Anyone here march Contra

[jon112780]

Is there a place (or an off season drum corps) that has more than one kind of these over-the-shoulder tubas? I'm the brass line instructor for a couple of competitive marching bands in the area, and the band directors sometimes ask about sousaphones vs. contras.

In high school, we marched the 4/4 3-valve (right shoulder) Kings which were not balanced real well, but didn't take much air (and were easy to overblow). However, in the last 5 or six years, I have marched sousaphone. They are easy to carry, but I have never found one that played well in tune and didn't sound 'blatty'. I would prefer a more direct, centered sound, but there are no contras where I am in order to try out.

What are the different opinions from the guys who have marched contra in high school or DCI? Would it be possible to try out a couple different models in the midwest? Of course cost is an issue with all public school programs, and the directors (which are good friends of mine) were thinking of getting perhaps (if in their budgets) one a year for the next two or three years. Is there a place that sells used contras somewhere?

[Leland]

What are the different opinions from the guys who have marched contra in high school or DCI?

Look for a revised King BBb contra soon -- Phantom Regiment is reportedly working on new versions of their contras & euphoniums.

Right now, the current BBb contras (most of which are new designs within the past 3 or 4 years) are really nice-playing horns; the corps using each have been getting quite good sounds out of them all. See if you can get to Illinois and chat up the Cavaliers and Phantom guys at a camp to see what they think.

[Charlie Goodman]

Is there a place (or an off season drum corps) that has more than one kind of these over-the-shoulder tubas? I'm the brass line instructor for a couple of competitive marching bands in the area, and the band directors sometimes ask about sousaphones vs. contras.

In high school, we marched the 4/4 3-valve (right shoulder) Kings which were not balanced real well, but didn't take much air (and were easy to overblow). However, in the last 5 or six years, I have marched sousaphone. They are easy to carry, but I have never found one that played well in tune and didn't sound 'blatty'. I would prefer a more direct, centered sound, but there are no contras where I am in order to try out.

What are the different opinions from the guys who have marched contra in high school or DCI? Would it be possible to try out a couple different models in the midwest? Of course cost is an issue with all public school programs, and the directors (which are good friends of mine) were thinking of getting perhaps (if in their budgets) one a year for the next two or three years. Is there a place that sells used contras somewhere?

I dunno if this will help, but there's a pretty big DCI show over in Kalamazoo at Western Michigan University every summer, you might have a chance to at least talk to some of the guys marching there.

[josh wagner]

i marched G die nasties for two years for a drum corps and i just gotta say make sure your horn snaps are as fast as everyone else actually make them fast. and make sure you keep your arms in theright possition all the time and don't slouch cause it will kill your back. oh and if you can't see out of the left side of your horn know your sets very very well almost flawless it's the only way. that or learn to look through the brass that is also another easy way to look at it. but none the less just make sure you have horn facings right and can pop that thing up faster than the trumpets (always impresses the instructor) but if you have a horn that isn't to sturdy around where you put it on your shoulder be careful when you snap it. the die nasties that i marched we could throw them up on our shoulders as hard as we humanly could and our shoulder would give before the horn. anywho best of luck with the contra it's fun but alot more responsibility than sousaphone or so i think.

[Charlie Goodman]

the die nasties that i marched we could throw them up on our shoulders as hard as we humanly could and our shoulder would give before the horn.

yeah, that's why i loved the dynasty 5/4 BBb horns, we had a guy get mad and punch it, and in barely dented, however with the new kings, although they sound better, we would dent the bells snapping them up, and i actually broke 2 braces on horn snaps.

I have a friend that bought a very nice 188 CC and, while attempting to learn C fingerings in something like the first week, punched the bottom bow and still has four nice little dents right in a row.

We're tuba players. Chill.

[Tom Holtz]

We're tuba players. Chill.

This is chill.

[Leland]

This is chill.

Sweet...

Apart from the leadpipe being on the wrong side (AT-4's do fire from the right shoulder, though) and the horn being about half the actual size, I would've thought that it really was a converted K-90.

[Contramark]

I liked the horns I marched were nice. The last year I play ona 5/4 BBb DyNASTY, which is a wilson tuba. All the parts were made int he willson plant in the swiss.

They are tough horns to march. Just take care of your body and the horn. You will get such a sweet sound on the horn you get (as long as they arent convertables).

PM if you have any other questions.

Mark