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After many years of playing trombone, bass trombone and euphonium, I have recently taken up the tuba. I have been playing a B&S 4-valve rotary BBb with a Helleberg mouthpiece. I play the other instruments at an advanced level, but I am a mere novice at the tuba. When I tell other players what I am up to, numbers of them -- some of them very good players - tell me that I should be careful because playing the tuba will ruin my euphonium chops. I've been practicing the tuba for about a month now. The only accomodation I have made so far is to make sure that I practice/play the euphonium first on a given day before I switch to practicing the tuba. So far I haven't noticed any adverse effects. If anything, my lower range on the euph is richer and I don't think I've lost anything on top. So I have two questions. Is there any substance to this "ruining your chops" idea? If there is a risk involved, does anyone have thoughts on making the transition less "risky"?

I switched from euph to tuba a couple of years ago and still play the euph occasionally. I am certainly not at the playing level you are, but, like you, i also noticed a nice increase in tone and playability in the bottom octave & half compared to before. I haven't lost anything at the top end. I actually find it easier to play tuba first then switch up.

Having the euph background certainly helped the top end of the tuba substantially, but required me to work hard (and i'm still working hard) to have any appreciable tuba bottom end.

I agree about the range issues in switching from the euph -- the upper range on the tuba was there almost from the beginning, but so far I can't get below the G under the prime Bb (what would be the pedal Bb on the euph).

I play both an equal amount of time (euph in one band, tuba in another).

It doesn't seem to affect my chops at all. Although while practicing, if I switch horns, it takes a few minutes to adjust to the different size mouthpiece.

Any time I play euph or trombone, my tuba chops improve. A young friend who has migrated from euph to tuba had trouble with his low register until he started playing BBb in a brass band, which forced his low register to open up and thickened his euph tone.

If you are one of the type who practices for hours a day and is trained to the utmost of his capabilities, diverting to another instrument might cause you to lose a bit of your edge simply because you lose some practice time. For most of us who don't practice that much, doubling can be beneficial. If nothing else, it's a relief from the boredom of doing the same thing all the time.

The euphonium is so ridiculously easy to play beautifully that it's kind of silly to assert that playing tuba will "ruin" your chops. I'd totally disregard such advice as inaccurate.

Darn! someone shoulda told Ben Pierce and Aaron Tindall...

Let me think...

I think it was 1986 at Interlochen...there was this guy...a euphonium player...darnedest thing...he'd bought a Mirpahone (186, I think?) and decided he wanted to start playing tuba just so he could build his low range on euphonium. I guess you say it wrecked his euphonium embouchure, insofar as his addiction to the tuba was concerned. Practiced it all the time. Can't even remember seeing him practice euphonium after a certain point.

What was his name....Tom...no...Tony...Tony something...Tony Kniffen. Yeah, that's it. Tony Kniffen.

Trombone/euphonium are my primary instruments, with tuba being my secondary. I have never had any ill effects from playing tuba. I have found many benefits: tuba has helped with a fuller sound and smoother slurring on trombone/euphonium. Trombone/euphonium helps me with high range and light articulations on tuba. To me, they compliment each other quite well.

The ONLY thing I have noticed that could be classified as a drawback. Sometimes there are a few days when I play a LOT of tuba (and little if any trombone/euphonium). When this happens, I sometimes find that when I go back to bone/euph I occasionally have more chop motion than normally. The muscle groups have to remember exactly what to do again. Back to basics at that point and I'm good to go!

As long as you continue to practice both on a regular basis I doubt you would see any negative effects. If you neglect one or the other, then of course your playing will suffer.

bloke wrote:' when flautists play the piccolo...??

That does irreparable damage to the flautist's relationships with friends and family, let alone the musicality of the ensemble.

I have never had any problems. I came from the trumpet world and switched to tuba. I picked up euph and bass bone along the way. I even play trumpet occasionally now.

If you play tuba for two hours and then pick up a trumpet cold, yeah it's not going to be easy at first, but do some more playing and your embouchure will remember what to do. Taking a short break in between helps a lot. If I have to play multiple instruments in a practice session I generally move from the largest horn to the smallest. The benefits of proper air movement on a tuba are a nice benefit for smaller instruments. Also I have found the smaller instruments tend to wear me out faster so I save them for the end.

Always take other player's opinions with a grain (or three) of salt. If you are at some risk of ruining something, seek a teacher and examine what it is that might be the cause of the problem. I personally doubt that switching instruments is the real issue.

For me I had for many years doubled on tenor and bass trombone, then when I got my bass trombone position I stopped tenor and concentrated on the bass. However about ten years ago I took up the tenor again, and had also to learn how to make some noise with a contrabass trombone. That went well and at first I had to play one of the instruments and then have a short rest to accommodate. Over time I decided to try to switch directly even in the same piece, which is more or less a must in some pieces when playing bass and contrabass trombone and even tenor trombone in some situations. It was a bit complicated at first but now it works. Now all that was for the trombone family.

So, going into tuba territory some time ago. I decided to get a tuba a try to learn a little about it to be able to understand and play better together with the tubaist in our section.

Now, after struggling with the tuba for a period of time I can only say that playing all the trombones is now both easier with a bit larger range both up and down, slightly fuller sound on the trombones and so on. The only thing, which is of course the topic, I can not reply to is the question about euphonium and tuba. So maybe this text should not have been written...

However, as some sort of conclusion of my experiences I think that playing different sizes brass instruments with different sizes of mouthpieces will be good for the chops in every way, if done in a thoughtful way well aware of what you are doing.