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First Experiences

Last Updated (Wednesday, 14 May 2008 08:25)
Written by Roger Bobo
Wednesday, 27 February 2008 16:20

Articles - Personal Essays

A long time ago, sometime in the 60s, I was talking to Arnold Jacobs about how people who had never heard a tuba play a solo before reacted to it; I had just told him about a very disappointing experience I had a few years before when I was going to high school when I played a solo which only was met by laughter from my fellow students. Jake then told me the story of when he was a young boy living in Long Beach, California; his mother had taken him to a concert where a coloratura soprano sang a solo and the audience began to laugh. They had never heard a coloratura before and he pointed out that it is normal human behavior for people to sometimes laugh when hearing something entirely new to them.

During the 70's in the Hollywood film studios there was a new instrument being used called the “Beam”, which was like a giant steel guitar with a string several meters long and played by striking the string with a huge 200 mm cannon shell casing. It was an amazing low frequency sound with an absolutely frightening impact. I first heard it while recording the soundtrack for a monster film called “Legend”. The common reaction of everyone that heard this instrument was overt laughter, even though there was nothing funny about it. In fact, it was quite scary.

I was reminded of these first encounter experiences earlier this week: it was another day of exams at the Musashino Academy of Music. It was not just brass instruments like it had been for the past weeks, this time it was all the wind instruments and the very best players of the fourth-year (Senior) class. This exam was actually an audition to choose which wind players would play on the prestigious annual concert showcasing the best of the Musashino Academy. It was pleasant work listening to these fine players. The last of the woodwind instruments to play was a baritone saxophone. Of course, I’ve heard baritone saxes probably thousands of times but this was the first time I’ve ever heard one as a solo instrument in a setting other than jazz, and in this case it was a Bach transcription.

The young lady playing the solo did a beautiful job but I have to admit that my visceral reaction was to laugh. Of course I didn’t, but that impulse, that natural human impulse Jake spoke of over 40 years ago, was there. But what struck me most was that I was experiencing what I imagine many people used to experience when they heard the tuba in a solo context for the first time. I have to say that I now have a better understanding of how those people felt; it offered an insight that had not been a part of my "tuba consciousness" over the last 55 years. Although the baritone sax was played quite musically and was absolutely technically proficient; the sound, the articulation, the abruptness of the low register were all quite new to me in this solo recital instrument environment, and it took getting used to.

In most of the world the tuba is not looked on as a new experience anymore. Harvey Phillips, in a conversation in the 70's, told me that in a television documentary dealing with minority groups, the first minority to be covered was tubists! If that’s what we were, a minority group, we’ve certainly done a good job of changing things.

The current music world has changed. With the presence of electronics in all aspects of music today, hearing new sounds for the first time has become almost a daily occurrence. Still, I’m thankful for the baritone saxophone solo this week, it opened up a new perspective of our instrument's history.

Tokyo