ContraEH Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 Hey guys! Glad you could join me! haha... Just wondeing what brought ya'll (that's my pretending to be american accent B) ) to play contra. And what do you love most about it? here's my answers.. In good ole 98, I was like... 12 or 13, and I went to a Bandettes homeshow with my mom, cuz my cousins where in it..and i won a bike from the door prize hah! So anywayZ, my aunt got to talkin to me (and around that time I was a bit bigger than i am now..) so she was like "hmm Jocelyne, I think you should go on contra"... so she brought one out for me..and I lifted it like it was a feather! it was so CRAZY! so from then on i've been playing! And that whole summer I Ad Libbed my whole entire show..meanwhile I couldn't even play a Bottom C! (who'd ever thought of a contra player who couldn't play a bottom c!) I love everything about it! The sweat, the tears, the DROOL! My bugle is definatly my other half..haha..may sound crazy to you! But I swear my parents have been training me since i was 2! They used to make me carry pretty heavy grocery bags into my house (Well.. IGLOO , cuz you know..I live in canada...and, by groceries I meen Seal Blubber of course! :P ) at the age of 4! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 I started like many modern contra players do, as a tuba player in middle and high school that got interested in drum corps. From the first show I ever saw on tape, Madison 95, I knew I wanted to march contra in a corps. I wasn't sure if I could really do it, or what it would be like, but I knew I wanted to. Now, here I am, about to do my fourth and final year, and I finally will get to march a big horn (Kanstul 5/4 Contra Grande) instead of the pea-shooter DEGs the corps owns (I have literally reached the physical capacity of those horns in terms of how much volume they can put out before it just sounds bad), so I'm pretty happy with the way things have gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamoline Posted January 16, 2003 Share Posted January 16, 2003 hullo. *faking contraEH's accent* I played soprano-contra for one day eh, I got dressed at the last minute and had ta walk ta the warm up site with the rest of my fellow contras eh. It was aboot time I did it -- it was just aboot the greatest time of my life! greater eating kraft, my favorite dish! (which is really called macaroni and cheese, eh). I gotta do all the shoulder and suitcase carries, and the rest of the contras welcomed me like one of their own. I loved it! (..running out of Canadian phrases.......) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridgekuhn Posted January 16, 2003 Share Posted January 16, 2003 Ha ha ha! Joce, you're crazy, girl! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlooooContra Posted January 16, 2003 Share Posted January 16, 2003 I started playing contra with the Bluecoats in 2000 because I was a tuba player. In the early 2002 season, I suffered the peak of my ongoing back injury and had to leave tour for months of physical therapy. Best part about contra is knowing that no matter what, you're doing the hardest job on the field. It's a really rewarding experience, and that's what drew me to it. Of course now I'm playing baritone, and wondering what I was smoking when I first picked up a contra! B) Advice for contra players- never switch horns! You'll never want to go back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ContraCutie Posted January 16, 2003 Share Posted January 16, 2003 I marched soprano my rookie season, and couldn't wait to get back on contra the next year. I have 5 years left to march, and I'm hoping that I will be able to march them all on contra. I allready have almost no cartlidge left in my kness. I broke my ankle early '01 and still marched that season with a brace, and I now have a piece of floating bone in my ankle. Then last summer I went ot the hospital and they told me that I have accute tendonitis in my right wrist......What we do for the love of the activity, and the horn. I couldn't see myself marching anything else, but if it must be...I would probably end up marching euph. No matter what I'm aging out on contra :D :angel: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ContraEH Posted January 27, 2003 Author Share Posted January 27, 2003 ya... my shoulders are turning into mush..i can already feel them falling off my body! haha..and my wrists... I think they have something wrong too..but hey! who said Drum Corps was EASY>?! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spcbrass Posted January 28, 2003 Share Posted January 28, 2003 The answer is simple....contra players have the most fun! I started paying tuba in high school in 1993. I went on to march a parade corps in 1994 and have been competing or teaching since 1995. All year on contra with the exception of 1996 when we were short on euph players and victimteered errrr I mean volunteered to switch! My first contra was an Olds valve rotor horn, then i got the yamaha convertible g thing that they treid to pass off as a contra, from there to a deg 2 valve then one of the odl king 2 valves. From that to the big Kanstul monster horn we used at BD. From that to being one of the one's responsible for Rubble's back injury (my bad) then to the big deg horn and now teaching again. I could never think of doing anything else other then playing contra (or teaching it) ever again. Shawn C. ^0^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKBari Posted January 28, 2003 Share Posted January 28, 2003 I was a trombone and Euphonium player in high school and college and marched baritone my first 2 years with EK. I was asked to switch to contra because we were short on players. I regretted it at first because those old King contras were heavy. But by the end of the summer, I was lifting and carrying it with no problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jo-jo Posted January 29, 2003 Share Posted January 29, 2003 I'm not a brass player, but can you guys tell the big difference between 4/4 and 5/4 contra ? Are the 5/4 much heavier then the 4/4 ? I heard that the Cavaliers use a 4/4 contra. Is it because Yamaha doesn't make a 5/4 model, or there is some other reason ? Whats your favorite brand guys ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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