clearer high range

[TUBAMUSICIAN87]

Ive seen alot of posts about increasing high range but none about cleaning up the sound of some of the high range. on a good day my range can go from a pedal Ab to a Bb about middle C but once I go about an F above middle C the sound is weak and strained. any tips about clearing it up

[TUBAMUSICIAN87]

I forgot to mention, I dont know if it makes a difference, I play a 1291 CC and dont own an F or Eb yet

[DaTubaKid]

Miraphone 1291...great horn. I just bought myself one a couple months ago. I love it.

As far as clearing up the high register though, the best thing I know of is lots of long tones. Just take a pitch to build on (lets say middle C for right now), go up to a C sharp, and come back down to a C. Take a deep breath, and do C to D. Take a deep breath, and do C to E flat. Rinse, wash, and repeat until you get to an interval which just doesn't good. Then focus on the interval before it, and then go back to the crummy one. This is the best way I know, as long as your focusing on keeping control on your body. Don't try and manipulate it, but also don't let yourself pinch as you go higher, or let your air stream get blown out of proportion. It'll probably take numerous sittings to get noticeable results out of this, if you don't have the endurance in the upper register. But it'll start to pay off.

[punk_tuba]

amen to long tones

[ThomasP]

Relax. You have to be relaxed in that register. If you're "trying" really hard, so to speak, you create tension that's not needed. You can make your lips as tense as they need to be, but if you don't have the air to make the lips buzz then you're either not going to get a sound, or it will be really thin and "pinched".

There's definitely no easy answer. I think it's more of a trial and error or a copy what you hear.

[elimia]

Watch the mpc pressure against the lips. Just use enough pressure to form a good seal w/ the mpc, give the horn TONS of air, keep the throat open...

...and work through it with long tones - practice them a lot. Very effective. If the problem doesn't eventually fix, you might want to consider a breathing gym or a Volydyne or something to improve air support.

[adam0408]

I totally disagree with the above statments about playing trombone to help your high range. I played trombone for a while, enough to make the affects apparent to me.

What it did for me: Killed my range, tone, and endurance. NEVER do this if you have a recital or other important performance coming up. It may do very strange things to your face. If you want to play high on the tuba, do it on the tuba, not on the trombone. Incidentally, I have picked up some friend's trumpets and I can't play nearly as high on those as I can on the tuba... weird, huh?

Cross training, as some call it, has never worked for me. The only thing that HAS worked is dilligent practice and (after a long wait) a new horn and mouthpiece.

Just a word of caution... always tread carefully when dealing with a drastically smaller mouthpiece because you are essentially working a different set of muscles that, until properly formed, may interfere with the muscles that you use when playing your tuba.

JUST MY OPINION, and experience.

[adam0408]

I may be the exception rather than the rule.... I have however been thinking about becoming more proficient on the trombone (especially the bass bone) because it will make me much more "sellable" as a musician. This seems to be (correct me if I am wrong) the case in many jobs in film music and such. I was told this by none other than trumpet legend Wayne Bergeron at a recent jazz festival.

The only thing that is stopping me is the reasons I mentioned above, but I think that those effects would diminish over time if I was to work on trombone more.

[Frank Byrne]

any tips about clearing it up

I strongly suggest playing on the mouthpiece to develop both high register and tone quality. One primary reason for difficulty in the high register is lack of air flow, and playing on the mouthpiece will help ensure you are buzzing what you think you are buzzing, and will move more air.

You can also put the mouthpiece into the Inspiron device and as you buzz see a visual cue as to how much air is moving. Arnold Jacobs used this technique with considerable success.

In the Jacobs tradition, play simple melodies on the mouthpiece in different keys and registers. Buzz a familiar song like "My Country 'tis of Thee" (aka "America") in the middle register with excellent sound and move it up the scale by intervals or an octave if you can.

Best of luck!

Frank

[David]

What's worked and continues to work for me, is learning to use as little force as possible. -Don't- force the air with your lungs, and -don't- tence your face like your trying to break steal bars with your chops. Start by letting the air 'fall' out of you. Take in a full breath, and just let it go in a steady, relaxed manner. Trying to force the tone it what really beats the hell out of its clarity....

And working at relaxed playing like this for a while, playing evenly with clarity regardless of dynamics/speed all over your range becomes like childsplay.

Either that, or I'm just totally damn wrong....