Subject: TROMBONE-L Digest - 19 Jan 2003 to 20 Jan 2003 (#2003-20) Date: Tuesday, January 21, 2003 12:00 AM From: Automatic digest processor Reply-To: "Trombones and related issues forum." To: Recipients of TROMBONE-L digests There are 14 messages totalling 656 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Brass Concerto Concert (2) 2. OTJ Classifieds Update - 1/20/2003 3. Benge 190F for Sale 4. NAMM show report (2) 5. vision-impaired feedback 6. New CD (Tell your tuba playing friends) 7. schubert's unfinished 8. Romeo and Juliet 9. Fwd: Slide Trumpet at Chamber Music America 10. Midi Question (2) 11. Summer Opportunity ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 00:16:28 -0800 From: Andrew Michael Subject: Brass Concerto Concert This message is a blatant advertisement for an upcoming concert of the Coastside Community Orchestra. On Saturday, February 15, 2003 we are doing a concert of brass concertos. This will be an unusual opportunity to hear three brass instruments featured as soloists. The program is: Mozart Horn Concerto #3 in E-flat, performed on natural horn by Brian Holmes. Hummel Trumpet Concerto in E-flat, Robert Kleinhenz, soloist. Grondahl Concerto for Trombone, Andrew Michael, soloist. In addition the orchestra will perform Haydn Symphony #99. Brian is the principal hornist of the Peninsula Symphony as well as a noted local composer and arranger of both orchestral and vocal music. A natural horn has no valves and is the instrument that Mozart originally wrote the piece for. Bob and I are the principal trumpeter and trombonist of the Coastside Community Orchestra, respectively. This concert is particularly special for me because it is the first time I will be playing a concerto with an orchestra. The concert will be at 8PM at the Methodist Church in Half Moon Bay. The church is at 777 Miramontes Street, one block east of Main Street, and they have a very nice new sanctuary with excellent acoustics. Ticket prices are $10 general admission, $7 for seniors, and children and students (including college) are free. Tickets are available at Bay Book and the Peggy Eriksen Gallery in Half Moon Bay and at the door. Also, if you wish to order tickets by mail, send me a check made out to "The Coastside Community Orchestra" and I will put tickets at will call for you. Also let me know how many student and children tickets you want. Email me for my snail mail address. Tickets have always been available at the door, but our first two concerts this year were standing room only. So, I recommend either getting tickets beforehand or getting there about 20 minutes early. For more information on the orchestra see http://www.coastsideorchestra.com . Hope to see you there, Andy ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 00:23:21 -0800 From: Andrew Michael Subject: Re: Brass Concerto Concert I meant to add this: The Coastside Community Orchestra plays in Half Moon Bay, California about 30 miles south of San Francisco. Cheers, Andy ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 06:19:16 -0600 From: Chris Waage Subject: OTJ Classifieds Update - 1/20/2003 The Online Trombone Journal Classifieds (http://www.trombone.org/classifieds) have been updated as of 6:17 AM CST on January 20, 2003. - - - - - Thank you for using the OTJ Classifieds! - - - - - OTJ Classifieds Frequently Asked Questions http://www.trombone.org/classifieds/faq.asp OTJ Gift Shoppe: http://www.cafepress.com/cp/store/store.aspx?storeid=trombones If you have any questions or comments about the Online Trombone Journal Classifieds, please contact me at chris@trombone.org. Chris Waage ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 07:46:24 -0600 From: Scott Moore Subject: Benge 190F for Sale I'm still cleaning out my inventory... Looking for a good home Hardly used 1988 Benge 190F Trombone. Serial # 38 259xxx. Gold brass bell with F-attachement. Lacquer is in excellent shape. Case is included. Flexible, even response. Playing characteristics are best described as a mix of a Getzen 1047F and an Elkhart Conn. Tony Chipurn helped me pick it out. I never put it to good use, so instead of letting it continue to collect dust it's up for sale. Pictures available upon request. $900 plus shipping. D. Scott Moore, Bass Trombone Music Department Gustavus Adolphus College phone: 507-933-6260 email: down8ve@hickorytech.net http://www.gustavus.edu/~smoore ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 13:38:32 EST From: SFTrombone@AOL.COM Subject: NAMM show report The big trade show of the National Association of Music Merchants was this=20 past weekend in Anaheim, California. This is the annual big bash and=20 opportunity for music retailers to see what's new from the manufacturers. I= =20 made the rounds, so here's some gossip of interest to trombone players. United Musical Instruments, UMI, is now known as CG Conn, mostly because I=20 think no matter how much they pushed the UMI name, most people would say, "I= =20 just talked to the guys at Conn." So, Conn had a number of new trombones on= =20 display, including the new 62H-I bass trombone. This