Playing a Titanic Tuba

[DanPriven]

I have a couple of questions about that horn: It states in the article that it's 60' long and is BBBb. Since a BBb horn is 18', shouldn't a BBBb horn be 36' long?

Also, Derek, when you played that insane helicopter note, did I see correctly that your bottom lip was BELOW the rim of the mouthpiece? What the heck was that? Is that pro-tuba technique I should explore?

Thanks to all -

[Tuboxchef]

Also, Derek, when you played that insane helicopter note, did I see correctly that your bottom lip was BELOW the rim of the mouthpiece? What the heck was that? Is that pro-tuba technique I should explore?

Hello, yes...my bottom lip is below the mouthpiece. I don't know what other people call it, but I call it a tongue pedal. Basically you are replacing the bottom lip with the tongue, and now you're flapping the top lip and tongue. Sounds weird, but it allows me to play the super pedals on my tuba, and coincidentally it works GREAT on Big Carl. The highest note I'd use it on is pedal G (below low G) and I can get down to double pedal C# (sorta). Kind of a cool trick that actually sounds like a pitch, and doesn't take a lot of air to do. I also have greater control of it, I can play really soft pedals with it, though I can't play it louder than about forte...

[DanPriven]

Thanks! I now have a new experiment with which I can torment my besieged family.

I think "Pelican-ing" is a good term for it, because it looks like you're putting the mouthpiece in a pelican-pouch.