[Dixielandjazz] Symphonic Playing

[dhs at ev1.net]

Dear Listers:

I play tuba in a community symphony orchestra in Austin, TX.  As a rule, I
can follow the conductor, but I also listen to the ensemble, and have a good
idea of what the total sound is like.  We have about 50 players, so this is
different from a larger group.

Doug, our conductor, is good about explaining what he wants, and how the
beat is subdivided.  His baton work is fairly easy to follow, although he
will get dramatic once in a while.  My hat is off to anyone who ever played
for Furtwangler.  His erratic baton work was legendary.  I don't want to
contradict Glenn Dodson, who was there and knows exactly what playing for
Ormandy was like, but I have read that the Philadelphia Sound was
attributable to the balance among the string sections, and the physical
construction of the sound-reflecting background at the Academy of Music.
Perhaps the uncertainty inspired by erratic baton-work also contributed.
All one knows is that the Sound associated with Stokowski and Ormandy is now
gone.

String players mostly just plow along--they play most of the time.  Wind
players, especially brass players, must COUNT out rests.  Sometimes, it is
for an extended period.  It takes mental discipline to stay on track when
you don't play for 20 or 40 measures or more (Glenn can doubtless attest to
counting out rest measures by the hundred), especially when you have a
wandering mind.  The most important thing about getting off is getting back
on again.  It one thing to lose the thread in a 32 bar pop song--the next
chorus will be coming along in a minute.  The opening movement of Schubert's
Symphony No. 9, which I played last spring, has 685 bars, not counting
repeats.

The Austin Philharmonic is short of string bass players, so I play some
string bass parts in their entirety, and harvest others for passages which
fit.  String basses and tubas are very different instruments, and some
string bass writing doesn't sound right on tuba (purists would probably say
that none of it does).  Other pieces have extensive tuba or bass trombone
parts, so I play those.  Happily, it is a truism that the lower the level of
an orchestra, the more mainstream the repertoire.  Fulltime orchestras play
many more works, sometimes with a minimum of rehearsal.  It's easier to
follow along when you are rehearsing for several months, and playing
something that is fairly familiar.

I have often likened the bass function in dixieland to the realized bass
line in Baroque music.  For that matter, the function of the banjo is
somewhat analogous to that of the harpsichord in the Baroque orchestra.  The
bass line in both ensembles is critical to the success of the piece.  I have
played many dixie gigs on tuba with just a banjo player, and there is plenty
of rhythm, even for a full front line.  The bass player, whether on string
bass or tuba, should strive to make every note help drive the piece forward,
and to make every note define and sustain the chords.  This is hardly
original thinking, but it is easier said than done.  Good bass players don't
always get the respect they deserve.

Regards,
Dave Stoddard
Round Rock, TX