I use Bunker C. Works great once it warms up!

Sorry, no particular advice. Just wanna say I love your cats!

I graduated from high school in 1974. Basically directionless except for music. My dad suggested I join the military to play in a band. Best advice I never took. Same reason: too close to Vietnam.

- ...have to clean all my horns to make the switch... - Arnold Jacobs had only one lung. - The same instrument - with a lacquer finish vs. a silver plated finish - is going to sound smell different. (Fixed this one!) - Tubas in gig bags won't ever slide around in the backs of cars. - The secret to ...

I used to do a fair amount of work with trad jazz bands on both tuba and upright bass and never used music, faking tunes I didn't know as best I could by ear and making good friends with the banjo player. These days all my playing is orchestral and concert band, and I almost always have music in my ...

I remember the 1970's when then University of Illinois tuba professor Dan Perantoni would ride across campus on a bike with his tuba in a gig bag on his back! I have used gig bags for nearly 50 years with few problems. Ironically, the worst damage a tuba has suffered was when it rode luggage on a ...

Nice concept and repertoire! I've played many of these tunes over the years and you're right, tubas have some good licks! Good luck and enjoy!

I'm not quite there yet either, but aches and pains do increase each year. Still enjoying the heck out of my Rudy 5/4 CC. I switch off with my '60's era Mirafone 186 Bb, which I've had since 1976. To me it is the perfect balance of weight/volume/tone/and playability.

Cool! I am lucky enough to have one of these! From sometime in the 60's I believe, I haven't researched it. I am not the first owner, but I LOVE this tuba! I found it sitting in Dana Hofer's shop in the suburbs of Chicago. He had cleaned and overhauled it for someone who thought they would learn CC ...

I’m 67 and a bit porky. Mr. Arthur Itis is gradually invading my bones. Thankfully i am still able to handle my three tubas and two string basses! (Certainly not on the same job!) my biggest tuba is my 5/4 Rudy Meinl CC. Next comes my beloved 60’s era Mirafone 186 BBb. Finally i have a YEB 321 EEb. A ...

Perhaps use a chair, small stool, or even an instrument case. Place a folded towel on top and the cowbell on top of that. It'll be a bit muffled but players hold it in their hand to muffle it a bit anyway! Good luck and have fun!

I normally play a 5/4 CC or a 4/4 BBb with my band, but occasionally use a Yamaha 4 valve upright EEb. It works fine, even in the lower register as it is fairly open down there. I assume you're a good player, so you'll make it work fine!

Just a reminiscence: In 1976, my first year at Northern Illinois University, the orchestra director decided to switch to blue jeans and chambray shirts. It looked like a prison orchestra! They switched back to formal black the next year.

I was lucky enough to acquire a used 186 BBb back in 1976 just before I went off to college. It was made in 1968 and has the v-shaped solder line. I have played it ever since, in the university Philharmonic, various community bands and orchestras, and a couple of stints on Mississippi Riverboats. I ...

I have a RB cordura bag for my 186 that I ordered from a guitar shop in the mid '90's. It is the same design as the ones pictured here, with the partial zipper. Inserting/removing the horn does take a bit of gymnastics, but I love the bag! I also have a newer model cordura that came with a used 5/4 ...

I attended Northern Illinois University as a Music Ed major in the late '70's. I had been lucky to purchase a used Mirafone 186 which I treasured and still play. My teacher, Robert Bauchens, played a Hirsbruner kaisertuba in BBb in the Chicago Lyric Opera, The Grant Park Symphony, and the Chicago ...

You'll get it! I like his music. The concert band I play with played his "Music for a Festival" last year. Fun stuff!

Ha, I just previewed the concert band version on the J.W. Pepper website and the lick you mentioned IS in the euphonium Part. The tuba part is pretty standard and in a comfortable range! Good luck!

Funny thing, as a life-long BBb player who recently acquired and began to play seriously an EEb (YEB 321S), I find that my upper range does not necessarily increase, but tone is better and I don't tire as fast. I found the same thing years ago in college when I briefly borrowed an EEb to try and ...

Love my 321! Beautiful singing mid and upper register, and quite a ballsy low register, which the fourth valve definitely helps with. Bought it used this past spring for $2,200, and it is in near perfect shape. I have seen others for sale in this price range as well. I am in my 60's and have played ...