Pressing hard= BAD
insulting teacher = very bad
you should talk to your Dad and explain to him how important lessons are and that they should be continued and I don't think it's a good idea to fight with your teacher. If you don't like what he has to say, take what he has with a grain of salt and get a second opinion.
but i think that with my new strategy, i probably wont even need lessons anymore
let me know how that works out. I've been taking lessons for a while and in fact I'm taking one tomorrow. EVEN PAVAROTTI STILL TAKES LESSONS.
Good Luck, proper fundamentals are essential to tuba playing.
Bill
It's already been said, but mouthpiece pressure is BAD. I have been conciously trying to minimize pressure while playing, and it has helped my intonation and sound. The most important factor in playing high notes is air. Listen to your teacher.
Due to poor advise as a youngster, I also put much pressure on the mouthpiece when playing high. Thanks to Tommy Johnson, I broke that habit in college and learned to play high by hearing, not forcing. But it wasn't nearly soon enough. Those five years or so that I played with pressure, sticking my lower jaw out, gave me a prominant underbite. The only teeth in my mouth that actually touch are my front teeth, because the bottom jaw has been pushed out so much over time. It hasn't casued any major problems yet, but those front teeth are slowly chipping away with time. I wish a good teacher had told me to stay away from mouthpiece pressure when I was in jr. high.
I recommend getting one of the Giddings and Webster designed mouthpieces. Not the Alan Baer model. The rim is so sharp that one would alomost think it would cut their lip when playing with pressure. It may be the thing to get one to stop playing with too much pressure. I love all of mine, and can play the entire range of the instrument without fatigue or a red lip ring that I used to get in the old days. Just be careful, and listen to the advise of people who actually know what they are talking about. Sometimes good results can be deceiving and lead to bad habits down the road.
Gee, I don't know what the poster's problem is....I can play piccolo concertos on my euphonium, without any pressure at all. I think the guy's just a wuss.
MA