horn has in-line=20 valves, unlike the standard 62H which has been available for a year or so. =20 The 62H-I plays either great or strange depending on which of three leadpipe= s=20 is in it, so check carefully if you are testing one out. I liked the "B"=20 pipe. They still have to fix the long throw of the second valve linkage,=20 but otherwise it's a fine horn. The linkage has finally been fixed on the=20 standard 62H. Conn bass trombone slide options are coming soon, including=20 light, heavy, and dual bore, but they were not on display. The 62H-CL is a=20 version with in-line Lindberg valves, but this horn was not on display, as=20 they are still ironing out the bugs. I and othe LA players tried out severa= l=20 prototypes last year, but they were not good. UMI's Fred Powell assures me=20 that production versions will be better. We'll see. It will be a pricey=20 horn, more than a Shires, with a $6135 suggested retail, ouch. Look for an=20 upgrade on thumb paddles and linkages on Conn 88H's, but not until they use=20 up the parts already made. The 88H line now has 2 valves, 4 bells, 5 slides= ,=20 quite complicated compared to the old days. Jeff Reynolds, bass trombonist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, now appears=20 in a poster for Conn holding his new 62H. The rest of the section plays=20 88H's of various varieties. Jeff still uses his Getzen 1062 a lot too, and=20 is waiting for the new dual bore bass slide from Conn. Conn also makes King trombones, and there are several new models, including=20 the 3B+, which is a King 3B 8" bell with a .525" nickel slide. I bought one= ,=20 with a gold bell by mistake as it turned out, but I like it. This horn play= s=20 great. Most of the King models, including, 2B, 2B+ (.500" bore, very nice=20 too), 3B, and 3B+ are available with yelow brass, gold brass, or sterling=20 silver bells. The gold bell doesn't seem to project as much, but it's a=20 warmer, mellower, less barky sound. The silver bells feel heavy to me. The= =20 Benge name was not being promoted much at Conn, simply because they only hav= e=20 a few models, and they are mostly popular in areas where artists are=20 promoting them. Getzen has a new large bore tenor trombone called the 3047CF, which stands=20 for Custom .547" Conventional valve, F-attachment. It's their 1047F with a=20 new slide off the 3047AF Thayer equipped trombone. What that means is they=20 have a better standard valve horn that competes well with the Conn 88H. It=20 has a heavier slide with the nickel sleeves at the top, 3 lead pipes, and a=20 22 gauge yellow bell with soldered rim, or a similar rose brass bell with an= =20 unsoldered rim. I picked one of these up too, nice horn. I'm impressed wit= h=20 the Getzen trombones because they put a lot of thought into each model. Som= e=20 have unsoldered bell rims, some have gold brass crooks, each to taylor each=20 model to a different style of music or different player. Kanstul is a small brass instrument maker in the Los Angeles area. They=20 started making trumpets and are now getting into the professional trombone=20 market. They make mouthpieces for me, and are working on two new horns for=20 me, a bass trombone in the style of the old Conn 62H, with tuning in the=20 slide, and right afterwards, an F contrabass trombone. Neither prototype is= =20 done yet, but the bass is close. However, they have a new valve which is=20 finished and was shown on two tenor trombones. This valve looks like a=20 standard trombone rotary valve, but the casing is about 10% bigger, and=20 instead of the inside rotor being machined from a chunk of brass, it's made=20 with individual tubes inside, much like the method of making a trumpet valve= .=20 So, it's super light, very fast, blows great, fits well, and I think the=20 tubes inside will vibrate more like the open neckpipe rather than a thick=20 chunk of brass in other standard valves. There was some discussion between=20 Zig Kanstul and Tom Getzen about the purchase of these valves. Stay tuned. The two horns on display at Kanstul with the new valves were both .547" larg= e=20 bore tenors with yellow bells with a soldered rim. The difference was that=20 the first prototype had a .547" valve and rotor, and the second had the now=20 more common .562" valve and rotor. It was an interesting opportunity to see= =20 which worked better. I was surprised how much it changed the feel of the=20 open horn. The .547 valved horn was snappier and faster responding, but the= =20 .562 valved horn has a bigger more modern ochestral sound, and just seemed t= o=20 make more sound, especially in the low range. I think this is because the=20 neckpipe on a trombone expands right from the slide connector area, and the=20 larger valve lets it expand faster, whereas the smaller valve keeps the bore= =20 small until after the valve. I know there has a been a big discussion of=20 which is better on several news groups. I prefer the larger setup, while Zi= g=20 said some commercial players who usually play smaller horns liked the smalle= r=20 valve. Kanstul also had a bass trombone on