sure this qualifies as a jazz standard, but I think it’s pretty cool.

There is no need for all this higher mathematics stuff. I suggest we simply adopt a measurement system that has worked well in an area already familiar to many tuba players.

Well this morning I saw this, and immediately wanted to "share"...the people marketing them are called "Stand Tray"


Any chance you could post a link? If you were going to pick put a name that would guarantee a web search would produce thousands of results that are not you, “Stand Tray” would ...

York-aholic wrote: Mon Apr 21, 2025 7:38 pm Why couldn’t this be within a day’s drive of me?

Is that too much to ask?

Apparently, anyplace in the U.S. can be a one day drive. @arpthark can be your co-driver.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cultur ... nyc-to-la/

Robson wrote: Thu May 01, 2025 7:41 am I attended twice of the ITG (trumpet conference)... The exhibitors room is absolutely annoying! Can you imagine a bunch of trumpet players trying to play double high C at the same time?

It’s worse than you think.

Name any opera that generated more than one overture.


The Pirates of Penzance premiered in New York City. Shortly after Gilbert and Sullivan left England en route to the U.S. they realized they had left the score in London. They spent the voyage furiously rewriting it. When they got back to ...

When you are young, you are a good player on your own. When you are middle-aged aged you are a good ensemble player. When you become "old", you can practice a lot, becoming both a good individual player AND a good ensemble player, better than you ever were. Or you can give in and retire.

I think ...

I have been using West System epoxy for decades, in all kinds of applications. It was developed by a couple of brothers who started out working for Dow Chemical and decided they would rather build boats. They have a wide variety of fillers and additives so you can tailor the consistency and physical ...

Seriuosly? No heavy bottom cap on the fourth valve? While you’re out playing gigs, the real euphonium players are sitting at home laughing at you.

bloke wrote: Mon Apr 21, 2025 8:09 am The question is who's trolling whom?

In case you missed it the first time,

I wonder if AI can write me some sort of intelligible excuse to not play harmonica. Religious aversion? Is there such a thing as a harmonica allergy?


Harmonicas play havoc with the tuba embouchure. I won't be able to play the tuba for several hours after playing the harmonica. (This will only ...

I had a friend who was a DMA Composition student with a terrible attitude toward his music and the musicians who played it for him, usually for free.


When I was in college I had a friend who took come composition classes. Unlike your friend, he felt strongly that his efforts at the time were ...

There seems to be a trend among some modern big band composers/arrangers to treat the bass trombone as more of a sound effect than a musical instrument. It’s like they heard someone splatting out a pedal D during warmup and thought, “Wow, how cool is that. I should put a bunch of them in my next ...

I had an Olds flugel once that was a thoroughly decent instrument. I sold it to a trumpet playing friend who still has it and likes it. A couple more friends are happy with their Yamaha 631’s. The flugel player in my brass band recently sold his Yamaha and bought a Geneva. He is happier now, but ...

the elephant wrote: Sat Apr 05, 2025 5:14 pm This is different enough from the OG that I think it merits a new name. Perhaps this is finally the one that deserves to have "blokepiece" engraved on the cup?

Perhaps a variation on the OG theme?

( arpthark was a minute quicker on the trigger)
Frankly, I find all this talk about spring tension and adjustments to be daunting and yet oddly boring at the same time. Many years ago our French horn colleagues came up with a system that eliminates the need for all this fussiness. I say, free ...

I’m not sure if this is as much fun as @Mary Ann’s example, but it is one way to play two trombones…

The “U” is for ultra. I haven’t really followed these mouthpieces but maybe the AT#Y was an early model. That’s happened with other Wick mouthpieces where the ultra version came out after an original version.

Most people who went to AJ were advanced players either with problems or seeking "the next level".
I'm convinced that his primary message was (as with the meme) to figure out what to do, master doing it, and then stop thinking about doing it and just concentrate on the sound and the phrasing ...