one of my teachers confirmed a suspicion of mine, and it works.

[bloke]

This has been discussed before, but I'm just reaffirming it.

This teacher/mentor is an extremely fine/successful/widely-known-to-tuba-players person, but I'm not going to name-drop...and first or second guesses probably wouldn't be correct.

In a lesson (and this was probably two decades ago), I was talking about how "playing something on a smaller tuba" seems (??) to render that passage (if not playing in general...??) easier to execute on a very large tuba...to which they raised their eyebrows, perked up, responded VERY MUCH in the affirmative, and even had me do it (right there, on the spot).

For several weeks F@tB@stard has taken a sabbatical (yes, you know, because I created a thread to that effect).
- First I was sick...some sort of cold-vid, or something (??)
- Next, I used the F tuba on a complete orchestra concert.
- Subsequently, I used a small 4/4 BB-flat tuba to play a complete orchestra concert.

Today (having slept NEARLY until - previous CDT - noon today, as these freeway philharmonic weekends are - candidly - exhausting for this old man), I picked up the huge tuba (well into the evening) and played through stuff...fast/legato/not-frendly-key-signature stuff that probably isn't "supposed" to be particularly easy with an over-21mm bore 6/4 BB-flat rotary tuba.

well...It was easy, and the results were very good...

...(OK "very good" to my ears - and maybe my ego falsely boosted the quality of what I was hearing myself do, but typically my ears are the most critical towards my own playing).

...fwiw.

[MiBrassFS]

Agreed.

You find the path with the smaller tuba providing closer guardrails. You’ve found the path and remember the guardrails when using the bigger tuba. This has been my experience.

[Three Valves]

It’s as if tubas were meant to be large!

[bloke]

Agreed.

You find the path with the smaller tuba providing closer guardrails. You’ve found the path and remember the guardrails when using the bigger tuba. This has been my experience.

Don't misinterpret this as argumentative:

I'm not sure I get the "guardrails" analogy, but that's OK.
To me, it's just that it's easier to play quite a few things on smaller/shorter tubas, my mind/body goes through (so-called) difficult passages with easier-to-play instruments, I (probably?) physically play those passages (as well as other passages) on a very large tuba in the same ways, and - well - stuff works.

OK: "guardrails", then.

-- --- ... - .-.. -.-- --..-- / .. / . -. .--- --- -.-- / - .... . / -....- / .-- .... . - .... . .-. / .. / .. -. .. - .. .- - . / - .... . -- / --- .-. / --- - .... . .-. ... / .. -. .. - .. .- - . / - .... . -- / -....- / - .... .-. . .- -.. ... / - .... .- - / .... .- ...- . / - --- / -.. --- / .-- .. - .... / .- -.-. - ..- .- .-.. .-.. -.-- / .--. .-.. .- -.-- .. -. --. / - .... . / - ..- -... .- --..-- / .- ... / - .... . / --. --- --- ..-. -... .- .-.. .-.. ... / - . -. -.. / - --- / .- ...- --- .. -.. / - .... . ... . / - .... .-. . .- -.. ... .-.-.-

[Pauvog1]

I remember you (I think, maybe someone else) posting something like this maybe a year or so ago (different circumstance). I tried it for a last minute quintet gig this spring. The group was used to a larger instrument (and most the rep leaned that way) so I used my CC, but I worked up the hard parts on F. It made it a lot cleaner. Fast forward to now, and I'm tired/not feeling great (nothing serious) and did a rehearsal (similar situation) on the F, and think I like it better in that context.

[bloke]

I remember you (I think, maybe someone else) posting something like this maybe a year or so ago (different circumstance). I tried it for a last minute quintet gig this spring. The groups was used to a larger instrument (and most the rep leaned that way) so I used my CC, but I worked up the hard parts on F. It made it a lot cleaner. Fast forward to now, and I'm tired/not feeling great (nothing serious) and did a rehearsal (similar situation) on the F, and think I like it better in that context.

This is certainly not profound, but...
"A good F tuba is good."

I ALWAYS like how I sound (in symphony orchestra recordings - even laptop microphone - when using the F tuba...and sure: "loud" pieces.
Things sound different to us (the operators) from underneath the tubas' bells, and also FEEL different. These things epically affect the way that WE perceive what OTHERS hear.

OLD SCHOOL "pops" arrangements (probably/often) call for a "Hollywood"-sounding 6/4 tuba (perhaps even with recording bells), but a VERY large percentage of so-called "serious" orchestral compositions utilize the tuba as the bass of the brass (rather than the bass of the orchestra - whereby the BASSES are the bass of the orchestra). The entire brass section (even the horns - compared to typical 6/4 tuba resonance) put out a very clear type of sound. Thus, (in my view) the tuba almost always should as well. I believe we tend to ignore the fact that THE SINGLE tuba - which was the initiator of the use of "American-style" 6/4 tubas in orchestras - was originally purchased because the lifelong owner of it was offered a deal from his teacher - who even offered no-interest financing (and just because Asian knock-offs have made these more affordable doesn't define them as the best choice for many things). A VERY large percentage of recently-written orchestral "pops" arrangements come of MUCH better when the "tuba" part is played on an F cimbasso.