display with in line Thayer valves, a=20 copper bell, copper tuning crook, and a dual bore .562/.595 slide with a=20 yellow brass slide crook. This wasn't so great, IMHO. I'm going to suggest= =20 less copper and a smaller lower slide tube. Kanstul had an unlacquered prototype of a new euphonium that everyone was=20 raving about. It's a 4 valve compensating, much like a Willson or a Besson,= =20 but should be less expensive and more in tune. No price was set yet. "Nice= =20 low range", was said by many who tried it. Selmer displayed several Bach trombones, though I didn't try them. There=20 were no new models, but they had horns with standard vavles as well as=20 Thayer, K valves, and Haagman valves. Many have heard that Selmer and Conn=20 have merged. They have the same parent company, now called Conn-Selmer, and= =20 their management is being shifted around, but the lines of horns will stay=20 separate. One exec claimed that the combined company now has 91% of the US=20 trombone market. That's a big number, but it might be true. That gives me=20 several thoughts: 1) I have a lot more respect for the smaller horn companie= s=20 doing their best for their small share ofthe market, 2) Of course it's not=20 important if they get a scratchy slide at Conn once in a while - they'll=20 still sell every horn they make, and 3) With horns coming from such a large=20 factory, that if you are picky about this and that, like linkages or tube=20 arrangement, you may just have to get it adjusted at your favorite repair=20 shop. They try to please as many as they can, but it's a huge operation tha= t=20 doesn't change it's ways easily, and the prices are lower than for horns=20 coming from the cusotm shops. To be fair, they have done their best to take= =20 care of any blems on this end, and seem eager to improve production quality.= =20 For the most part I've received good instruments from Conn, but they have ha= d=20 trouble making 8H trombones straight lately. I think the assembler might=20 have forgotten what they're supposed to look like. Weril makes trombones in Brazil, and they areavailable in the US through DEG= .=20 Their alto trombone is great, as is their 4-valve euphonium. However, I=20 haven=E2=80=99t been impressed with their other horns. But, after enough ra= nting,=20 the slide action is much better on their trombones. Every year they get=20 better and are very receptive to suggestions. Bags is a Spanish case company with many cases in the style of Protec, but=20 nicer made, and they have a new bass trombone case that's great, more compac= t=20 and fits more horns than the Bam bass case does. No US importer yet, but=20 they'll trickle into the market soon. Reunion Blues cases looked just=20 ordinary now that they are made in China. For the best of that style of sof= t=20 case, look for them made by Glenn Cronkhite, who designed the old Reunion=20 Blues line. If you are a dealer who would like to carry Glenn's fine cases,= =20 call him at 510 527 4490. He makes 8 sizes of trombone cases and tuba cases=20 made to fit 37 models. Still absent from the market is a bass trombone road case. I'll hound SKB=20 about that this year and see if they'll look into making one. Protec now=20 offers their large tenor trombone "firm case" (#306) with optional backpack=20 straps. Bam may consider making a hard shell roads casefor bass trombone,=20 but it=E2=80=99s also on the long list. Other gossip: Steve Shires is working on a new valve, still secret, and he'= s=20 made a few bass trombone "no-valve" neck pipes that are fun to play. He has= =20 also made a few very large bass trombone slides in .578"/.590" dual bore in=20 all nickel. I'm waiting for mine. Gary Greenhoe has made a very few bass=20 trombones with his valves and a Conn bell. I've heard they are excellent=20 from a prominant LA player. Boosey and Hawkes is talking about some design=20 upgrades for their Haagman valve equipped Besson trombones, but it's on the=20 long list right now. Tom Kubis' two Christmas big band CDs are out of print= ,=20 but a "best of" 17-track CD is available from Sea Breaze records. Andy=20 Martin has a new CD on Fresh Sounds records titled "It's Fine, It's Andy". I don't get the emails from the trombone-L list, so if you have a comment or= =20 question, just email me privately or call. All the best for the new year, Steve Ferguson Los Angeles sftrombone@aol.