Tom Goodrick
08-31-2005, 04:16 AM
I have been playing instruments for many years. Whenever you start playing a new instrument, you need to get down to the basics of that instrument and work to get your tone just right and polish your techniques for manipulating the instrument. Then you expand your range. Finally you get your technique and general sound up to the level of an accomplished player. This always takes a long time. It can be so long that you lose interest and find something else for amusement. It helps a lot if the instrument you start with is good enough to carry you a long wany on your journey. It should also give you a good enough start so you feel the task is feasible. The Antigua Winds 590 seems to me to be that type of instrument.
I don't know if I'll ever "go anywhere" with the sop. I went some places many years ago with other horns and found I didn't want to be there. But I think I'm going to get pretty good with this and probably put it to work with some of my other horns on gigs in a year or two or three. It will be fun trying.
The keywork feels like my Yani tenor in many ways so I can do a lot right away - hitting notes that is, as defined by holding keys down and getting a tone that is decent and "in the ball park" of intonation. The "Noname 4C" mouthpiece that comes with the horn served a good purpose for me although I also bought a Morgan Protone and a Bari 66 in preparation. I started with the others and then picked up the 4C. It taught me I was probably over-blowing and working too hard on the others. It is impossible to play the 4C blowing hard. It takes very little breath. Its tone is so shallow - like an oboe's - that you have to be pretty close to the right intonation. On the others I was working too hard at first. When I went back to them, the Morgan sounded much better and more interesting. Clearly, it is the one to spend most of the time with getting started. The Bari has a broader and more interesting tone. But it will take more care to work with. I think I will play the 4C a few times on each practice session to get used to blowing lightly but hitting all the notes. In that sense it is very good for doing finger exercises. For working on improving my range and a generally presentable and interesting tone, I'll use mainly the Morgan.
The construction of the horn looks very good. I have read the reports of some questionable things on the Antigua. I have not seen them yet. Most of what I see looks identical to the keywork on the Yani tenor except scaled down a little. The horn is a little stiff now and then but it just needs some "breaking in." Whether the springs will hold up in the long haul is another questions. But they can be replaced. The pads look and feel good - just like the Yani's.
I was expecting to see a very cheap case and had lined up some prospects to replace it. But it seems fine to me - good enough to get to a gig and back. I don't travel far and my horns will now travel with me in my car to each job - no more busses or trailors! In shipment the outer box took a beating but the case, buried in styrofoam "peanuts", brought the horn through fine. The truck got bounced around by Katrina's winds.
The fun begins.
I don't know if I'll ever "go anywhere" with the sop. I went some places many years ago with other horns and found I didn't want to be there. But I think I'm going to get pretty good with this and probably put it to work with some of my other horns on gigs in a year or two or three. It will be fun trying.
The keywork feels like my Yani tenor in many ways so I can do a lot right away - hitting notes that is, as defined by holding keys down and getting a tone that is decent and "in the ball park" of intonation. The "Noname 4C" mouthpiece that comes with the horn served a good purpose for me although I also bought a Morgan Protone and a Bari 66 in preparation. I started with the others and then picked up the 4C. It taught me I was probably over-blowing and working too hard on the others. It is impossible to play the 4C blowing hard. It takes very little breath. Its tone is so shallow - like an oboe's - that you have to be pretty close to the right intonation. On the others I was working too hard at first. When I went back to them, the Morgan sounded much better and more interesting. Clearly, it is the one to spend most of the time with getting started. The Bari has a broader and more interesting tone. But it will take more care to work with. I think I will play the 4C a few times on each practice session to get used to blowing lightly but hitting all the notes. In that sense it is very good for doing finger exercises. For working on improving my range and a generally presentable and interesting tone, I'll use mainly the Morgan.
The construction of the horn looks very good. I have read the reports of some questionable things on the Antigua. I have not seen them yet. Most of what I see looks identical to the keywork on the Yani tenor except scaled down a little. The horn is a little stiff now and then but it just needs some "breaking in." Whether the springs will hold up in the long haul is another questions. But they can be replaced. The pads look and feel good - just like the Yani's.
I was expecting to see a very cheap case and had lined up some prospects to replace it. But it seems fine to me - good enough to get to a gig and back. I don't travel far and my horns will now travel with me in my car to each job - no more busses or trailors! In shipment the outer box took a beating but the case, buried in styrofoam "peanuts", brought the horn through fine. The truck got bounced around by Katrina's winds.
The fun begins.