projection vs. BLLATTT!

[kontrabass]

A discussion question more than anything else.
How do you play loud and low without blatting?

[Leland]

First responder!

Um...

Two problems that I hear are 1) tonguing too heavy and 2) not buzzing at the center of the horn. Both are pretty evident in how they help create ugly sounds.

Even if those two aspects are taken care of, there's a limit to a quality high volume. The size & flare of horn and the mouthpiece can both alter that top dynamic level, but the player is quite important, too. Two players can have very different limits on the same instrument.

There gets to be a point, though, where you just might have to get to the point of edge just to be heard. HOWEVER, if you're the only instrument playing down there, anything you do can still be heard simply because there's nothing to cause interference.

Here's a graph of human hearing response -- higher values are lower sensitivity. That is, if a 1 kHz sound is heard at 60 dB, a 50 Hz sound must be played at 80 dB to be perceived at the same volume. Interpret this as you choose.

[tubatooter1940]

On my E-flat tuba,I notice a tendency from B in the staff and all tones below to be really easy to blatt.All I have found to do to prevent this is to
open the embochure a bit to open the sound as much as possible then I can add more power without cracking off into a blatt.
Tubatooter1940