hey you’ve got the wrong partition: trumpet is in B flat :o!
the partition appears to be in F
the problem with playing trumpet on a unicycle is to be soooo precise with the mouthpiece … I think playing the euphonium is probably easier (though I have not tried)
Could you possibly scan and mail me that sheet music?
I’d love to see if I can transpose it for the pipes.
In case you can, here’s my email.
unigild (at) gmail (dot) com
Thanx.
Dave.
Even easier, here’s the link where I got that from - the part in that pic is “cor 1”
http://www.free-scores.com/download-sheet-music.php?pdf=36011 - there’s also a version for piano there if you want to search. I’ve also imported that part into Musescore http://musescore.org/ using audiveris (OCR for music http://audiveris.kenai.com/) since taking that pic, in order to transpose it for Bb trumpet - that is attached - you can transpose away. Alternatively http://musescore.com/user/4660/scores/6067 and http://musescore.com/mike_magatagan/entry-of-the-gladiators-circus-theme-for-piano are other versions in Musescore, which are likely to be slightly more professional than my import (though I have manually tweaked quite a bit)!
Oh and I’m still yet to try playing trumpet on the uni - right now I have a rib injury which means I’m not about to have a go any time soon. Just playing that piece whilst not riding is hard enough - there’s a lot of fingerwork!
Gladiators.zip (5.67 KB)
Thanx mate, will start digging.
Aaah, too bad.
Apart from the fact that we can’t play any of the sharps or flats, we also only have 9 notes available on the pipes, from our “Low” G to the next “High” A.
The total range of this piece is 11 notes, so even by transposing, we’ll have to cheat on a couple of notes.
We could probably play just the (in) famous intro bit. That alone should be plenty kewl on the pipes.
Hey Dave.
Any chance you are coming down to the Unidaba? Unicycling and piping along Durban beachfront would be too hilarious not to do, if you are by any chance.
How did you end up doing in Got Talent? I ignore those shows, and I did not have a tv a few years ago so would have missed it regardless…
Martin.
Maybe at UNICON, we can get together a big Uni Band, with bagpipes, trumpet, clarinet, drums, etc. Even give a bunch of kids some tambourines.
We could do it just for the Press. Since its in Montreal, maybe we could all learn to play “Oh Canada.” Any other recommendations?
All this sounds like a great idea, except maybe for the Ô Canada. Many Quebecois have a strong nationalist spirit and don’t particularly appreciate that song. You would probably be a lot safer with “Gens du Pays” from Gilles Vignault. 
If I could get my hands on a sousaphone, I could play the low notes. It would be fun to play and ride, especially if it is windy.
Hey Martin, I’m afraid UniDaba is unlikely to happen for me this year.
Mind you, I had to pull out of Africa Burn and Strab, maybe I’ll treat myself to a different holiday?
When they started SA’s Got Talent, the producers were overrun with singers and dancers and they were rather desperate for some acts to add a bit more variety to the show. Someone knew someone and an email started circulating thru the juggling community, asking for people with different skills to audition. I got hold of them at the time, but couldn’t make the audition dates (which is just about guaranteed to happen again this year, sigh), so it never happened.
I must’ve stayed on a file somewhere and got the call out the blue this year.
Hey GILD, this wouldn’t happen to be you would it?
Erm, no, that’s not me.
I think that is “The UniPiper”.
For those of you who’ve been following my #SasGotTalent adventure from the beginning, or are just morbidly curious, I thought I’d share a quick blow-by-blow of the theatre-audition.
Beloved and I drove into Joyburg on a beautifully sunny, yet devilishly chilly, Sunday morning. I’d forgotten that bit about the city.
Liberty Life made some under-cover parking available, which meant we had to park and then walk down the road and around the corner to the Alexander Theatre.
Always a fun thing to do in Braamfontein when you’re pushing a unicycle and carrying a set of bagpipes. We joined a moderate crowd outside the theatre and tried to figure out what was going on. Turns out I had to go inside and register while Beloved had to wait outside with the rest of the about-to-be audience. She did try to join me inside, only to be told assured the security guard that “he’s a big boy, you don’t need to hold his hand”.
Great, the security guard is a comedian.
Tough crowd.
I also don’t mind admitting that at this point I did not share his conviction. Give me a 5000 person crowd, a microphone and an event to host, and I’m having fun.
Let me decide to take my pipes-on-the-uni act to SA’s Got Talent, and I am just about shitting myself.
It was very weird.
I get registered, get my number and get shown to the “holding room” to, well, wait.
There was a fair amount of that happening on the day, I’ll bore you not.
I mention to one of the organisers that I really need a chance to warm up the pipes and check them for tuning shortly before I play, will I be able to do this?
Yeah, no problem, they can show me into a side room of sorts. I point out the fact that the pipes are rather loud and that a “side room” may not be sufficient to keep the noise from the theatre where they’re busy filming. I get the “you’re not from around here, are you boy?” look and the assurance that they have “theatre doors” and that it will be fine.
Well, in short, it wasn’t.
I ended up going down three flights of stairs, into the far corner of the basement and strike up. Someone comes running, fear in his eyes, and indicates that I should ‘cut it out’. They’re picking me up in the theatre.
Oh, really?
I go outside and play in the street, another person, same fear in the eyes, comes running up. They’re picking me up in the theatre.
Oh.
Really?
Ok, so, unwarmed up and only the most rudimentary of tunings later, I get shown to side-stage. From here you can see how proceedings unfold and you get to meet the stage manager, the guy who put the fear into the eyes of the ‘cut it out’ brigade.
