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I play solos at church (mostly baroque transcriptions for tuba and organ) a few times a year.
I use the same mouthpiece, a Denis Wick 2, on my Besson 981 for solos, orchestra and everything in between.

I use my GW Alan baer model for everything..Then again I don't have various horns to switch around on, I imagine if I had different horns i'd have one MP per horn.

Except marching, and thats only because i'd cry if i dropped it, let alone on pavement.

I like to use the same mouthpiece for each specific instrument that i play on.

Pt65 on my Eb/f tubas

pt50 on the C

It would be difficult to get the desired concept of sound in my head into the hall by playing the same mouthpiece on both big and small tubas.

I do at least...3 solos a week at church. I like to stick to my loud LM7 on both the 2oj and my 186 5uc. i also use it for marching. unless its cold. then i use my kelly 18

andrew the tuba player wrote:I do at least...3 solos a week at church.

Three solos a week? at least? Wow!

Generally a couple solos a year. Some years more, some less.

99% of my playing until recently was on a medium size, deep cup PT-90 for all my tubas (Eb to Neptune) which I find works well.

I have got a shallow cup PT-65 which I use if I desire a less tubby sound (maybe for an ophicleide part), or for extreme high register playing. However, I don't necessarily swap mouthpiece for solos. I played the Vaughan Williams Concerto using the PT-90 earlier this year, because I preferred the sound, but the PT-65 came out for the "euph" solo in British Sea Songs (going up to high G) and would no doubt for Bydlo.

I am still experimenting with mouthpiece choice for playing my recently purchased Cerveny Kaiser. BBb bass parts in brass bands are mostly in the low register, so I am thinking of using something larger - a PT-48 and G&W Baer CC are mouthpieces I am trying at present.

I'm trying to put on at least a half recital every semester. (had one last spring, will have one in about two months, and will be performing my full Junior recital in the coming spring)

As far as mouthpieces, I'm a one horn guy still at the moment, although I've been trying to buy an F for close to a year now. I use my G&W Caver for just about everything. Last year I was in one of IC's lower ensembles. That group was large enough for me to justify using a Bayamo. this year I made it into the Wind Ensemble, which being only forty players or so keeps me on the Caver.

Bob1062 wrote:Does ANYONE still use just one mouthpiece for EVERYTHING?

With John Turk's recommendation, I bought a Bach 18 when I was in high school. I'm now 42 and have used that very same Bach 18 ever since for all of my playing.

While studying with John Turk, I don't recall him ever switching mouthpieces. He used the Bach 18 for everything from Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, to Wagner, to Vaughan Williams Tuba Concerto, to Kraft: Encounters II, and to the Clark: Variations on Carnival of Venice.

Unlike many of you on this forum I am nowhere near a legitimate musician. My trio ( a sextet on our "Magic Chair" album) consists of a guitar strummer and a harmonica-ist leaving me with the bulk of the solo work to do on my tuba.
I now use only my G&W Diablo mouthpiece that fits the small shank of my 1940 King Eb recording tuba.
Hear four complete tunes- two with our trio and two with three "hired guns" added at:
http://www.myspace.com/johnrenomusic
Dennis Gray
tubatooter1940
www.johnreno.com/

Bob1062 wrote:I see people talking about solo mouthpieces, and I somewhat understand the need for that if you play a big/deep/... mouthpiece in larger groups (but that also begs the question- why can't we sound on solos like we do when we play ensemble music?).

Let's see:

Personally, I do NOT see why people change mouthpieces for solos. I can understand if it's a color issue, but to say "I need a a solo mouthpiece to play high(or whatever)" makes no sense to me. Now do NOT think I'm bashing anyone. If it works for you, then a sincere more power to you. I play on a Miraphone 186 CC with a Sidey Classic SSH. That setup allows me to do whatever I want on that tuba, whether it be low or quite high like what is required of the Raum concertos.

Bob1062 wrote:But how often do most people play solos except for auditions? We're TUBA players, not violinists!

It is THAT attitude that will ALWAYS limit you as a musician. We should always work to improve ourselves. We are NOT tuba players. That is just our selected medium for music making. But you know this already, right?

Ralph

Bob1062 wrote:That's actually a joke....

Oh trust me, there are quite a few running jokes. Jokes come in MANY forms.

Ralph

Bob,
Perhaps your question is a followup to my mouthpiece question posted not too long ago.
My problem is simple: I use a relatively large (but not bathtub) heavyweight V-cup mouthpiece for the majority of my playing. The weight makes the mouthpiece look larger than it actually is. It works great until you get to around Bb - C on top of the staff. Then the sound is not as clear and focused as I would like in that range without any other instruments playing with me - it is more "spread" to borrow a term trombonists like to throw around. I am looking for a piece that will take me to an octave above that C and still maintain a great deal of focus and clarity. [Keep in mind that the highest note I am talking above is actually one step higher than the standard Bb trumpet tuning note, and you will have an idea of what I am looking for.]
I may have found it in the Bobo Solo - I will be putting one through its paces this week.

schlepporello wrote:What are "solos"?

That's when you play the notes during the rests that the composer should have put there... if he had understood the capabilities of the instrument the way you do.

schlepporello wrote:What are "solos"?

apparently, if you play often in the rests, it requires a different mouthpiece.

As we go higher on a tuba the thing mellows out and the sound loses any "edge" to it. I get impatient soloing in high range and love to get back down low where blats are an option.
Listeners tell me the tuba high range sounds like a french horn. They say they like it. I've made worse sounds and I like french horn but not in a jazz or rock context.
The "Blatweasel"

http://www.johnreno.com/home.html

Last season in community band there was the few measures in the middle of the Camphouse Whatsoever Things that another guy in section played. It was alright on BBb, but it would have set a lot better on an F. The year before that, there was a section of a few measures of a tuba duet on an theme and variations arrangement of the Schumann Happy Farmer that was fun to play with some good chromaticism. So each season or every other season there are a few measures here and there. And that's just fine with me. If I wanted to really be a soloist, I would have stayed in the upper brass instead of choosing to be a denizen of the trenches.

iiipopes wrote:Last season in community band there was the few measures in the middle of the Camphouse Whatsoever Things

Count your blessings.

Let's see - last summer in Community Band the tubas had the "If I only had a Brain" section of The Wizard of Oz medley.

A "solo" mouthpiece would have been contra-indicated...

sloan wrote:

iiipopes wrote:Last season in community band there was the few measures in the middle of the Camphouse Whatsoever Things

Count your blessings.

Let's see - last summer in Community Band the tubas had the "If I only had a Brain" section of The Wizard of Oz medley.

A "solo" mouthpiece would have been contra-indicated...

That is one thing playing in an orchestra, the tuba more often gets solos. I did Mahler Symphony No.5 last week and that has eight real tuba solos (of a couple measures each).

Rose Solo = TU27 = my normal piece of choice for the Marzan.

Well, solos in a recital format sense...rarely anymore.

Solos in a jazz sense, frequently.

Dedicated mpc each for F and BBb. No matter what setting the F is used in, it has the same mouthpiece in it, unless I'm outside in the cold (Astro nylon) or leave the f'n mouthpiece at home (whatever I have in the car or the case!!!) The BBb won't be used for anything but jazz/ethnic settings.