"Laurence Payne" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:51:00 +0300, "Iain Churches"
wrote:

Any tuba player (Eb, F, Bb or C bass) in a orchestras or militarty band
will tell you that with a "slow speaking instrument" they need to play
"ahead of the beat" to compensate.

That's why they are restricted to umpah, umpah.

The role of the brass bass is to provide the first and third beats
of a 4/4 bar.

And that's a role that requires immaculate timing. Which a good player
can achieve. He can also be remarkably agile.

Yes indeed. There are excellent compositions by composers
such a Berlioz and Glinka where Bb ad Eb basses, plus euphoniums
are given fluid melodic passages, requiring extreme precision
which good players relish and at which they excel. I have some
recordings made at the Royal Military School of Music "Kneller Hall"
which illustrate this well.


Iain