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 11:39:15 -0700 From: Tom Ervin Subject: vision-impaired feedback I am very grateful to all who have written with suggestions! Lots of great ideas and experience, as I thought. There will not be time to answer all of you, nor to thank all of you. Keep 'em coming, for maybe another week or so. EARLIER WROTE: Blind student? Almost blind, anyway. I'm a "seasoned" trombone teacher, but am faced with a new challenge, and bet I can get good help from this list. The challenge is a new student (non-university, an older man of 80-something) who can barely see to drive, let alone read music. Does NOT yet read any Braille. Glasses are very little help, and his vision is not going to improve. Surprisingly I have not had this challenge before. This fellow is at about the stage of halfway through Rubank elementary, but once upon a time was a fairly competent high school trumpeter, he says. Certainly he does not aspire to professional work, but I'd like to help him succeed and progress as much as possible. I do not yet know how much time and effort he will be giving in practice. All contributions are welcome, on or off the list. What materials to use? What exercises? What worked for you (or your student)? What did not work? Puffing up the music with oversize photocopies is of some help naturally. But what else? Input from the teachers or players of other instruments is also very welcome of course. And are there other lists I might explore, or other sources? -- -------------------- Tom Ervin, Professor of Music, University of Arizona, PO Box 210004 Tucson AZ 85721-0004 Office 520/621-7021, Fax 520/621-8118 ervint@u.arizona.edu http://tom-ervin.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 19:33:33 +0000 From: Daniel Pliskin Subject: Re: NAMM show report >The 88H line now has 2 valves, 4 bells, 5 slides, quite complicated >compared to the old days. Through the years, IÕve learned to avoid doing things that will lead me to temptation. I avoid garage sales and flee markets. I avoid a high-end guitar store, close by, and now it looks as if I need to avoid buying an 88H. I can only imagine how expensive it would be to buy a new _________, every time I thought that my sound could use a little more ______. DanP _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 14:25:09 -0600 From: Wayne Dyess Subject: New CD (Tell your tuba playing friends) Trombone Friends... I'm not one to try to sell ya something, but when great music comes along -- isn't it nice to know about it? I wonder how many great recordings are out there, and I just don't know about them. Well, here's one by a good friend of mine (Marty Erickson, former soloist with the U.S. Navy Band) with some GREAT sidemen! With players like this, you'll definitely want to add it to your jazz library. I've seen the artwork, and it's first class, too. (But Marty was a "Master Chief"!) :-) --Wayne Dyess Great artists and arrangements--Frank MAntooth, piano: Marvin Stamm, trumpet: Steve Houghton, drums: Rob Fisher, bass and more. Available from TAP Music Sales, TUBA Press, www.shattingermusic.com. Happy New year! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 21:22:24 +0100 From: Simon Bailey Subject: Re: schubert's unfinished hi, thank you everybody who answered me with advice on and off the list. i'm now really looking forward to playing this symphony this summer semester. regards from austria, simon. -- Don't be irreplaceable, if you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 21:39:36 -0500 From: Chris Dearth Subject: Romeo and Juliet Does anybody know where to get a copy of Christian Lindberg's = arrangement of, "Romeo and Juliet" by Sergei Prokofiev? I've searched = Hickey's and Robert King's web sites and was wondering if it is out = there somewhere. I've wanted to do this for sometimel, but am beginning = to believe I need to get a ballet version of the score (piano reduced = for ballet rehearsal) and create my own version (using full score for = more detailed dynamics). This is a little more of a headache than = finding Christian's arrangement. =20 Chris Dearth ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 23:28:35 -0500 From: David Fetter Subject: Fwd: Slide Trumpet at Chamber Music America Part of the Chamber Music America meeting in New York this past weekend was a CMA 25th Anniversary Marathon Concert at Symphony Space on January 18. The event began at 3:00 p.m. with the Meridan Arts Ensemble playing Johann Schein, David Sanford, and Frank Zappa with their usual skill. They were Jon Nelson, trumpet; Brian McWhorter, trumpet; Daniel Grabois, horn; Benjamin Herrington, trombone; Raymond Stewart, tuba; and John Ferrari, percussion At around 10:30 p.m., after a variety of mainstream and decidedly other styles of chamber ensemble performance, a band of two-three saxes, trumpet, trombone, tuba, accordion, piano, and drums called the Kamikaze Ground Crew played with the sound of a New Orleans blues brass band under the influence of Kurt Weill. Their third piece, Epilogue, abandoned rhythm altogether in the expressive style of the Harlem trombone choir discussed on this list some time ago, the McCollough Sons of Thunder. The hymn-like chords progressed when the spirit moved them. The gathering intensity of the brass heard through the sound system in Symphony Space was overwhelming. In the Epilogue, the trumpet player, Stephen Bernstein, switched to slide trumpet. It didn't seem as powerful as his trumpet, but the slide enabled him to gliss slowly between notes, thus adding a characteristic inflection to the gospel roar. Tubaist Marcus Rojas was great with a soulful melody in the super high register. Trombonist Art Baron was Jack Teagarden as a mighty preacher. See http://www.chamber-music.org/conference/2003Conf/events_main.asp