He also happens to instill some confidence and this went a long way to calming my shattered nerves.
We decide that I’ll get on the uni, or “mount” as us unicyclists call it, ride to Tats the presenter for my pre-appearance chat and then ride onto the stage to face the judges.
I line up for the freemount. I can do these in my sleep. The backstage cameraman trains his camera on my wheel.
I fluff the mount.
Lovely Walters.
The nerves are back.
I scramble a remount and ride the two steps to Tats. He’s sharp as a tack and funny as hell. He takes one look at me and my “Leave Me Alone, I Know What I’m Doing” t-shirt and after a short chat, waves me onto the stage.
That section is set up for them to record those pre- and post-appearance chats and all those cables have to go somewhere. As it happens, right across the way to the stage. They’re covered with a metal plate and the whole thing is about an inch hi. A laughable non-obstacle for any self-respecting unicyclist.
Yeah, you guessed it.
I hit it at exactly the wrong part of the pedal-stroke and appear on-stage dismounting rather rapidly off the front of a unicycle.
We’re off to a famous start.
Fortunately that bit was slightly hidden from the judges, so me simply walking on with the uni and the pipes doesn’t look too bad.
As was to be expected, walking on with the uni and the pipes kinda got the judges attention. Ian asks about how the act came about. I admit that there was liquor involved.
He asks me how long I’ve been doing my act. According to me or according to my neighbours, I ask in reply. This gets a laugh and I manage to get in the joke about my weird neighbour coming over for a visit at 2AM one morning, fortunately I was still up and practising the pipes, so it wasn’t an inconvenience. Shado mentions my shirt, we chat a bit more and they ask me to start my act.
I move as far to the side as I can, once I mount, this will give me the longest straight section to ride, allowing me and the pipes to get settled before I have to negotiate the troublesome business of turning on the uni while using my arms to play the bagpipes.
I’m happy to admit that I’m not half the unicyclist I used to be when I still played UniHoki every week and I also only realised that I’d have to perform within a limited area about three days before the audition. I mailed to ask about the stage-size and was told to be prepared to perform within a 5x5m square. The stage turned out to be substantially narrower and longer. And smooth. Very, very smooth.
I chose not to notice that before I started. Nerve-control and all that.
Now, however, it’s well-nigh unignorable.
I don’t ‘settle’ on my first straight run across the width of the stage and as I stagger around the first two right-hand turns, I can hear the pressure on the bag changing drastically and the tone of the pipes wavering badly. Any self-respecting Pipe Major would kick my arse for this basic piping-sin. I try not to panic. I fail miserably. I hit the back-straight and realise that I must be seconds away of being buzzed and that I should really get the tune going now. I almost get it right before I have to turn again, but I’m close enough to settled that I can start playing as soon as I hit the front of the stage.
Ok, that might actually look like I planned it. Great, this is working.
Somehow, this newfound rush of confidence causes me to do something stupid.
I can’t honestly tell you what. I may have pedaled one pedal-stroke too hard or (my pet theory) the wheel slipped just a section as I came around the corner. Whatever happened, the result is the same. I become aware that I have moved outside of the “balance envelope” and I will not remain on the unicycle. To prevent an embarrassing “fall”, I step off the front and reach for the front of my Kris Holm seat to hold onto the uni. I miss the grip and walk away from the uni, already apologising to the judges.
Still, no buzzers. Ian mentioned that I gave them an unforgettable TV moment because as I “fell” off and reached for my crotch, as it must look to the uninitiated, the pipes let out a very strangely comic squawk. I get the chance to point out that unicyclist do not “fall” off, we simply have a UPD - an UnPlanned Dismount. This gets a laugh. Kabelo points out, quite correctly I thouhgt, that for this kind of act, everything has to work. I keep chatting with the judges, keep getting laughs and eventually Kabelo suggests that I play the pipes anyway, since they’ve already seen me ride.
I fill the bag, strike in and start playing Nkosi Sikilel 'iAfrica. It takes the crowd a moment or two to recognise the tune, when they do, there is such a rush of applause that I assumed someone flashed an APPLAUSE sign at the crowd and are trying to signal me to pack it in. I wrap the tune up after the first part, only to hear the stage manager “stage”-whisper ‘play the whole tune!’ A bit late now as the bag is all empty and it’ll be an awkward restart.
The judges go to the vote.
Kabelo says no, it has to work and it didn’t.
No argument from me.
Shado says she enjoyed the interaction and would love to see me again.
Yes.
Ian points out that the show is about finding entertainment and even tho my act failed, I did entertain.
Long pause.
I promise to bring the tall (giraffe) unicycle next time.
He gives me the most unexpected “Yes”.
I’m thru to the next round.
I head off the stage, Tats asks how I did, I admit ‘horribly’, only to then pull a straight-face and claim, jokingly, that it was ‘all planned’.
He laughed and sent me on my way, to relax for the first time in a very long day.
Good fun tho.
Well, good luck next time! Can you not idle while playing?
Yes,
n.
Consensus seemed to be that people won’t understand the value of “idling” and would think that you do that because you can’t ride.
Weird, I’ve always thought that idling looked harder than normal riding…
Great story and great video! I’ll look forward to reading the next episode (with the giraffe).
Great to hear about your adventure, Gild. And congratulations on getting through to the next round!
How did I miss this? Go Dave!!!
You must have scrolled past it. 