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Typically, you can play the C with alll valves down, and either lip it down, or pull all the slides you can reach. The B natural is only available as a priviledged tone and can be played 2-3. Some horns will play it better 1-2, but you'll have to experiment. The C can be played as a priviledged tone as well, typically 1-2.

Have fun experimenting!

2-3 false tone, though the quality of the false tones varies, as you know.

The question for me is this: How often are we asked to actually play a low B? I've never seen it in any of the music I've played. The only time I even came close was when I was asked by the guest conductor to play the tuba part to a Greensleeves arrangement down an octave. I did it all on false tones. But I personally thought it sounded better as written. I struggle on notes that low.

Rick "whose Holton has superb false tones" Denney

I've only seen it twice, and both times were in brass band music (written as pedal C# in treble clef).

If you had a compensating BBb horn it would be a simple 1234 combination.

2-3 combo for a false/privleged tone works fine for how often you'll really need it. Better on small and medium bore horns (like my Conn Eb or a Conn sousa). Was a little harder on my Miraphone, you have to aim just right. I do it just to play down to the pedal for my "Remington" warm-up, never had to use it in a piece of lit before.

Eric "who recalls Db above pedal Bb as being the lowest written note he's really needed in the last 3-4 years" L.

Play a mouthpiece like my Wick 1L and you can lip it with no need for slide pulling. As a matter of fact, I can buzz just about anything in any register and as long as I'm close with the valves the pitch I buzz will come out. This means I can set the buzz for the 5th partials and not have to use alternate fingerings, and I can set the low pitches with the conventional fingerings. Low Eb 1-4 takes a little pull, but not as much as with other mouthpieces.

Doc wrote:My low Bnat is best played 1&2 or 3. (3 really pops) What beefer needs a fifth valve? We don't need no stinkin' fifth valves!

I love the 5th valve on my 1291 BBb. Some of the alternate fingerings are very useful, as well as truing up the extreme low notes just above the pedals. The low C just rocks on this horn.

3 works really well on my old Miraphone 186 (Serial 66xx.)

Privilege tones are all well and good, but it's very difficult to double or triple tongue chromatically down to the pedal BBb or Eb with those tones as opposed to the extended range 4th and 5th valve lower notes. I prefer the timbre of those notes as well - even though my 3 valve sousaphone had great privilege tones my Miraphones' lower 4th/5th valve ranges are far superior ( In My Humble Opinion.) The boundary transition is also easier between the lower extended range notes and the pedals. With privilege tones you have two transitions - one from the bottom of the valved range to the privilege tone range, and then when you go from there to the pedals.

The question is whether the benefits of the 5th valve are worth the costs (expense, extra weight, one more thing to maintain) for the player in question.

Eric "enjoying his three-bangers, but certainly not immune from 5th valve envy" L.

It took me a while to get where I could consistently hit the low B with the false tone on my rotary horn. Keep working at it, it will never be a great note on your horn if it does not just "pop" right out. It is fun to just to be able to do it or for chromatic exercises, etc.

A few observations on "false" tones:

Some horns play them quite well, some not at all.

Like everything else on the tuba, they only work well with a lot of practice.

When considering tone quality, consider that these low notes are almost always sounded as part of an ensemble. With everyone else in your band playing, who can tell whether you used a fistful of valves or a false tone?

The resonance slots for false tones are broader. This has two implications: The tuba's response is faster; the notes start and stop more quickly. It is easy to bend the pitch a LOT, so you have to take great care to play these notes in tune.

I have a five-valve tuba, and use both conventionally-fingered low notes and false tones, depending on the articulation required and the sound I want. Both modes are equally important parts of my musical tool kit.

Down low, tubas produce practically no fundamental. It's all overtones. The mixes of overtones are different for the different modes of sounding low notes.

Cheers,
Allen

Hi Allen!

I knew, as soon as I saw this thread, that you would be posting at some point! Allen is THE KING of false tones!

See you soon, Allen!

Mike

I just don't worry about it. I play in a community band. I'll never see anything lower than the occasional Eb 1-4, and occasionally I'll go down the octave to low D 234 for a final or held note if the dynamic indication is not too loud. I only got my 186 because I did actually need that low Eb on a piece, and because my beloved Besson is starting to deteriorate and leak, and needs attention to be a "proper" concert instrument again.

Yes, for warmups I work the low register. But unless you're playing symphony, the reality is that most of the rest of it is just for flexibility or bragging rights.

The good thing about working the low near pedal register is that it helps you develop good breathing and relaxed open focus overall, which, of course, helps the rest of your playing.

Excellent summary of the entire issue, iii. I think someone once said if you want play the high range better, work on your low range.

Eric "who always needs to work on both extremes of his range, but seldom needs either in amateur groups" L.