Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1922-09-06
SOME ANSWERS TO
CORRESPONDENTS
written for the Musical Enterprise)
By Heinie


Bill-To remove dents from your
tuba, go around behind the dent and
pound on it gently with wooden NAL
let. Do not pound too hard, as this
might cause a bulge. However, if a
bulge forms it can be removed in the
same manner with the same mallet by
pounding on the front side of the OBJ
struction.
Sammy-TO make a baritone out of
a tenor horn, fill your tenor with dry
oats. Pound it down firmly until all
the slides, valves, tubings and other
things are entireyl filed. Then pour
in three gallons of water and let it
stand over night. The water will swell
the oats and expand the instrument
until it is exactly the proportion of
baritone. By continuing this treat
ment another night you will find you
have frst-class tuba. (Note.-Be-
fore attempting to play this instru-
ment it is well to empty out the wet
oats, as the tone might be affected by
neglecting to do SOL
Pete-We do not advise the use of
jack plane in removing the lettering
from the head of your old bass drum
You might bear down too hard and in
iure the tonal qualities of the instru-
ment. Soak the head all night in the
creek and dry quickly over a red-hot
stove. You can then buy nice new
head and letter it to suit yourself
(Note-The word "head" as here
used refers to the head of the drum,
not that of the OPERATOR
Reuben-If the slides of your in
strmens stick fast and cannot be re-
moved by ordinary means, we do not
advise violence. Attach the instru-
rnent firmly to a wooden post driven in
the ground to depth of few feet.
Attach chain to the refractory slide
and attach a team of horses. If one
team is not sufficient to start the slide,
add more horses. The horses can cas-
lily be obtained at any frst-class livery
stable at S1.59 per hour
Silas-Yes, bassoon would add inn
mensely to the appearance of your
band in concert work, and one can
easily be made by drilling out fence
post with an auger and putting in a
few finger holes in the sides with a
smaller auger. If you do not get them
in exactly the right positions to make
good scale they can be plugged up
with putty and other holes drilled
Finish the outside of the instrument
with some good varnish stain and add
few nickel-plated fixtures which your
local plumber can suggest. This
homemade instrument may not have
as good tone as the regular import
ed ones, and it may be slightly out of
tune at times, but this is not of enough
| Importance to worry about.
Joshua-There is no reason why you
| should not be able to play some nice
duets if you have a tuba and your little
sister plays the banjo. This kind of
music is particularly suited for church
| socials, barbecues, lynchings, clam
bakes and other informal gatherings.
| For S11 in l-cent stamps we will send
you nice little book of tuba and banjo
duets, all written in the first position
| (Note-The first position for tuba is
with the mouthpiece at the lips, the
fingers on the valves and the lungs
inflated with air.
Simon-No, the bass piccolo is not
used much in American bands at pres
ent. Its extreme length forbids its
use, as it requires one man to blow il
and two other men to properly finger
it. Soprano tubas are substituted with
good effect.
Christie bass viol can not be fin
gered properly if you elbow one end
to rest on the floor. 1t should be tax
en- up and placed under the chin, the
same as violin. This may seem a
little awkward at first, but you will
soon become used to it.
Emil-Yes, it is considered unlucky
for musician to lose his mouthpiece
while marching down crowded street.
To remove the hoodoo, carry one dozen
extra mouthpieces in your hip pocket.
It is also considered unlucky for a
trombone player to lose the slide of
his instrument overheard when play
ing on an excursion boat A yard or
so of neat brass chain, o. length of
clothes-line will help to prevent such
an occurrence.
George-Do not allow any unplayed
notes to remain N your instrument
after concluding your evenings per
Torrance. They are liable to swell
and crack the instrument. They can
be removed by putting a quart or so
of buck shot in the horn, shaking it
gently, and then inverting it for a few
minutes.
Martin--One of the earliest bands
mentioned in history was the one or
gained by Moses in the western sub
urbs of Jericho, about 5237 B. C.
Moses was the first leader and played
solo BIB rams horn. John w. Aholiab
was believed to have been the assist
ant director and performed upon the
baritone rams horn, and George W.
Bazozeel is mentioned as being an ex-
pert sackbut player connected with the
organization. 1t met for practice in
the old FIRST Ward Hose House, and
took part in several street parades
about the city. However, in one of
these, while playing old number one in
the shoe-string book, the walls of the
city caved in and the band was COM
PEELED to go out of existence, by order
of the chief of police at that time The
good work of the front section, COM
posed of six professional slide rams
horn players, is supposed to have been
the cause o fthe accident.
Inquirer-In organizing a new band
you will need a good supply of pipes,
several sacks of tobacco and large
square room in which to rehearse, You
will also need some instruments of
various kinds, but these can be pro-
cured later. A man who smokes cob
pipe in preference to anything else will
make good leader; for your alto
players select men who are addicted
to cigarettes, and the rest of the men,
bership can be divided among the
straight cigar smokers and the nom
participants. A good piece for prac-
tice would be Dukes Mixture; it is in