The Musician's Musings

Today, during "concert band" (it's a flute, trumpet, and alto sax), the flute player was absent. I got the flute that's been rented to play it. I've been teaching the kids Sousa's "Washington Post", from a score in all B-flat parts.

Because the trumpet player wanted to play the top part instead of the second, I transposed down a whole step on flute, an instrument I'm not too familiar with, and I've rarely read music of any difficulty on it. Felt kinda nice.

Not a long entry. I've tried posting twice and haven't been able to get through them.

I am thankful for my wonderful wife, my amazing little girl, and my family in Texas. I love them all so much. Thank you, my friends, for helping me enjoy my life so much.

I am thankful for music, for my job and my students, especially for loving my job and students, and for the opportunities I have and have yet to discover. We have a fantastic home, I live in a good city, and in a beautiful area. I am thankful for our wonderful pets, who are a joy to love. I am thankful for my church, where I've been spiritually for 19 years.

I am thankful for my country. As hard as that can be and has been recently, there's still no other place I want to live. I am thankful for the hope I feel for the future. I am thankful for the choices that we have, even when they're flawed.

I am thankful for all the cool things I have that help make life fun- football, TND, Rock Band, the SCA, LOLcats, my musical instruments, board games, teh intarwebs.

I love the time I have with my wife and Pookie- the silliness, tenderness, madness, and sheer goofiness of it all. I am very lucky to be who I am, where I am, and with all my family and friends. And you- you, reading this, I am thankful for you. Thanks for reading my words, for commenting when you do, and for your support when you've given it.

It's not always easy, but it's always worth it.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Count me in as a big fan. The premise was cool, the music was way cool, and I was really impressed by Harris' portrayal and singing. It made me want to be part of something like that. Which is getting me thinking... hrrmmmm.....

1. The school year is down to 10 calendar days/8 weekdays/4 days where kids are actually gonna show up! Yay!
2. fiannaharpar's all day presentation today went super-duper well, despite her having a sore throat! Double-yay!!
3. I will be receiving mp3s of "Dans Profundo", as well as the good version of "People Rejoice" and "I Seek Your Face" in the near future! Triple-yay!!!!

I admit to being a selfish artist and being most excited about #2, but the thought of getting those tracks on mp3, and then being able to burn a CD with *several* (though not all) of my recent works, plus capability of mass-burning (sounds religious, no?) 4 CDs at a time on my colleague's machine, is making me more giddy than I think I ought to be. But what the hey.

The intro on the tuba solo, working title being "Dans Profundo", is almost done. I'm trying to transition into the main "theme" where the piano comes in with some semblance of style and aptitude. And as it turned out, the few measures I wrote as an insert to the intro is better than everything I wrote after the 'insert' was to have finished. I need to increase the tempo for the next section. The unaccompanied intro is going to be marked "Seductive." Yes, that's right. Solo tuba. Seductive. It's slavic. -Ish. Just y'all wait.

Must use "Chordal Fury" as an album name or something that spawned from my musical creativity.

This past week I have been showing my campers in Talent X Brass (introducing little kids to and teaching them about brass instruments) uncommon instruments. I'd already shown them the basics- trumpet, trombone, French horn (lent graciously by another instructor) and tuba (also graciously lent by a counselor who's looking to get her masters degree in it!). The kids even got a chance to play the trumpet, some of them the trombone. And since I had some different instruments, I thought it'd be a great way to fill time instructional opportunity to show them some unusual brass instruments. Many of those kids will never see those instruments again.

I brought my trumpet in D, which I bought from an owner of a used CD shop in Oakland who had it hanging on one of the walls. It was all tarnished, couple valves stuck, mouthpiece stuck, but other than that it looked fine. I offered to buy it and the owner agreed. The money I've made playing wedding gigs with that has more than paid for the instrument.

I brought in my straight horn that I use for SCA events and a little Moroccan straight trumpet bought at ...10,000 Villages? It's only 2+ feet long and used more like a festive noise maker, but a brass instrument nonetheless, and the kids got a kick out of seeing it.

But the one that I found enjoying more than I thought I would is my E-flat horn. It's like a piccolo tuba. Literally. Or a mini-baritone. It was made in Cleveland, about 50 or so years ago, and I bought it for $50 from the woman who *used* to teach talent X brass. That was a major steal. I really enjoy its sound. It is conical, like a tuba, euphonium, and cornet, so it has that beautiful mellow sound. The mouthpiece is an interesting relic, as it's shaped more like a bell than a cup, and I can play the fundamental on the horn. That's the absolute lowest sound possible on a brass instrument, yet no standard mouthpiece is built so it can be readily played or used. I can put it on my trumpet and play the fundamental there, too! If you're confused, come over to my house and I'll show you! :-)

In between classes, I would pick up that horn and just play it. I can play high and low on it due to my years of trumpet playing and its similarity in size to a trumpet mouthpiece. Because it's in E-flat I can play excerpts from Holst's Military Suite in E-flat trivially because -duh!!- it's keyed in C on the horn! The third valve is hitting part of the casing, and I can't fix that anytime soon, but it's still usable, if awkward. If I could fix it I would, and get it polished up to boot. I may have to keep that horn downstairs because- it's just so damn nice sounding. I guess it's reminding me of the cello in some ways. And Queen: "Little high, little low". I'm sorry if I lost most of y'all on this one, it's just something that struck me since I bought the instrument last year. I could also play alto sax parts, too. That might be something to try.

