spcbrass

NOW in t-minus 4 days and counting! LOUD to follow! ^0^

Saturday...Saturday...Saturday.... Come see Chris Rutt performing hit new hit show "What You See is What You Get!" live at the Waterfront Tavern in Brewerton, NY this Saturday from 10:30 pm till 2:00 am. Admission as always is free. It promises never to disappoint and the bring lots of fun and laughs for the whole family (age 18 and over of course!) This is the event of the Winter......Don't Miss It!!!!! A Special showing will be held from 1pm until 10pm for all those attending Brigs camp! see you there!

Well as Dave Keck would say.....come to the camp January 29th & 30th and find out!

You're getting there! When you stand next to me you are loud by default! But you are getting there!

Well right now I am patiently waiting for now to come, but when now does actually come...look out because I am playing loud! ^0^

now? how about..........now! or... ... now! :P

b**bs It's on!!! ^0^

That's it....Fight Club....2:30 A.M.....January 30th.....waterfront parking lot! ^0^

Yeah hide the women and children, Chris is back! :P

One camp down, the whole season to go. This is gonna be fun! ^0^

Well the contra part is so smooth, that's it's just down right sexy! Knowing the other charts and the way Wayne will arrange them the book for us is going to be awesome!

no....maybe you are just that slow! :P

Well it only takes 2, but wouldn't that be an awfully big light bulb?

So, how many Brigs contra's can you get to post in a single thread?

Maybe it's due to the lack of rain this year LOL! I think our bodies got used to being waterlogged on a daily basis last year! I have had this problem preshow before, but only on days when I don't drink enough water. Staying hydrated not only the day of the show, but the day before the show is very important. If you are up drinking sodas (the adult variety or the normal variety) it's going to dry you out. If you ahve a show on Saturday and are driking sodas all day friday, you are going to be naturally dry all day. Same thing is especially true if your corps rehearses on Friday Nights. Another thing, gatorade, powerade, and that sort of thing is not always the best for you. It can provide a quick fix to staying hydrated at practice and carry it to your muscles faster, but good old fashioned water is still the best answer. I tend to drink it before practice and after practice, usually afterwards I water it down. So there you have it, stay hydrated! Not only on the show days, but also the day or days leading up to the show.

God I love playing contra! ^0^

Well I know that we gave him more then a case of Dew! We also included special request for drill, and if I recall not one of them said let's move like pedestrians out there. One asked for a contra gate, which incidentally we got a few days later, and the other asked for a jazz run at the end of the show. Hey we got that too. Two pretty difficult moves if I can recall. The only other thing we ever asked for was to be on side 2 of the field most of the show so that we could see the drum major better. It worked out for us pretty good there too. Jay is one awesome guy man. And he does take care of of the line.

The parts are far from normal Tuba parts, and the sound is even farther away from a Tuba sound. The sound of the hornline at times can sound more like a giant organ then brass. That is the sound they are trying to achieve. So if you listening for tuba sound, trumpet sound, or any other sound that you ear would typically hear and identify as a brass sound you are not going to hear these individual sections. Take out the contras for a moment (sorry still having a hard time calling them tubas!) and listen to the sound of their honrline. And them back in and the sound has tremedous power and depth. Yet it doesn't sound like a tuba. You newer guys in "The Line" can vouch for this I am sure unless John has made some sort of radical change.

Not to go tooting my own horn here (pun intended!) but the two years I was there, we had outstanding lines. Both lines can be heard on the recordings just fine even when the rest of the hornline is blowing full bore. Some could argue that it is Wayne's writing because I have heard the same complaints about Brigs over in DCA. Without the sound that both lines produce, the sound would be incredibly bright. This is because of the arranging in the upper voices, it's higher then most people are used to playing on a regular basis. BD has always been known for it's soprano section. That is why the low brass doesn't often get the credit they deserve. Go back and listen to the overall sound the BD's lines are producing, you'll notice a difference. And marching...there is no comparasin! ^0^

LOL :P I have multiple arrangements in major and minor.

Ya Gotta Try TO Pegasus Can you tell who I am a fan of?

It certainly does well with low and loud! However I have found it to be a pretty good all around mouthpiece. It allows you to have power and good tone in all registers of the horn. Granted you have to work a little harder up high, but who really needs the upper stratosphere anyhow! I play low and I love it! I have tried the mirafone mouthpieces, and i wasn't crazy about them, that was about 6 or 7 years ago too. The pernatucci mouthpieces are great, but I would never use them for drum corps. They are just too much of an investment for something that is going to get beat up. Bach <**> that's all I got to say about them. A few others have come around that I have tried and I have had success on them. Those usually give me more flexibility but take away from the volume I can generate. In the end it's about TQ&I the Helleberg fits me great as a player. If you can get to aa music sotre and get a mouthpiece to try for a day or two or even a week (yeah you need connections for that) then give a bunch of different mouthpieces a shot.

I've heard some people say gold also feels a bit more slippery. Is that true? I don't think it makes much of a difference sound-wise, but I may be interested in doing it just because. Where could I find a place to do it, and is it expensive? I don't play contra yet, but the euph could use some bling, you know. They feel "slippery" at first, that is because gold is a much smoother surface then silver. Once you get used to playing on it though it feels better on your chops. When I was playing on the silver mouthpiece everyday my chops would get beat up pretty bad, playing on the gold they don't get nearly as beat up. I think the extra endurance is sue to using less pressure when I play to get a good seal. Also I feel like I have to wet my lips less when playing in the gold piece. I am sure that it doesn't work for everyone, but once you go gold you might never go back.

The conn has a flatter rim ad it's not rounded from the rim to the cup like the bach. You lose a little flexibility, but you ability to center is much inproved. It also has a deeper cup then the bach mouthpieces. The throat of the mouthpiece is also more open allowing you to get more air through without any back pressure. All of those things combines give you a better tone. When you are playing contra that is the most important thing is how you sound. The only major difference i noticed between the schielke and the conn was the rim. It is slightly more rounded on the schielke. the mouthpiece is also a little more heavy weight too. The conn comes in 2 sizes. The standard and the 7B. The 7B I don't reccomend. The dimensions are smaller and it's more for the beginning player. If you can get your hands on an actual Conn Helleberg even better. The UMI just doesn't quite match the dimensions of the Conn. Seeing as how UMI makes all of the Conn mouthpieces now, good luck finding one. I found one used this year after using the UMI's for the past 6 years, and from playin gon it everyday I notice the difference. I can get even more air through it, and the diameter feels a bit larger as well. It would swallow up a beginning player, but like I said i have been on the helleberg for 6 years now. One other reccomendation. Gold is the way to go. It feels a lot softer on your face, and helps you get a much better seal without having to use any pressure at all. (you need slight pressure always, but less with the gold.) I prefer getting the piece plated as oposed to buying it in gold. Especially if you have friends that work in a music store that can hook you up. I usually get about 3 or 4 layers of gold on mine, so it lasts longer and feel that much better. I usually have to get it done once a year, sometimes twice depending on how much i am playing. I was fortunate enough to get a gold one this last time around, but I still had it replated just to make the metal softer. Anyhow how all that helps...

None of the above.... I would go with the Conn or the Schielke Hellburg. That is a better all around mouthpiece in my opinion. Of course the Conn is now made by UMI an they tend to be a little inconsistent from mouthpiece to mouthpiece. My reasoning is that I don't like the bach rims. Also i feel the throat is a little more closed on them as well.