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I tune 3 to put 2&3 dead on, using 4 as a substitute for 1&3, pulling if needed for 1&2. How do you tune?

Lately, on my out of tune horn, I've been putting 3 at the right legnth to play a D (BBb), and the Db and Gb usually are in the ballpark. The Bb in the staff is spot on, though as 23 with the slide pulled out.
On my in tune CC, I have the 3rd slide pulled out to be about a quarter inch higher than my 4th slide, and all of my Eb's and Ab's feel good (and are in tune)

I would think the only use of tuning the 3rd valve so 1+3 are dead on if you had a 3 valve horn...2+3 and just 3 would be way too flat then. It could work well on a sousa in marching band...lots of low Cs, not many Dbs and Gb. (the keys of Bb and Eb are EVERYWHERE)

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I considered tuning the Miraphone so that 3=12, but tuning 3 so that 23 is good is just easier overall. This might be different with a 5 valve horn and probably would be different on a 6 valve tuba.

Like anything else, the word primarily should be in the poll. It is a good thing that at least on my 186 3rd is a long slide, because I've had to use it in all the above, depending on the piece, the intonation required, and the phrasing required.

For example, in university community band a couple of years ago I played one piece that had an ostinato C to D to G and so forth, solo tuba. The guy who was assigned to play it tried the usual 4 to 1+2 and burbled worse than a rugby player in the pub after the game. One gig he couldn't make it, so I played it. I shoved 3 to be an in tune D & G, pulled 1 for the C and therefore only had one rotor change and one lip slur as the ostinato would repeat and the legato line was as smooth as it needed to be. Then there was a transition where I had just enough beats of rest to reset my slides to the "primary" configuration, mostly 3 pulled so 2+3 is in tune and riding throttle on 1, and play the rest of the piece accordingly.

Yes. I agree wholeheartedly. For a beginner. As a person's ability improves, and as the music becomes more complex, then one needs to learn all of the alternate ways of doing things to accommodate the requirements of the music. That is why in my first post I answered that the 3rd should be tuned primarily so that 2+3 is in tune.

What is interesting is that this "how to tune 3rd valve" is just as important on 4-valve compensating valve tubas, as well as conventional tubas, because the compensating loops only come into play when the 4th valve is depressed. So for all notes that take at least one of the first three valves, but not the 4th, all these same issues apply.

Hard to answer the question until you specify: which register?

I don't want to assume anything here, but, do these tuning principals also apply to a 4v compensating EEb?

sloan wrote:Hard to answer the question until you specify: which register?

The answer would be all ranges. The question doesn't address tuning on the fly, or specific notes that need attention. It could be restated as, "How do you set up the tuning on your 3rd valve before you start to play so that there is a minimum of tuning on the fly necessary?".

tundratubist wrote:I don't want to assume anything here, but, do these tuning principals also apply to a 4v compensating EEb?

Yes, because the comp loops are only activated by the 4th valve, so open, 2, 1, 1+2 and 2+3 function the same on a 4-valve comp as on a conventional non-comp tuba.

OTOH, on a 3-valve comp, the 3rd valve is tuned dead, because the comp loops work of the 3rd valve, so 2+3 and 1+3 are compensated and in tune.