Indy Colts Tuba Guy

[enhite]

On May 7, 2015, the Indianapolis Star published a story about a euphonium player, Ray Bridges, aka "Tuba Guy," who plays his instrument at Colts football games.
http://www.indystar.com/story/sports...ames/71846466/
Nice publicity for our instrument.

[bbocaner]

*sigh* it's a shame that a lot of the people who are highly visible ambassadors for the instrument like this can't actually play it. I hate to be negative like this, but wouldn't it be great if someone who was actually a good player of the instrument and could show the public what it is supposed to sound like and could express some musicality got this kind of exposure?

[ghmerrill]

I'm thinking that most people paying attention to this article don't care if it's a euphonium or a garden hose -- and might prefer the garden hose.

[davewerden]

I have mixed feelings. Here are random thoughts...

Think of how many people have seen articles and photos about TubaChristmas events. Personally I don't care for the sound of a huge ensemble, especially when playing outdoors in cold weather or in a mall or gym. But these things get national coverage in the press, and photo+name recognition is important. And people at the event are learning that tubas (and euphoniums) can do more than play background/bass lines.

Similarly in the article above: If it gets national attention, it may be the first time many see today's "standard" euphonium shape attached to the name "euphonium." The article uses "euphonium" quite a bit, including explaining that it is a baby tuba (which is a useful image, at least) and that "tuba guy" is not accurate. "Euphonium" is used 4 times visibly.

In some ways I'm grateful for any reasonably accurate use of the name. Certainly there are folks at games making rather ugly sounds on trumpets, so we hope anyone hearing this doesn't take it to be state of the art (and maybe the guy sounds good).

As I watched the decades go by, it seems like Empire and Canadian Brass did a lot to promote the image of a brass quintet. Empire probably did a higher-quality musical presentation. Canadian Brass, though, probably reached out to a wider range of audiences. They were a little more into comedy, but their musicality still held up very well during all the choreography! The group's albums were very high quality. So... did the vaudeville side of the performance take away a little from the highbrow musical impact? Maybe, but you could accuse Steven Mead, Pat Sheridan and some others of the same thing. But they are playing great and are reaching lots of pairs of ears.

Confession: if I had been born a few decades earlier or Lawrence Welk had come into fame a few decades later, I would have tried to get on his show (as a regular) to do pretty euphonium solos and sometimes flashy fun stuff. What do you think that would have done to my reputation? I'm not sure if it would have helped or hurt. That band had some fine players in it. Bob Havens, for one, was one of the best Dixie trombone players out there and recorded with Al Hirt and Pete Fountain. Did he like playing hokey arrangements for 98% of his time? Maybe, maybe not. Did Charlotte enjoying playing nothing but pretty cello melodies? Not sure, but I think a LOT of people probably understood what a cello was and how it sounded because of that show.

We may have to "fight" on multiple fronts. We DO, DO, REALLY DO need better name recognition!!! We also want to be appreciated as fine musicians. But those two things need to grow together.

I haven't told this story for a while... When my wife and I travelled to London for me to accept the Euphonium Player of the Year award in 1980, we took a taxi from the tube to our flat. The driver chatted us up and asked why we were in London, business or holiday. My wife said I was there to get an award as a euphonium player. He replied, "Oh, I just heard a euphonium on the tele [television] last night!" Not THAT is name recognition! In this country we have a lot of work to do.

[enhite]

Oops. I am embarrassed to admit I didn't realize there was a video/sound file with the website story. I read the story in my hardcopy newspaper. Of course readers of the forum couldn't read it in that form, so I attached the link. Regarding Mr. Bridges' sound - I doubt most non-musicians would know the difference. I would compare it to most trumpet "players" I have heard at sporting events. Few would rate an audition with even a good quality amateur ensemble. I still regard it as a plus that the reporter got the name of the instrument correct.

[davewerden]

I missed the video (actually, I usually assume the transcript below has everything, so I often don't bother playing the video).

The distortion is probably from the camera's microphone being overloaded by the low-frequency loud tones. I suspect his sound was reasonably representative in person.

[davewerden]

Now that I think about it, this could have been a LOT worse for our cause! They could have called that horn a baritone. He could have had a bell-front horn. Or he could have had a double-bell, which would have really confused the issue!

[adrian_quince]

We DO, DO, REALLY DO need better name recognition!!!

In the spirit of name recognition, I thought the cause could use a t-shirt: http://www.zazzle.com/its_a_euphoniu...16532868354863