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the sparkly sousaphone seems to be the obvious choice

Supplemented by the gold sparkle Kellyberg.

I wouldn't sweat over it.

(Gray and supposedly 61F in Seattle, 11:30 AM, feels colder. I doubt it will break 70 on the 4th. Often rains.)

The same sun shines on us though, once in a while, and I have noticed that a brass sousaphone left out in the sun can truly be full of hot air, quite a bit hotter than ambient. I'm pretty sure metal is more effective at that, since it conducts heat well, but also there's some difference depending on color. I'd recommend a classic white fiberglass tuba in this case.

Thankfully, no parade to do here so I should be ingesting liquids instead of sweating them.

bloke wrote:Not that it really matters in the least, but has anyone ever checked out the difference between how fiberglass sousaphones absorb/transfer heat to the air column as opposed to brass tubas/sousaphones?

bloke "Even if intonation mattered, the sparkly sousaphone seems to be the obvious choice regardless."

Heat + weight = fiberglass sousaphone winning in all situations.

standing: Eb Buescher helicon

sitting: Conn "Williston" 36J

No Sousaphone--just the tuba--on Monday: temperature in that range, uniformed in 22 oz. wool! Dark blue, at that. The good news is that we are on a float instead on foot. And definitely a Kellyberg [red for the holiday?].

All I have is a sit down outdoor Euph gig. So it's the 2280 with a 5G. BTW I've gone 50+ years and never played Euph on Stars and Stripes. That part is tough. Jumps all over the place doubling both the trumpet parts and tuba in various octaves. I have a newfound respect for my college Euph buddies who played it while marching.

bloke wrote:..... has anyone ever checked out the difference between how fiberglass sousaphones absorb/transfer heat to the air column as opposed to brass tubas/sousaphones?....

I posted about this around Memorial Day. It's been my experience that the temperature INSIDE a fiberglass sousa tends to 'normalize' quicker in both hot and cold weather than a brass sousa. My theory is that fiberglass is a better insulator against both cold and hot.

schlepporello wrote:

bloke wrote:I find it d@mned ungratifying to play a "concert tuba" outdoors. The sound (even if "thunderous") goes nowhere.

I agree 100%.
I've used my 187 in two parades, both with less than desireable results. It sounds great, but the sound goes straight up.

In my case, the sound will go straight up...into a mike.

schlepporello wrote:

bloke wrote:I find it d@mned ungratifying to play a "concert tuba" outdoors. The sound (even if "thunderous") goes nowhere.

I agree 100%.
I've used my 187 in two parades, both with less than desireable results. It sounds great, but the sound goes straight up.

With you the sound starts straight up, compared to most of us, whether you are standing or sitting. And if you hadn’t been, at last, initiated into the right circles, you had done one more 187 parade. With all of our dreams about the ideal basses, one criteria still is the most important one: availability.

Klaus

bloke wrote:I find it d@mned ungratifying to play a "concert tuba" outdoors. The sound (even if "thunderous") goes nowhere.

You're right about that. This 4th, the Walla Walla Valley Band is playing our concert in Pioneer Park, part of a big celebration by the city. There's a big band-stand in the center of the park, but unfortunately our band has gotten so big we don't fit in it anymore. Instead, we're going to be setting up on the ground near the stand. I really wish we had a coupla sousaphones or even contras for this... only the trees are going to hear the tubas that day.

The sparkly sousaphone is the obvious choice. It's really impressive looking in daylight.

The City Band plays in a band shell build in the 1930's. The concert tubas sound good because we are right next to the back of the shell and the sound is directed up and forward. A sousa does not fit in the stage. YOu can bet "Them Basses" sounds really good....

Not Independence Day, but a similar type of gig with two different but similar kinds of brass bells: county fair. My Shrine band plays M-W-F during fair week every year for the daily 6:00 pm Midway parade with about 20 to 25 players on a flatbed trailer. I've played both a souzy and my 186 with detachable recording bell in successive years with identical weather: over 90 and sunny. The parade goes from east to west, so the bell is directly facing the sun. With the Miraphone, I have to pull somewhat to keep pitch down from the start to the finish, or at least to stay the same relative sharpness as the rest of the band in the heat, and we're only talking a few hundred yards. But one time with the souzy, it was 95, and by the end of the few hundred yards it had heat soaked with the sun glaring down to the point that I had the slide almost all the way out and still be stable enough to play, and I was still sharp to the band, as we put the drums in the middle of the trailer, the woodwinds are on the front facing backwards, so they didn't go that sharp, and the brass is on the back facing forwards, but not necessarily with the horns pointed up as they're reading off portable stands with music clipped with clothespins, and I'm at the rear sitting on the lid of the built-in stowage for the chairs, with recording or souzy bell up in all its glory.

By contrast, we played Memorial Day at two different cemetaries. The morning gig was at the National cemetery, with a concrete and stone raised gazebo; the afternoon gig at the newer state cemetery under a canopy-style tent. With both gigs, the sun was shaded, so the entire band was up about 10 cents from the heat, so nothing more than the usual slight adjustments were necessary.

Take the brass sousaphone and install a grill - to keep fried burritos on (they'll stay toasty) - in the throat of the bell: it will produce that oft-jested tuba tone. (toot)

but I would imagine the metal one feels warmer, even if it is a placebo. Also, really hot mouthpieces are no fun at all

One better: a little rigging, a little polish, and i bet the metal one could be turned into an awesome solar cooker. A little extra money on the side.

Deafness in the horn section will save them from much selfinflicted pain.

Klaus

Got 2 gigs on the 4th - forecast highs 100-105. First one starts during the hottest part of the day. We've been promised a canopy this year. Still expect to need about 3 inches more tuning slide than I have.

imperialbari wrote:Deafness in the horn section will save them from much selfinflicted pain.

Klaus

It doesn't save the rest of us from horn-inflicted pain.

Mark Horne wrote:Got 2 gigs on the 4th - forecast highs 100-105. First one starts during the hottest part of the day. We've been promised a canopy this year. Still expect to need about 3 inches more tuning slide than I have.

You could always go the other way: shove & transpose down 1/2 step! (As he runs and ducks for cover )

Yesterday evening I played with a regional community band for their annual evening celebration accompanying the fireworks. Being a small community band with the city having a decent fireworks budget, there were times when we were drowned out by the fireworks. A friend of mine who is a retired Army warrant officer helicopter pilot sits in with his perfectly restored 1929 Conn Bass BBb saxophone. He sounds great on it. There is as much or more brass in that beast as in a lot of new student tubas. So he is an honorary member of the tuba section. As there are no bass sax parts anymore, he has to basically (pun intended) write his own part for everything from a combination of tuba parts, the string bass parts (which are being much maligned right now in another thread), bari sax, bass clarinet and bassoon parts. Sometimes, though, he just doesn't get the correct octave and he's occasionally lower than we are. Oh, well....