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I am planning on buying a tuba in the next few months, and I' am trying to figure out a way to prepare incase I go CC.

I have came up with the idea that if I continue to learn trumpet and become fluent in reading so that I'm just like F# = 2 F = 1 G = 0.. etc etc.. then when I get a CC tuba, since I am fluent at reading the note names quick on bass clef can't I just think by note name wat the fingering is?

hope that isnt' confusing.. just think about it.. note names not location of the notes will have the same fingeirngs? would this be a smart idea to become fluent? I've began learning trumpet and i can read trumpet fairly good but im not as good as i am at linking note name to fingering, but more so location the staff.. which ofcourse I am working on..

has anyone else tried to learn this way? I plan on learning anyway, but just wondering if i should keep this in my mind and work on making the connections now so come in a few months if i go CC I'll be prepared..

Thanks

Hi Jacob,

When I switched to CC a few years back I expected to come up with some neat system. I finally just sucked it up and learned the fignerings, and have been very grateful to myself ever since.

Associating the note name with the fingering (rather than location) is a good idea, but NOT using trumpet fignerings. That gets into the whole mess of transposition which is a killer. You'll see "G" but expect to hear "F" and you'll get all confused.

On the reverse side, however, learning CC should make trumpet fingerings easier, assuming you can read treble clef.

My advice would be to figner through familiar pieces on your current tuba using CC fingerings (play or just blow) but begin to associate the sounds with the fingerings in your head. That's the best way to learn it.

My $.02

.

Jacob:

I played French Horn all through college which has fingerings very similar to trumpet (F=1, F#=2, G=0, etc.). Even though a horn is in F and a trumpet is in Bb, it was very easy to pick up a trumpet and read trumpet music with it. The fact that C on the trumpet and C on the horn were not the same pitch was not a problem.

I switched to tuba earlier this year, and purposefully bought a CC instrument rather than a BBb for the exact reasoning you present--I wanted to read a C and continue to play it open. It worked great. You should worry about the notes not "sounding" the same only if you have perfect pitch.

Good luck.

Tom

pw wrote:Nobody really has to learn treble cleff; it's just helpful at times, like when reading scores.

You've obviously never played in a brass band where everything (except for the bass trombone) is in treble clef.

Right now, I know of a euphonium player in our local tuba ensemble who's going through hell avoiding learning treble clef because almost 90 percent of the 400 or so euphonium charts in our library are in TC.

An extra skill never hurts.