False tones on a 3 valve horn

[sdloveless]

My first false tone was reached by starting on Bb, and with no valves pressed, just sagging the pitch down. Keep going. At some point, the resonance will jump from a primary resonance (the Bb) to a secondary resonance (the Eb false tone).

Then, work on finding the center of that secondary resonance. Play that one pitch for a few weeks until it is solid. Then work your way down.

Rick “preferring the term ‘alternate resonance’” Denney

At this point, the Eb is fairly consistent, but not as good as I'd like it to be. I'll keep working on it. Sometimes, occasionally, if the stars are aligned and I've eaten my Wheaties, I can hit a D. This is hard. And it's fun. So thanks for all the advice, folks.

[Rick Denney]

It will always feel different. Record yourself through a microphone some distance away to get a better idea of how it sounds out front.

Rick “whose low range generally sucks but can use these notes reliably enough when needed” Denney

[Doc]

It’ll help to use the “proper” fingerings and I don’t know if you are. However, for me, it’s always been to use the fingering from the octave and whole-step note above. So, Eb is 0, D is 2nd, Db is 1st, C is 1&2, B nat is 2&3, and pedal Bb is 1&3 (if you’re looking for a similar timbre). This has given reasonably solid slots for all the notes below low E (123). The airstream needs to be pretty big, slow, and unfocused. I’d start by playing down chromatically to the low E and then gently easing into the Eb (open) while hearing the note in your head as clearly as possible. It won’t’ feel good...but will probably come out. The “false/privileged tones” have a pretty wide slot and require a lot of input from the player to be reliable and useful.

It will always feel different. Record yourself through a microphone some distance away to get a better idea of how it sounds out front.

And it will likely sound different under/behind the bell than it does out front. Once you slow the air down and not try to force it, that can help. It may sound and feel kind of funky, flatulent, or less than ideal TO YOU, but it will often sound better out front. If you can make it sound good behind the bell, chances are it will be great out front. I've done a couple of videos with my Conn 20J in which I play some false tones. The videos are decent, I suppose , but the false tones did sound much better on the recording (out front) than when I was playing them (behind the bell). If you have any interest in hearing them, I'll post them.

Describing helpful imagery is difficult via print, but... instead of a focused airstream, you might imagine "sighing" into the tuba - not pinpoint, not nebulous, but enough volume of air to get the lips going. It's not a small, rushing stream. It's more like a big, deep, slow river. How about this: A Mississippi river of warm dark chocolate...? I don't know if that is helpful, but I'm a sucker for dark chocolate.

Good luck and stay with it!