6-Valve F Tuba Tuning in Europe

[Mark]

It appears that the more popular configuration for a 6-valve F tuba in Europe is the 4R + 2L. The 5th and 6th vales are operated by the left hand. Does this mean that European tubists are not slide pulling?

[UDELBR]

Does this mean that European tubists are not slide pulling?

Fine tuning's not so crucial in Europe (I'm only half joking...).

[Wyvern]

Remember with 6 valves it should be easier to get in tune using different combinations. Any fine adjustments they probibly lip as we do in England (also no way of slide pulling while playing on a 3+1 tuba)

[windshieldbug]

I tried to get a pedal operated 6th valve, but no luck...

So I think no matter where you are, if you have a 6 valve horn, it means you're using both hands...

[Tubaing]

It appears that the more popular configuration for a 6-valve F tuba in Europe is the 4R + 2L. The 5th and 6th vales are operated by the left hand. Does this mean that European tubists are not slide pulling?

They could have a trigger for a slide in addition to the valves for slide pulling.

[windshieldbug]

I tried to get a pedal operated 6th valve, but no luck...

Those are so awkward for strolling gigs.....

Would work pretty well with my walker, though

[cjk]

It appears that the more popular configuration for a 6-valve F tuba in Europe is the 4R + 2L. The 5th and 6th vales are operated by the left hand. Does this mean that European tubists are not slide pulling?

Europe is a big place. Different countries in Europe have different traditions and practices.

Rudolf Meinl tubas usually have a second valve trigger.

There are several Meinl Weston models that come with second valve triggers and they'll make whatever you like at the factory.

The tuba player in the Mnozil Brass plays a 5 valve Rudolf Meinl F tuba (4R, 1L) with 5th and 2nd valve triggers. He uses the fifth valve trigger a lot.

A six valve instrument doesn't need any slide pulling between the first and second partials. A five valve tuba has some lousy notes down there regardless of the fifth valve length.

If you have a five valve F tuba that requires a lot of slide pulling elsewhere, I'm sorry. If you have a tuba with a nice scale, 6 valves, and a second valve trigger, no other slide pulling is required. On a lot of instruments, the 2nd valve trigger isn't necessary. It isn't on my B&S.

Just because somebody doesn't pull slides doesn't mean they're playing out of tune.

I believe the 5+1 F tuba is a mostly American idea.

[OldsRecording]

I tried to get a pedal operated 6th valve, but no luck...

So I think no matter where you are, if you have a 6 valve horn, it means you're using both hands...

Unless you are a mutant...

[windshieldbug]

Unless you are a mutant...

In my case, that's beside the point...

[SplatterTone]

The movie Gattaca. The pianist with six fingers on each hand.

[tubeast]

To me (non-professional enthusiast with not that much time spent with professional teachers) the following seems to make sense. My MW46 F-tuba has true half and whole steps for 5th and 6th valve, respectively. (Although MW claims them to be "large 1/2 and large 1/1 valves"). It doesn´t make sense to use them as replacements for "2" or "1" in combination with "4", consequently.
The B&S CC features a "large whole step" thumb-operated 5th all of you are familiar with.

- six valved horns like mine work well to play high-speed passages between partials I and II. These are frequently needed in quintet settings where Germans will almost invariably use the F-tuba.
- in this case considering the half step 5th and full step 6th valve as "little", "more", and "most" (5th+6th) compensating valves adds fluency to MY playing. I can live with smaller intonation flaws while doing fast chromatic scales.
- the "four valves + thumb operated 5th + easy accessible 4th slide" setup in my CC-tuba has proven to be more exact pitchwise and would be my choice of mode d´emploi. I find it quite hard to do truly fluent passages, though, since the right hand is forced to use a different fingering pattern compared to higher registers.
- What I consider worst is a "4 valves right + 5th valve left" design commonly found on (mostly German) F-tubas, combining the disadvantages of both aforementioned setups.

I DO think that the American habit of using 5 right hand operated valves in combination with slides well accessible for the left hand is superior to a system of slide triggers (from the engineer´s point of view).
Edit: simply because the same task is carried out at the same speed and level of precision, but with ZERO additional parts.
FMEA as well as controllers tell us that it is superior design if we DON´T add parts + labor to adress a problem.