Compensating systems

[bone-a-phone]

Here's another chance to educate a trombone player.

Compensating systems. Trombone has the greatest compensating system in the world - an ear and a slide.

I have a compensating 4v euphonium, and it plays mostly in tune, after adjusting some of the valve slides, so I kinda get it. But here's what I don't get. You don't see tubas being referred to much as having compensating systems unless they are like Eb, and certainly only the piston valve horns. How do all of these rotor horns claim "point and shoot" intonation without messing with slides? I get the flat step 5th valve, that seems like a semi-manual compensating system.

I used to watch Sam Pilafian play a lot, and he was always pulling slides. I don't see that as much any more. Am I just imagining that, are people lipping things more, or are the instruments magically more in tune than 30 years ago?

[Donn]

I used to watch Sam Pilafian play a lot, and he was always pulling slides. I don't see that as much any more. Am I just imagining that, are people lipping things more, or are the instruments magically more in tune than 30 years ago?

Yes - no?

Someone else would have to assess the trends, but as you know, there's much more lipping, than on trombone. Whether you have a "compensating" valve system or not (and most do not.) The conventional wisdom is (I think) that those who do that slide pulling thing, are supposed to be doing it for tone, not pitch, so for the question "are the instruments magically more in tune", you may also think of it as "do the instruments sound good at a broader range of pitches".

(OK, I don't honestly know for sure that tuba/euphonium players "lip" more for pitch, than trombone players. In principle, we credit trombone players with the ability to place their slides right on the exact spot, but I don't know for a fact that there aren't a lot of near-misses that we don't hear, because the right pitch comes out anyway.)