There is this old vaudeville play / jazz standard / wherever it originated Gassenhauer about potatos and tomatos which provided a suggestion of what to do with discussions like that. Yes, of course, the notion that words have meanings is a very important one. But I suggest to apply it to expressions ...

Many years ago I went to this tuba recital where a mixture of "normal" and "avantgarde" literature for unaccompanied tuba was presented, including improvised passages. At one instance, the tubist (!) took an empty round cookie box such as this one https://www.walmart.com/ip/Royal-Dansk-Danish-Butter ...

Bloke wrote: What's their name and phone number? I´ve been there and done that, and if I ever have to buy a BBb again, 5-valved it will be. When you´re an orchestral tubist, maybe not: rarely do you see a 5v-BBb in German concert halls, and if a 5th valve were SUPERIOR in that setting, they´d be st ...

There´s more where that came from.

This is WDR BigBand staff, not the worst people to take inspiration from...

What I offered above was hints on improving the response-time that elapses between your initiation of a note and that note´s actual appearance at the bell. Or rather, your control and awareness thereof. Once you achieved YOUR best (not necessarily your shortest attainable, but rather your best ...

I second the idea of giving your horn another chance. I´ve been totally in your situation, several times: - switching from flugelhorn to tuba was the biggest challenge timing-wise - adding CC to F was a challenge as well - switching from 3/4 CC to 5/4 BBb even more so. Don´t over-analyse it. Find an ...

Pebble finish?!?
Is that the bigger brother of sand blasting, the latter being used for satin finish?

...erm, not for me, I guess. I didn´t like golf-ball style motorbike helmets, either

While both versions are more than presentable,
I liked the French C-Tuba version better.
Compared to the F-tuba, it sounded more like "home range" of that instrument (a somehow more resonant sound, if that makes sense).

I use lip slurs all the time and have been spending long hours practising them. As well as breath attacks in favor of tongued articulation, which comes in handy, at times. But I find myself tongueing fast slurred runs for clarity of timing and pitch and to avoid a general impression of sloppiness ...

It hasn´t, really, so far.
Setting dynamics aside for a while and playing stuff in a healthy mp is going a long way for me.
That and making a good breathing plan.

On the other hand, I´m not playing overly challenging stuff most of the time.

Uncle Beer, you´re correct, of course. In order to take care of that, you don´t lean the horn against a wall, but into a corner of the shower booth. That way, the horn has sufficient resting points to stabilise its position: - bottom bow rests on the ground and won´t slide because of the friction pr ...

If I understand correctly, the QHR is simply a short piece of hose with a mouthpiece shaft on one side and a screw fitting on the other. While that certainly offers a convenient way to flush an instrument, it may be a good idea to make some adaptations for home use: I´d suggest an electric-drill- ...

I´m too feebly educated in chemistry to actually shed light on this, so this post should rather be taken as a nudge to knowledgeable forum members to maybe chime in and help me out. To my knowledge, silver tarnishes faster with rising sulfur percentage in air, because it´s sulfur that forms silver s ...

I´m not sure I´d worry too much about absolute pitch fluctuations at practising booths due to temperature change. Maybe that´s because I´m among those lucky persons who do NOT have perfect absolute pitch and hopefully a decent relative one. - You´ll have to adjust to absolute pitch variations wher ...

Nice and relevant selection of testing literature. In my opinion You demonstrated that these are definitely no cheap pieces of junk. (And at over 8000 € they better not be, either) To MY ear the larger horn worked better both on the Faust excerpt as well as the Bierzelt-Funk :cheers: So what´s YOUR t ...

Follow-up on that rowing-thing: The water rower I ordered arrived last week. (wooden frame, plastic vessel with water and a rotating paddle wheel in it, your rowing energy will be dissipated by the water´s flow resistance). First impressions: Great machine, and immediate positive effects: After the ...

I´ll offer the German proverb "Ohne Ziel kein Weg" (in English: "There´ll be no path if there´s no aim) as a VERY short paraphrase to Bloke´s concept. Playing what you´re good at isn´t practising, it´s having fun (which, although ineffective for improvement, is still a great idea ´cause it may enhanc ...

You forgot to mention that ermine upholstery on the inside.
Looks good in hard cases, too. You only need about 300 of those critters.

In the early 90s, I had this videotape (yeah, I´m THAT old) of a Roger Bobo masterclass at Riva Del Garda, Italy. It had been produced and broadcast by ARTE, a French/German coproduced culture TV channel. Young Heiko Triebener was among the post-grad-participants, as well as two very promising and ...

Being on the heavier side of life myself, here´s what I experienced. Others have commented to that effect already, and what You state hints you´re aware of that as well. Anything that might facilitate diaphragm action should be embraced. Abdominal tissue and organs need to move in order to let the d ...