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Some tubas come with fittings for a music lyre and/or instrument strap. Does anyone out there actually use these features? Or... would it be just as well for manufacturers to eliminate them? Thanks.

If you need to march with a tuba, I bet the strap comes in handy. Also, it seems to be traditional in "German" bands for the tubist to play standing up. And wear lederhosen.

I have a 186 with both features. I have never used the lyre feature.

As for the strap hardware, I had one of them repositioned to the other side of the horn. In my view, it was useless, as the natural tilt of the horn was parallel to the ground.

As far as I'm concerned, neither feature is particularly useful. I play the horn a LOT, while standing(and wearing lederhosen). I use a Blue Note strap. It works very well. On the rare occasion where I need to move(marching band is no longer a part of my life), I simply hold the music with my left hand.

I used to stand with a tuba quite a bit and used a Meinl harness. These days I do stand-up gigs with a helicon or sousaphone.

I've never had a use for a lyre holder but I can certainly understand why the factories put them on. Most of the market is driven by what schools want and need.

All that being said... I use the strap rings and a strap on some of my horns just to keep them on my lap when performing while sitting on a high stool. It's helpful for page turns.

I have a 186 and use both. I stand more than sit and I use the lyre holder and lyre to mount my phone (true story).

When I play in quintet at church during festival services, I often stand. This facilitates moving on and off "stage" during the service. I use a Neotech harness which works well for me. For marching, I usually use a helicon. I don't use a Lyre. They never seem to be in the right place. I just hold my music or use a stand. When marching, I memorize the music because I likely would trip on something if I tried to march and read music at the same time.