The Brass family and the Saxophone.

old git

Tremendous Bore
Watched the Beeb Four rerun of the Proms' Handel night and came to some unexpected conclusions. First of all the singers, the soprano had that typical "in your face" attitude causing one to wonder how brave you'd have to be to marry her. The tenor needed to have a fine voice as he was so louche yet gauche at the same time.

It was the brass that interested me mainly, those great Invention Horns and Trumpets but no Sackbuts. To me it appeared that the Trumpets generally have lower pedal notes than the modern, Bb valved variety. Sensible, as like the Invention Horn they would need to be played higher up the harmonic natural range to reduce the intervals between available pitches. They were also very bright and forceful, more so than modern instruments, which raised this stream of thought. A further interesting point is that they appeared to be stored in a compost heap, had the worms and other detritus blown out, thus providing a genuine 'Vintage' finish.

The differences between modern and the old trumpet and other members of the brass family can be blamed on the damping effect of the valve assembly. Therefore Tom, lay your Trumpet, Cornets and Flügelhorn out in front of you, reach for a hacksaw, a junior will do and carefully sever the entry and exit tubes of the valve assembly. Mark with information about which instrument it came from and which is the the 'Tone Interval' valve. Connect the two resulting tube ends with a suitable pipe and secure with two clips. You will now be the proud owner of Real Brass Instruments which will shout, in a regal way, "Aren't I impressive?" Now dig out your tenor, blow it gently, no tonguing and the difference will be that it murmurs in a sexy manner, "Aren't you impressive?", which will impress the wife and any other ladies present. Even Cootie couldn't resemble a torch singer's voice as much as a bad saxophonist like me.

Try it Young Tom, if you disagree, you can always use Nacho's gaffer tape or my BLUTACK to re-install the valves, but you must admit that the saxophone is a more emotive instrument.
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