January 7, 2006
TubaMM at Florida Music Educators Association
Conference
By King2ba
TubaNet Author
Jupiter - Today was day one of the exhibits
being open at the Florida Music Educators
Association Conference. It's nice to be
able to walk around and at one of these
things and not be tied to a booth, though
I did spend quite a bit of time at one
booth in particular.
As one would guess, all the normal people
were there...Conn, Holton, Yamaha, Bach,
etc. I was pleasantly surprised by the
Holton euphoniums. There is a full line
of euphs. from Holton and if you take
a look at the valve buttons, you'll know
right away who makes them.....the "Made
in Brazil" sticker helped, too!
The Jupiter people were as nice as always.
They still haven't made the Euphoniums
large shank, but there is rumor of a CC
tuba in the works. Maybe we'll know more
after NAMM. I always love to spend some
time at the Mollard Baton booth. I'm a
terrible conductor, but the woods are
so pretty, and these are people that know
their sticks!
The booth that really took up all my
time was the M&M booth.
Yeah, Custom is here, and TubaExchange
is here, but the M&M
booth had some nice horns and some GREAT
guys...Michael Bassichis and Ron Bishop.
Mike has done some great things by getting
instruments that are affordable and play
well...and Mr. Bishop....well you can't
find a more generous and kind person....he
even told me I sound good...he did it
with a straight face and everything! Laughing
I didn't get to play every horn Mike had
a the booth, but everything I played was
a good horn and built well.
The BBb's all had a warm sound and solid
slots. One of my biggest complaints about
many BBb's is that they won't slot well.
This isn't the case with M&M instruments.
I was quite pleased with what I played.
The 6 valve F tuba was AWESOME! I played
this horn the most! The low C, and Bb
are as solid as any Yamaha I've played,
and the sound of this horn is just beautiful.
It's possible to get a very smooth lyrical
quality as well as some real punch when
needed. There are some pitch issues. I
played a few things and Mr. Bishop and
I talked about how to deal with some of
the pitch things. To be entirely honest,
when I used the fingerings that I would
have to use on my old B&S, this horn played
right down the middle. So, for less than
half the cost of a B&S you could get a
horn with 6 valves, more solid low end,
and the same fingering chart! This tuba
would come home with me at the end of
the conference if I wasn't a poor music
educator!
The CC tuba that looks like a "Piggy"
was also an interesting little guy to
toot on. I must say that little CC tubas
have never been my thing. They are too
honky for me. The tuba has some serious
bite to the sound if you let it go. The
scale for this horn was a little odd,
but I have to admit I played it with all
the slides in and didn't mess with it
much. I wanted to play the F tuba again!
I'll go back tomorrow and play the CC
some more.
The 4 valve non-comp euph was also a
great buy and an even better player! It
was just a stellar instrument. Only time
will tell how these instruments will last,
but I've had a lot of instruments put
in my hands over the years and the M&M
instruments felt every bit as
solid as instruments that have come out
of my favorite German factories! |
INTERLOCHEN - Josue
Gonzales has his own cello once again, thanks
to a few fellow musicians.