for the Marathon program. David Fetter Peabody Conservatory and Preparatory Trombone Faculties Associate Dean for Performance Activities and Placement 1 East Mt. Vernon Place Baltimore, MD 21202 David Fetter - Music for Brass (Mostly) Home page: gigue.peabody.jhu.edu/~davidf/ _________________________________________________________________________ This mail sent via toadmail.com, web e-mail @ ToadNet - want to go fast? http://www.toadmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 22:42:22 -0600 From: Wayne Dyess Subject: Midi Question OK, this isn't exactly trombone related. Unless you are trying to find the best sounding tone generator to replace the trombone (but please don't try too hard). I have a friend who wants to make mp3's from midi files. The only way I know to do this is to record the file from a tone generator or via the sound-out on the computer... then make a conversion. I can do it... but I'm a Mac guy and tend to go the recording engineer route. Anyone have knowledge they would care to share with a friend? Midi to mp3 -- for internet use. ???? Wayne Dyess -- ========================= Dr. J. Wayne Dyess, Professor of Music Lamar University Music Department P. O. Box 10044 Beaumont, Texas 77710 409-880-8146 FAX: 409-880-8143 dyessjw@hal.lamar.edu http://www.lamar.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 23:54:23 -0500 From: Elizabeth Lewis Subject: Summer Opportunity To all college-aged trombonists: College Light Opera Co. (Falmouth MA) is currently accepting applications for trombone. If you're looking for a chance to play and actually make money this summer, don't pass this up. CLOC is an excellent opportunity for college players: sight-reading (a different show each week), ensemble skills, and Cape Cod beaches. Pay is $1000 (room and board is provided). I played with them last year and had a great time. They only employ one trombone, but don't let that deter you from applying (they rely on "word of mouth" so they don't get many orchestra applications). A typical "workday:" morning rehearsal (10-12 if memory serves), free afternoon, and evening performance (8:00). Sundays are free. So there's ample time for practicing (and the beach!). The pit orchestra consists of 3-4 vlns, 1 vla, 1 cello, 1 bass, 4 reeds, 1 tpt, 2 horns, 1 tbn, 1 perc, and 2 keyboards in case you're interested (or know any other musicians who are). For more info, their website is: http://w! ww. collegelightopera.com/ or let me know if anyone has any questions. Beth Lewis Student, Roosevelt U/Chicago College of Performing Arts _____________________________________________________________ Get 25MB, POP3, Spam Filtering with LYCOS MAIL PLUS for $19.95/year. http://login.mail.lycos.com/brandPage.shtml?pageId=plus&ref=lmtplus ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 21:40:54 -0800 From: Daryl Burch Subject: Re: Midi Question On the PC at least, you can use Reason (Propellerhead) to play the MIDI track to a WAV file. Then use something like Cool Edit Pro (Syntrillium Software) or SoundForge (Sonic Foundry) to master and compress to mp3. The real trick for saving file size comes down to a compromise of how tight you compress it and how good you want it to sound. <--TROMBONE CONTENT--> If you're compression an audio file with a single sound source (or not highly contrasted like triangle & electric bass)--e.g.: trombone choir/quartet, spoken voice, solo piano--you can downsample the file at 22kHz instead of the normal 44kHz. This will save you about half the file size or more. This downsampling is important for those of us with quartets/quintets or chamber groups who want their stuff up online, but don't want to kill their listeners with excessive downloads. On the Mac, I still believe Digital Performer's the way to go. Hinch (hinch@earthlink.net) should have some valuable input on this. If others express interest, please reply to the list. Otherwise I'd be happy to respond off list. Regards, Daryl Burch www.radionoise.com SF, CA ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wayne Dyess" To: Sent: Monday, January 20, 2003 8:42 PM Subject: [TBN-L] Midi Question > OK, this isn't exactly trombone related. Unless you are trying to > find the best sounding tone generator to replace the trombone (but > please don't try too hard). > > I have a friend who wants to make mp3's from midi files. The only > way I know to do this is to record the file from a tone generator or > via the sound-out on the computer... then make a conversion. > > I can do it... but I'm a Mac guy and tend to go the recording > engineer route. Anyone have knowledge they would care to share with > a friend? > > Midi to mp3 -- for internet use. > > ???? > Wayne Dyess > -- > ========================= > Dr. J. Wayne Dyess, Professor of Music > Lamar University Music Department > P. O. Box 10044 > Beaumont, Texas 77710 > 409-880-8146 > FAX: 409-880-8143 > dyessjw@hal.lamar.edu > http://www.lamar.edu > ------------------------------ End of TROMBONE-L Digest - 19 Jan 2003 to 20 Jan 2003 (#2003-20) ****************************************************************