I don't know where or when, but I was told that either some string or woodwind player - after hearing fifteen or so tuba players at some audition - asked (and I can't quote them word for word, because I wasn't there) "Is this really as good as It gets? If so, should I start voting for people to ...

humBell wrote: Thu May 08, 2025 3:40 am For me, it does recognize me still from my last time logging in.



Ads seem to be working just fine.

This is my favorite part about most websites these days. The ads work JUST FINE. Load quickly and smoothly. Never seem to lag or get choppy. Then the actual content you want never fully loads.

I played a brass quintet gig this morning with this horn, and now I'm thinking of taking my ad down because I'm lovestruck all over again by a tuba.

University of Lynchburg Faculty Brass Quintet


I'm trying to convince myself to sell mine as well, and I keep being unable to do it. It's such ...

I've had several "sections" of my playing so far:

1. College. Obvious.
2. Immediately went to law school, and I didn't play for 3 years, despite my horns taking up space in my apartment.
3. Moved to a small town to clerk for a judge. Had my own 4 walls again. Picked the horns back up and practiced ...

bloke wrote: Fri Apr 11, 2025 12:09 pm I'm not criticizing your post...

...but these sorts of musings egg on the freak jury.

ie. Every tuba player (collectively owning every model ever made) will - eventually, if enough people respond - recommend every model ever made.

In my defense, I do describe this as pointless and meandering.

It was only when I got to the more narrow cups that I realized that was what I needed.
The York 91 mouthpiece that came with the 6/4 York is smaller than something I would have normally chosen, with a ~32mm ID, but it works with that instrument.




That's what I ended up finding with the ...

I went through a long phase of mouthpiece trial and error and finally centered on a few that I've used for the last 10-20 years:

On my PT6, I switched between the PT50 and PT50+ depending on the setting. The 50+ was more restrained for me, and the 50 was like pulling out a regulator and the horn ...

Trying to decide what direction to go in with my horns here. Not a pro. Haven't been paid to play in years. Barely even play in public anymore. Just like to practice and play etudes and annoy my daughter by using her Suzuki violin books for sight-reading practice. She says it's annoying but I know ...

On the other side of things -

I had the opportunity years ago to play a piece by David Maslanka, who took the time to travel to our neck of the woods, rehearse us for a couple days, and be at the concert. He was a very unassuming person. You'd never know how brilliant he was by looking at him. But ...

arpthark
Still got it. Still point and shoot. I thought when I got my 184-5U I'd part with the Gnagey and my MW182 F and just have a stable of one horn, but the 184 fits really well in between the two other horns, and the intonation and ease of playing on the Gnagey is so good that I keep using it ...

Curiously, the one wind instrument which has moved towards more treble in the sound over the last fifty years (in the USA) has been the horn, and this has probably mostly been due to the Chicago Symphony influence (horns with smaller bell throats). Alexander horns in Germany naturally sound that ...

. I'm wondering if they get enough orders - these days - for 184/185 instruments to have gone to that expense and to retool their bugles.

bloke "a good bit of speculation - vs. known facts - in my post"


The 185 I played a couple years ago would be pretty strong proof that they haven't. May be ...

I love my 184. It's not at all an easy instrument to play, though, in a couple important ways. The intonation is bad. There is a lot of slide pulling I have to do, and alternate fingerings for C#, D, Eb, and E are a must. Even for shorter notes. They're that far out. The bottom line G is sharp. Top ...

You two (who've posted in response, thus far) may recall that I've BOTH monkeyed around with a B extension for my (formerly-owned) C tuba as well as an A extension for THIS (Miraphone 98) tuba. Having played (and actually WORKED ON, not just "played through once or twice") this excerpt with C, B ...

I work on this excerpt (rehearsal 11 - 14) - from time-to-time - as it requires so much energy, concentration, accurate tuning, timing, and a strategy for supplying air to blow past my lips.

I just realized that - playing it with a B-flat tuba (after all these years of "splitting the difference ...

Just taken down two octaves? Or played with "trumpet fingerings" so oboe C4 is tuba F2?


I just read off the oboe score. So it works out that I take it two octaves down, yes.


Oboe range is a "low B-flat" up to an F or G 2-1/2 octaves higher...
...perfect for doing embarrassingly bad ...

jtm wrote: Wed Nov 06, 2024 7:05 pm

tubanh84 wrote: Wed Nov 06, 2024 6:28 pm ...
Oboe literature on F tuba. Sits incredibly well.

Just taken down two octaves? Or played with "trumpet fingerings" so oboe C4 is tuba F2?

I just read off the oboe score. So it works out that I take it two octaves down, yes.

There were some published solos I think associated with Pat Sheridan that used the original “trumpet” fingering patterns that were transposed for various keys of tubas. I don’t have any detailed info.


That's a really good sub-topic, in other words "how particular solos sit/lay on the various ...

Basic philosophical rambling, then some concrete advice:

Rambling

Playing an instrument is a physical skill. Like any physical skill, it sucks at first. It takes a lot of time and dedication to make it feel "natural." Making ANY NOISE out of it at first is good. That's your goal for now. Make a ...

If the title's any indication, shouldn't you be playing it on one of these?

https://us.wessex-tubas.com/cdn/shop/products/TC236GL_0176-min.jpg?v=1624549836&width=550


I'm not a Gershwin-ologist, but, I don't think he spent THAT much time in Paris and spent much more time around Broadway ...