I feel like starting an argument

Don Herman rev2 · Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 6:00 pm Post subject:

My pleasu* Uh, nevermind!

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"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music" - Aldous Huxley

rivnut · Regular Member Joined: 26 Oct 2010 Posts: 15

Hmmm... that was an interesting argument for a while. I learned to play back in the mid 60's. The Bach "scourge" (like the rabbits, I suppose, in numbers anyway.) hadn't worked it's way into the band programs at that point. Only one Player had a bach at that time, in a trumpet section of at least 10. He had first chair wrapped. A combination of private lessons and a good quality horn. The rest were a hodge podge of Getzens, Elkharts, Conn etc. Quite a variety, and I can only imagine how the various tones must have blended. I remember the band leader stopping the whole group cold and staring accusingly into the brass lineup and asking who was responsible for the excessively corny tone. It was usually me with my mangled instrument. A full $15 horn decorated with the marks from a blowtorch and a pair of vicegrips. The previous owner had obviously pulled a stuck mouthpiece the "hard way".

Anyway, it's possible that as years went by, the band departments felt that they might as well cash in on the increasing popularity of the bachs and have some continuity in their brass sections at the same time.

These days you look at typical small town music store offerings and it's a rack of Yamahas and Bachs. Do these numbers represent overwhelming use of these instruments? Could it mean that after going through the school band programs, Bach in hand, nobody wants them any more?

I don't know.

Kev