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Blue Stars Switch to Jupiter


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No one has had a decent lower brass sound in, well, since the switch to Bb. If the kids today, which are far more talented than they were when I marched in the late 70's, can't play well on what many consider to be vastly superior instruments then, Houston, we have a problem. Perhaps we should all go back to G! They were much easier to play, had a tremendous lower brass sound, and if we could do it with our lack of talent, imagine what the kids today could do with them?

Yup, I went there.

Totally agree about the sound. That should be really strong now with the excellent members. Of course, some corps have better low end than others ( not counting the thunderous goo)... So the instruments are better, yet the low end is NOT. Could be the teaching technique too, I guess.

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No one has had a decent lower brass sound in, well, since the switch to Bb. If the kids today, which are far more talented than they were when I marched in the late 70's, can't play well on what many consider to be vastly superior instruments then, Houston, we have a problem. Perhaps we should all go back to G! They were much easier to play, had a tremendous lower brass sound, and if we could do it with our lack of talent, imagine what the kids today could do with them?

Yup, I went there.

Unfortunately, if the corps did that, the horns would be dented up and taped together like the were in the late 70s because they could not be sold to marching bands and replaced with new each year.

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you are also cute...when you are wrong.
so...which HS Band are you with anyway?

First of all, if you knew who I was you'd know that I'm cute regardless whether I'm right or wrong. Second I'm glad you're assuming I'm in high school because of the immature answers I've been giving, either way I'm assuming you're still in high school because you clearly haven't learned that you always start a sentence with a capital letter. Zing.

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No one has had a decent lower brass sound in, well, since the switch to Bb. If the kids today, which are far more talented than they were when I marched in the late 70's, can't play well on what many consider to be vastly superior instruments then, Houston, we have a problem. Perhaps we should all go back to G! They were much easier to play, had a tremendous lower brass sound, and if we could do it with our lack of talent, imagine what the kids today could do with them?

Yup, I went there.

I think you need to take your rose colored glasses off here. The late 70s lines were still full of nickle-plated pea shooter contras. Combined with the average overblowin' bari line you had a low brass sound akin to a locomotive horn. Loud as hell, but not exactly the text book example of low brass. The King euphs and K-90s were some of the first decent G low brass I can remember. By the mid 80s many lines were starting to get a better concept of dark sound and the low brass started to really shine.

Today's Bb low brass is producing some wonderful dark sounds with little effort. In general it has taken a good deal of redesign and technique evolution to get the Bbs to project as well as the G horns. The high brass is a bit further along in this then the low brass, but lines like this past season's Bluecoat line prove that they can project and maintain a quality sound. Which is why I am baffled by the low 'wonderous goo' synth sound used by many pits. It is a curious effect, but not at all needed.

I understand that many folks miss that in your face 'drum corps' sound of yore. But a 'quality' low brass sound was rarely a part of that. I equate it to hearing glass packs on a car nowadays. It takes you back for a moment, but then there is a realization of how annoying that racket really was.

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FWIW, I have a friend who marched euphonium at Blue Stars last summer who was at their November audition camp. He called the Jupiter Euph a "massive improvement" over the King he marched last summer.

Just saying.

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FWIW, I have a friend who marched euphonium at Blue Stars last summer who was at their November audition camp. He called the Jupiter Euph a "massive improvement" over the King he marched last summer.

Just saying.

Euph player calling it an improvement can only mean one thing: The Jupiter Euph is LIGHTER!

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