Despite having only had a Ray Farr ‘Signature’ flugel horn for just over two weeks, Andrew Seymour of the Central Ohio Brass Band recently put it to the test during the North American Brass Band Association Championships in Cincinnati.
Play and sell!
Andrew saw the flugel at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester during a visit to the RNCM Festival of Brass earlier in the year and immediately not only wanted one, but asked to be involved with selling it in the USA!
He told County Instruments: "To start out let me say that I WILL be playing it at the North American Championships. There is probably no better testimony to a horn than casting aside one that I have played for 9 years in favour of the Ray Farr ‘Signature’ Raw Brass flugel."
Exquisite
And after the performance he was equally as impressed too!
"It’s pitch and tone colours were exquisite in all ranges. We competed early on Saturday and other than during our competition time, the flugel was on display with me at our stand, where it created a great deal of excitement and interest.
I was also very excited to have people play this horn. Many in our band had a go — including our MD and they were stunned by its response, tone colour and consistency of pitch."
Wonderful sound
Andrew added: "Some interesting expletives were muttered by our MD as she went higher and higher and produced such a wonderful sound and on pitch too...and she is a trombone player!
My MD was delighted with the sound of the flugel on the test piece and on our own choice piece. I had some very high and melodic passages that seemed much easier playing the Ray Farr flugel."
Many in our band had a go — including our MD and they were stunned by its response, tone colour and consistency of pitchAndrew Seymour
Speaking volumes
Chris Waters, the man behind the flugel’s design, said he thought this spoke volumes about the performance of the instrument.
"For someone to enter a competition as high profile as the NABBA Championships, with so little time to get the feel for an instrument, is testament to its intonation and quality of playing!"
More information:
For more information contact:-
Chris Waters
County Instruments
info@rawbrass.co.uk
www.rawbrassflugel.co.uk