We've all heard it 1000 times...

[MikeMason]

I vote for staying with BBb. given your facts i don't see a problem. just get a really good one. there are so many good options lately. i played CC for 15 years and am now back to BBb and am quite happy. I don't play full time but it sounds like that's not really your plan either. as long as you're getting the sound you want, stay with BBb... you might want to add an f or Eb at some point, however...

[Will]

I want to do more Wind Ensemble and small ensemble/quar-quintet playing in college. Orchestra isn't really going to be my main area of focus. I'm just not sure how one horn will benefit me over the other

BBb will be just fine for Wind Ensemble. I find that most concert band music lays well for the fingers on a BBb rather than a CC. My recent purchase of a horn was a CC, but only because I'm too lazy to go back to BBb.

I agree with Doc in getting a smaller horn for the small ensemble/quar-quintet stuff. It really leaves you with more flexibility. And you can still get a CC if you really want to get one. I recommend the YCB-621. It worked terrific for me in my quintet. I even used it in a small church orchestra with great success.

Good luck on your decision.

-heads "who had only heard it 999 times before this post "

[Rick Denney]

Nick "can't wait to hear Rick Denney's response because it will as always just blow my mind" Dadabo

Boy, are you going to be disappointed.

You are going to be a music educator. That means you will be learning how to play every other instrument in the band, plus a lot 'o eduction cra--er--stuff, and a bunch of other general education that you need so you can call yourself educated.

Thus, you will be a professional teacher and an amateur musician, with occasional pay gigs.

I've always recommended that amateurs do what keeps them loving music, because that's what makes an amateur. Amateurs just don't have to consider it work, and they can approach in on their own terms. Thus, personal satisfaction rather than feeding your family becomes the motivating force.

Thus, I vote for adding CC to your skill set...


(surprised?)



...five or ten years from now when you are in need of a new musical challenge and have a bit of money to scratch the itch.

For now, though, it's better to stay out of debt, enjoy the instrument you have, and focus on your studies. The less debt you incur now trying to buy an instrument you don't need, the more you'll be able to buy an instrument just for fun later.

Rick "who thinks if enjoyment and satisfaction isn't your goal in playing music what hope will your band kids have?" Denney

[tubeast]

Symphonic Beast,

I don´t know about your present horn and the shape it is in. Way back when (beginning studies in mechanical engineering on university) I owned this 3-valved, worn-out but well sounding BBb tuba. I (like you right now) started getting into chamber music of all sorts demanding agility and SMALLER sound, so I figured it was time to get something more sophisticated. Being a German starting quintet playing, that automatically meant getting an F-horn. With time passing I´m more and more into symphonic wind band. Broad sound IN ADDITION to agility has become more and more important, and I´ve come to think that the lowest range is to a tubist what the highest range is to trumpet players. (If you want to play well above the staff, just go get a euph. That´s what it´s for, after all) So when I had the chance and money I went for it and got me a CC horn. (The ones I tried out were superior in lowest range to the BBb horns I encountered). I first wanted to actually SWITCH from F to CC, but now that I have both I don´t want to part with either of them.

My point is: consider the horn you already have, that is, its size and technical condition. Can you do the higher, nimbler and more delicate playing on it that you´ll be getting into ? Then I´d recommend just sticking with your BBb tuba. If not, why own TWO contrabass horns ? An F tuba will make you more versatile if you keep your old horn for the big stuff.
I guess it would be a good idea to postpone that ADDING decision to the time You´re well into college, because you´ll have a much better idea of what you´ll need.

Good luck
Hans

[KarlMarx]

Leggast til ein Eb cum votre afturat Werkzeug.

Carolus Expandissimus Recommendabilimus

[MaryAnn]

Everybody's already said it all.

What Rick said about being a teacher....you're going to have to be able to play everything anyway, as well as understand how they all work well enough to show someone else how to play them. Your reluctance to make a foray into CC because "it's different, I would have to learn new stuff" makes me worry a little how you'll do with learning the other gazillion instruments you will need. Food for thought.

MA, who plays them all anyway because it's FUN.

[Biggs]

I know, I know. This topic has been crossed before. I'm in a rut and I simply don't know what to do.

I'm stuck between adding CC tuba, and just staying with BBb.

Here are my reasons for staying BBb:

-I know it, and I am comfortable with it.
-slightly less expensive, but that is minor
-there are some notes that for me, lay better on a BBb than a CC such as: 4th valve C on a BBb tuba sounds fuller, darker and more in tune than open C on a CC tuba, things like that. Open C just seems empty and bright to me. Could this be because I am used to a BBb tuba? I just like where to notes lay on a BBb

-I feel like I'm going to have to totally re-learn the tuba. (well, duh) I guess I'm just worried about sounding like a 7th grader for a while. (no offense to any beginning tubist)

-I want to do more Wind Ensemble and small ensemble/quar-quintet playing in college. Orchestra isn't really going to be my main area of focus. I'm just not sure how one horn will benefit me over the other

-lastly, it's been done, and I don't see why I can't do it either

I was recently in a similar situation, and did decide to learn CC. My fears and confusion were similar to yours in almost every regard: Some notes sound better for me on CC, I didn't want to have to lose, even for a short period, any proficiency I may have, etc. However, upon further examination I realized that these reasons should not be obstacles in furthering my experience playing the tuba. The 'some notes sounding better' is, IMHO, purely psychological. When you're playing an open note, your muscle memory tells you to buzz a Bb even though the horn wants to produce a C. Consequently, the sound that comes out of the horn will not be ideal. In time, your muscles will recall that open means C, 1st means Bb, and so on. This process speeds up if you play exclusively CC for a while. As far as relearning tuba goes, you shouldn't be averse to learning something new. After all, you learned BBb at some point, correct? I remember thinking I would never remember all the fingering combinations when I first started BBb (as opposed to the slide positions I was used to) but somehow it happened. Since you were able to succeed in learning tuba once, learning it a second time should be even easier!

[Charlie Goodman]

I think the big issue may be, do you own your own horn already? That would change the issue of having two contrabass horns and things of that nature. Looks like you're in high school too... I just switched to CC... Heh, it wasn't really a difficult decision, because my teacher just said one day in my lesson, "Hey, your horn is holding you back. Let's go down to Brasswind and get a new one. Oh, and let's learn C."

Initially, it was the most frustrating thing that had every happened with my playing, and I did sound "like a seventh grader again." But, after a month or so, the fingers came back, and now the only difficulty I'm having is re-learning my scales for solo festival. (I switched in December, and just started working on them.)

I'm not necessarily saying you should switch, but just letting you know that it won't kill you if you decide to.

[Art Hovey]

Don Stauffer's Treatise on the Tuba gives one sensible reason for the existence of CC tubas: the orchestral literature has a lot of E-naturals above the staff, and that is not an easy note to play on a BBb tuba. On the other hand, there are a lot of low F's in the concert band literature, and that note is a lot more fun on BBb than it is on CC.
So if you plan to pursue an orchestra career seriously then CC and F tubas make sense. But if you plan to teach music in middle schools and high schools and play in local community bands then I don't see the point. Personally, I find it important to be FLUENT on my BBb tuba and to be able to double occasionally on euphonium and trombone. If I have to struggle to hit a high E or F on rare occasions in an amateur orchestra nobody complains. And everybody is happy when I lay out those big fat low notes that my colleagues with their fancy CC tubas tend to blat on.