Hello from Smitty

[Smitty]

Hi--
I'm new here... love the site and the forum. A little background:

I live in Layton, Utah-- about 25 miles north of Salt Lake City. I am a federal employee and work at Tooele (too-illa) Army Depot west of Salt Lake.

I'm 52 years old, married, and have 6 children. All have "flown the nest" except the youngest who just graduated from high school, and will be attending college this fall.

I enjoy instrumental and vocal music, and sing in my church choir. I also am the children's music leader in my church.

I've been playing cornet/trumpet since I was 8 years old, mainly in school bands from elementary through college. I later tried my hand at French Horn (military marching band & college concert band), Euphonium (German Brass Band while stationed in country, and a British Brass Band here at home), and Alto Horn (British Brass Band).

I love the sound of good brass music--particularly from the Baroque period. Canadian Brass is my favorite group in that regard, though that's largely because I'm not much aware of other groups or their music. I've also found that I tend to prefer the Euphonium and Alto Horns over the trumpet... mainly because of the lower brass sound-- strong and moving.

In ability, I'd probably rate as an Intermediate Hobby player... I play for fun, and personal fulfillment.

I own the following instruments:

Conn Mellophone
Unknown Brand Alto Horn-- silver plated and fairly decent quality--
Olds Ambassador Cornet
Conn Constellation Trumpet (my student horn)
Benge Trumpet
Unknown Pocket Trumpet -- an impulse purchase-- probably Indian manufacture and reasonable sound.

I also play a little harmonica...

Glad I found the forum... hope to get to know the rest of you.

Regards,

Smitty

[SteveMcGovern]

Hello from Smitty

Welcome!

[davewerden]

Hello from Smitty

Welcome to the TubaEuph forum, Smitty! Thanks for telling us a bit about yourself.

[Smitty]

Hello from Smitty

Dave--

I just started playing Euphonium with the Ogden Municipal Concert Band. (I purchased a new Bach 1110 a couple weeks ago). The other Euphonium player used to play cornet with the Coast Guard Band back in the 60s. His name is Brent Kofoed, and he s quite good. Plays a 4 valve Besson. Did you ever cross paths with him??

Smitty

[davewerden]

Hello from Smitty

No, we never met. I joined in 1970 and don't remember meeting him after that (sometimes previous members will stop by for a visit).

Was he a member of The U.S. Coast Guard Band in New London, CT? At the time the Coast Guard had at least a couple other bands, which were training center bands (regular Coast Guard personnel played in them, but they were not full-time musicians for the CG). One was in Cape May, NJ, and one was in Alameda, CA. Most players in those bands were there during the time they were stationed at those training centers.

[Smitty]

Hello from Smitty

I'll check and see if it was THE Coast Guard Band, or A Coast Guard Band. I played in A Navy Band at Pensacola, FL in 1972... We were pretty good, in fact they went to Mardi Gras just before I arrived. We played gigs at Dining Ins, parades, graduation (Naval Communications Training Center), and some public performances in various places around Florida. I remember flying to Talahassee in an old 4 engine Navy transport. You, know, 4 radial engines with big 4 blade props... lots of noise and vibration, and short on creature comforts. I think the head was a bucket behind a curtain, etc. ;o}

Smitty

BTW, I bought a new Bach 1110 in lacquer finish. Its basically a Yamaha YEP321... 4 valves, decent tone... now I just need to get at it. I'm having to learn how to finger Bass Clef... problem is, I read Bass Clef in vocal music, so I tend to read the second note above the staff as a "C", but want to finger it as "Open" like a trumpet...
Anyway... I'm looking for some software that I can use to tranpose music... I've heard something is available that allows you to scan sheet music, then, similar to OCR software, it will convert it into notes that you can then manipulate. I don't want to buy Finale, or something in that price range... I'm hoping for something in the less than $150 range. You have any suggestions????


