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Hey fellas. So, after a useable high register (accurate, non-pinched, non-strained, non-fuzzy) has been onbtained, how should we go about developing the tone quality up there? Is it just not possible to make a CC tuba sound really focused and really clear in that particular range (I'm talking about stuff above C4, above Middle C, above the C above the bass cleff staff, whatever you want to call it)? It just kind of bugs me that I can play the notes, but not make them truly focused and musical.

Thanks for any and all help, regardless of whether or not it comes in the form of a wisecrack.

Just to add some confusion, let me add that my CC horn plays much nicer in that range (C4 to G4) than my F horn does.
Of course, the partials of the F-horn are still further apart than on the CC, so it´s somewhat safer on the F tuba.

Hans

My big huge bell front Holton BBb sounds very similar to a euphonium in that register when blown hard, except easily twice as loud.

I think the secret to making music with those higher notes is in the attacks. It is very important that your buzz be right on the pitch since it takes a good number of vibration cycles for that sound to travel down the horn and back before it can start reinforcing that pitch. A buzz on the right pitch makes the attack much more clean and precise. It is also important that the pitch of the buzz be constant when tonguing the same note quickly otherwise the first note is clean and the others are wobbly. Practicing the buzz on the mouthpiece alone is good practice for this.


-Eric

Shockwave wrote:I think the secret to making music with those higher notes is in the attacks. It is very important that your buzz be right on the pitch since it takes a good number of vibration cycles for that sound to travel down the horn and back before it can start reinforcing that pitch.

Preach it, Eric!

For example, playing middle C, your lips will have created eight pulses of air before the reflecting vacuum pulse from the bell helps pull the next pulse from your embouchure.

Rick "who thinks this is why French horns are so hard to play well" Denney

I think it's time for you to get some lessons with a good teacher. The questions your are asking are similar to trying to describe the color blue to a person with a visual impairment – we do not have the language to accommodate it. Someone needs to HEAR you play and then make recommendations. Personally, I would recommend that you work on getting the biggest, most beautiful sound on the high notes on your mouthpiece. If it’s big and pretty there, it should be that way on the horn later.

LOUD and LOW equals soft and high. Keep playing those etudes an octave or two down with constant crescendo and power, and that upper register will get easier and breezier.

yeah it's possible. Like Roger said, time for a teacher. A good teacher can show you in half an hour what we can't say in a year.
Take in Meistersinger and ask how to play it.

MA