Tuba sin?

andrew the tuba player · Mon Oct 22, 2007 6:50 pm

I noticed that the pedal range on my Mirafone was stuffy to. Even when i had a private lessons teacher show me some new fingerings, It still seemed to...lack a little. Although, i will saythats the only intonation 'problem' i have. and its work able. But, theres just something about the Eepher that played that makes me want one to play all the time. The intonation through low Ab (thats all the fingerings i knew) was great and out spoken. It was probably a 5 or 6/4. It was a big old conn that my repair man had built back up.

andrew the tuba player · Mon Oct 22, 2007 6:57 pm

By the way. About the private lessons. At the U of A band camo i took lessons with Mr. Ben Pierce. He said he thought i was excepionately well and we ended up just playing duets from my church book because what he wanted to teach me took alot more tme than what he usually teaches high schoolers. He said my range was good and tone was awsome. I dont mean to brag, just to kinda...let you know were i stand from someone elses opinion.

JCalkin · Post by **JCalkin** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 7:12 pm

andrew the tuba player wrote:I noticed that the pedal range on my Mirafone was stuffy to. Even when i had a private lessons teacher show me some new fingerings, It still seemed to...lack a little. Although, i will saythats the only intonation 'problem' i have. and its work able.

By "intonation" I don't mean stuffiness. You are referring to the response and ease of getting the notes to slot, which is definitely more difficult in the extreme low register on CC (read: lotsa valves down) unless you learn to finesse the air and not force those notes, which causes the horn to back up and become "stuffy."

What I was referring to is the inherent pitch problems you will likely encounter in the extreme low end of a bass horn when five (sometimes six) valves come into play. True, the same problems are found in the big tubas, but you'll (probably) run into the problematic valve combinations more frequently on the smaller horns, due to register.

Regarding stuffiness, I've found that for me, the tendency for the horn to back up and demand more finesse with the air stream is also present on my f tuba, though to a slightly lesser degree. I have to treat the 2-3-4 low A on my F with the same care I treat the 2-3-4 low E on my CC or nastiness can result. Now compare the frequency with which you see low As vs. how often you see low Es and you'll see what I mean about the difficulties you'll run into as a "bass tuba only" player.

As always, YMMV.

andrew the tuba player · Mon Oct 22, 2007 7:28 pm

Oh, another by the way, I maybe aquireing my schools 20j. It'll be going out on a limb, but the lead pipe has come unsoldered a bit and the band director hates enough (because of the big "ugly" forward bell) that i may finally have a chance. If so, i'll just need to have a quick solder job and it'll be good to go.
As far as the intonation and ptch issues, Yeah, the mirafones good to about low F and after that it gets pretty shakey on tuneing. Usually i can pull it a little bit either way with my lips and it'll come out in tune. I think the lowest note I've ever had was a Low F below fundmental Bb. (then i got to do a double octive jump

he first time i bombed it. but after that it was good.

)

DBCooper · Post by **DBCooper** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 8:41 pm

andrew the tuba player wrote:He said my range was good and tone was awsome

But was it "World Class!?"

andrew the tuba player · Mon Oct 22, 2007 9:12 pm

...Its not the best. But for a high schooler he said its good. I impressed the 1st chair (which me being 3rd chair in the first band would make him the top tuba dog of band camp) with a simple 2nd octive Eb. (Actually as a side note, how good is it if a highschooler can do 2 octives and third octive g (A on a good day) high and g below pedal Bb?)

TexTuba · Post by **TexTuba** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 10:10 pm

andrew the tuba player wrote:...Its not the best. But for a high schooler he said its good. I impressed the 1st chair (which me being 3rd chair in the first band would make him the top tuba dog of band camp) with a simple 2nd octive Eb. (Actually as a side note, how good is it if a highschooler can do 2 octives and third octive g (A on a good day) high and g below pedal Bb?)

Pretty good, but here's a more important question:

How good is it that a high schooler can't spell OCTAVE?

Ralph

sloan · Post by **sloan** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 10:55 pm

schlepporello wrote:
TexTuba wrote:How good is it that a high schooler can't spell OCTAVE?
Ralph! Quit pickin' on poor Andy!
That's my job.

Yeah - he spells as gud as Bloke.

sloan · Post by **sloan** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 11:31 pm

euphoniumguy227 wrote:
Sloan wrote:
schiaparelli wrote: Ralph! Quit pickin' on poor Andy!
That's my job.
Yeah - he spells as good as Bloke.

No, I didn't.

andrew the tuba player · Tue Oct 23, 2007 8:14 am

schlepporello wrote: Ralph! Quit pickin' on poor Andy!
That's my job.

Yeah and you do a pretty goood job of t to schelpy.