From warrewyk: So, if you play a C on a clarinet, it's really a B-flat on a piano? Please explain pitch, so my brain will stop twitching. (This question comes to you from a former trombone player, which is not a transposing instrument.)

Ok, for the cessation of brain twitching, because transposing instruments can be, er, a mental pain at the least.

It's all about the name of the pitch. It was decided that on a clarinet that particular size, if you hold the thumb, 1st, 2nd and 3rd fingers down on the left hand and play, they're gonna call that note 'C'. It just so happens it sounds as a B-flat on the piano. Why do that? Some of it has to do with similarity of instrument fingerings more valued than pitch names. Take that clarinet, and add the register key, and now you'll be playing a high G. Take a flute, and finger thumb, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd finger on the left hand, and you'll play another G. Same thing on all saxophones. You can take the knowledge of one instrument and transfer it to another easily without having to relearn note-to-fingering relationships. Only the sounding pitch will change. (The flute G will of course sound as G. The clarinet G will sound as F, as will the tenor sax. And the alto and bari saxes' G will sound as B-flat.)

Now, to something closer to your area of expertise- low brass. You play trombone, a non-transposing instrument as you said. You had to deal with a butt load of flats, along with the flutes, and any oboes and bassoons. Were there baritones in your band? If so, did they read bass or treble clef? Because if they read bass clef (as they should) then they read the same music as you, keyed in concert pitch. The lowest open tone for them was a B-flat, just like your lowest 1st position. However, if they were baritones in treble clef, then they're written like trumpets, only an octave lower, and their lowest open tone would be a C. Why?? Because band directors need to offer bribes to get more low brass, and if a kid who's not gonna rock anyone's world on trumpet could be convinced to switch to baritone and help the low end of the works, then that's helping everyone. And one way to do this is tell 'em, "The fingerings and notes are the same, it's just a bigger horn." And it is! But, if they show promise, it's better to teach them bass clef and transition them into the world of concert pitch.

Does that help at all? Really, it breaks down to what names to give pitches with various conditions, like fingering similarities and horn size.

Ok, another from madbard: Who was the principal manufacturer of Ophicleide valve oil?

I worry about this guy...

*sigh* Well, to begin, the ophicleide is a keyed instrument, not a valved instrument. So, valve oil would not be appropriate for such a purpose. And damned if I could find even a hint of any oil manufacturer for Adolphe Sax as he was fixing ophecleides and perfecting the bass clarinet. Sorry, that's all I got.

Ok, I'm on the current last question, from tangerinpenguin: Question for the trumpet player:

On your typical C trumpet, moving up the lowest C major octave in normal use (the one beginning one ledger below the staff) the C, G and C (root, fifth and octave, respectively) can be played with no valves pressed. In the octave above that, you get the same fingerings for those notes, but you add an E (third) that can be played open.

The same pattern occurs in the baritone horn and the tuba, for their appropriate ranges.

Does this pattern (of an increasing number of notes within the octave that can be played with no valves) continue as the octaves go up, and if so, how high would you have to go before you could play a full C major scale with no valves (in principle, at least)?

Yes, the pattern continues, and the best example you can hear this is on the French Horn. Because the horn has been blessed (or cursed) with a trombone-length tube to be played using a trumpet-sized mouthpiece, you get interesting properties. Your lowest tones are difficult to produce, but it doesn't take long to work up the notes before you're an octave or two above where you'd be comparatively on the trumpet or trombone.

It's all due to the harmonic series, based on ratios. There is a fundamental tone on all brass instruments, but due to mouthpiece construction it cannot be played reliably on any of them. The next open tone is an octave above that (2:1 relationship in tone frequency), which I'll call the low C since I am a trumpet player. The next open tone is a fifth above low C, G (3:2 relationship in frequency). Here's a chart so I don't ramble on for 14 more lines:

Note....................Frequency ratio to previous note
Low-low C (fundamental)...........1:1 (it's the lowest note possible)
Low C (ledger line below staff)...2:1 (an octave higher, twice the frequency)
Middle G .........................3:2 (3*G's frequency = 2*C's frequency)
C (in the staff, 3rd space).......4:3 (follow the pattern)
E (4th space).....................5:4
G (on top of staff)...............6:5
B-flat (out-of-tune, but there)...7:6
C (2 ledger lines above staff)....8:7 (high C is a little more than a whole step above the 'false' B-flat)
D (a step above high C)...........9:8
E (a step above D)................10:9 (this is where it starts to look promising
F# (repeat).......................11:10 (this is where it blows chunks)

So, once you get *three octaves* above the fundamental (or two above the lowest playable open note) you can begin to play melodies like "Three Blind Mice", but no major scale. The reason is that it takes more steps on the harmonic series before you get a true half step, and then you're so high that you're either shredding your lip muscles or you're Arturo Santobal. Now, on the French horn, these notes are much more accessible, but it takes painfully accurate precision to play a scale, all open, in tune, so it's almost as equally as hard. But I would say that you need to be four octaves above the fundamental pitch of the instrument, or three octaves above the lowest playable in-tune note.