Thanks,

Smitty

[whall1946]

Hello from Smitty

Your Navy transport sounds like a C-130. I flew in a couple of those turboprop cargo planes on Field Band gigs to the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Loudest things I have ever encountered. Worse than sitting in front of a trumpet section. At least the trumpets have to come up for air every once in a while.

I think the trip from BWI to St. Thomas was about 6 hours long. We left in early January with snow on the ground and dressed in woolen Class A's. When we landed the temperature was in the mid 80s and very humid. As soon as they opened the tail of the C-130 the humidity just hit you.

Sometimes you wonder if your mid-life hearing loss is due to trumpets or C-130s. What?

[Smitty]

Hello from Smitty

I'm pretty familiar with the C-130 Hercules. My brother was a loadmaster on Marine KC130s for 20 years. It wasn't a C 130... this one had radial piston engines instead of turboprops, I think it was maybe an R6D/DC6???? The same plane was used as a commercial airliner before the switch to jets.

Realizing it's been 35 years, I'm pretty sure it's the same plane as those at this link... ignore the first picture, as it looks like a C97...

http://www.calclassic.com/dc6.htm


Smitty

[davewerden]

Hello from Smitty

In my early days in The U.S. Coast Guard Band we would use C-130's now and then. The Atlantic Area CG had ones that were of WWII vintage and they were NOT dependable. We literally spent 3 days in Cleveland one day - it was supposed to be an out-and-back ceremony so no one packed anything - because the plane broke down. There were several other instances like that one.

The worst part was the noise. We had an audiologist look at the situation after many years of flying in these planes. If I remember correctly, he said the noise was so intense that we could suffer hearing damage if we didn't wear hearing protection. He had a series of time thresholds (as you are exposed to noise for longer periods the damage potential is much worse). If we were flying for a couple hours we had to wear these wax earplugs. And if it went over 4 hours we had to a "headphone" type of silencer that was very effective. If we were going to be there 8 hours we had to wear both the wax plugs and the earphones. Noise levels were well over 100 decibels at cruising speed and reached 128 during takeoff.

Still, the things were rugged. Supposedly they could fly even if 3 of the 4 engines went out (a safe landing was not likely in that case). The CG used them for hauling and also for extended search/rescue operations. They could fly a long time at reasonable speeds and could drop rescue gear from a hatch in the back.

[keithbarton]

Hello from Smitty

Smitty!!! I was at Corry Field from January to late May of 1972. CTO basic school. NCTC. I played in the small band they had there. Euphonium. I remember taking a trip to Tallahassee on a two (or 4?) engine prop plane, DC something or the other. Wasn't a C130. Doors didn't shut good and the seats looked like something out of a carnival ride. Bald tires. It was very humid and we marched in a parade in Tallahassee then flew back to Pensacola. Were you in that band or the mainside band? Had a young dark haired petty officer that directed the band, wore glasses I think, don't remember his name, our "band room" was all the way down at the end of the road at the back of the base. Near the library. I remember that I had just gotten my orders to London and a chief from the mainside band came over one day to talk to us. Said if any of us weren't happy with what we were doing, he'd see about getting us into the mainside Navy band.

Keith Barton
CTO from 1972 to 1981.

[RickF]

Hello from Smitty

Hi Smitty,

Welcome. I didn't see your post until recently. I've been out of town for 3 weeks.

You're right, that first picture is of a C-97. I worked for the FAA for 31 years and now am retired. Never got to (or had to?) fly on the C-97. It's main claim to fame was being converted to a 'pregnant guppy' and 'supper guppy' for NASA to transport rockets and booster. Very weird looking acft.

Pic of Pregnant Guppy

When I was in the Air Force, I spent a year in Sondestrom Greenland in '68-69' (Greenland or Alaska is where they liked to send chaps from FL, ). The C-130 was the most widely used acft there as support for the 4 "DEW Line" sites (Distant Early Warning radar). These planes were outfitted with skies AND wheels. You're all correct. The C-130 is very noisy. I always used ear plugs when having to fly on that plane.