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I am having a flexibility disaster that's making me want to switch to baritone. My instrument is a Meinl Weston 25.

If I play with the embouchure I use for lower notes (pedal tones -> F in the staff) I am fine. If I try to play any higher, the sound gets stuffier & tubbier until about B flat, & I can't tighten my lips up any further.

If I play with the embouchure I use for higher notes (F in the staff up) I am fine. However, I can't play anything lower than am F or so before I lose vibration.

But if I try to switch between the two, (i.e. play a B flat scale through the break) my sound is awful, & the notes don't speak.

Is there a master embouchure for all notes? Or must I continually aim to lower the disruption when switching embouchures? Do I need a new tuba, or new lips

You don't need either a new horn or a new mouthpiece. Go back and read through all of Roger Lewis's posts and you'll find a lot of very excellent, FREE about playing the high and low registers. However, if you "scoot" the mouthpiece up and down your face for high and low register, you DO need a new embouchure, one best prescribed by a teacher.

MA

So I can be hip and cool, please tell me what YMMV and YGWYPF stand for. Thanks from one who is striving.

"Your Mileage May Vary" and "You Get What You Pay For".

tubamirum wrote:So I can be hip and cool, please tell me what YMMV and YGWYPF stand for. Thanks from one who is striving.

I'm guessing: Your milage may vary and you get what you pay for. Perhaps its Your Mommy Moos Voraciously & Youthful Girls Weigh Your Pfennigs First.... maybe not

jaredsan wrote:Is there a master embouchure for all notes? Or must I continually aim to lower the disruption when switching embouchures? Do I need a new tuba, or new lips

When I switched from euphonium to tuba, my teacher had me rock the horn forward for up and backward for lower, changing the angle of attack on the mouthpiece and opening and closing the aperture until I became more comfortable with flexibility. Also had me do three a octave slur exercise as a warm-up each time I played. Perhaps similar things might work.

JPADIMA........yeah. Play octave "smears" playing one note and then using your lips exclusively to acheive a chromatic smear up to the octave above. That'll work. Just ask a real tuba pro, dont ask these weirdos here. Includign myself.

Gorilla Tuba wrote:Youthful Girls Weigh Your Pfennigs First

Now that's funny. What's a pfennig?