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So, would you play this on bass or contrabass tuba? And why?

I would play it on a contrabass becuase that's what I practice that excerpt on. If I could play a bass tuba maybe it would be different but until then I'll play it on CC.

Ralph

One o' them 6-valve French thingies in C.

If you're playing Frank Wright's arrangement of Benvenuto Cellini for brass band, you have your choice of BBb Bass or Eb Bass (of course). Both parts are much more fun--and challenging--than the original orchestral version. Lots of double and triple tonguing! It's one of our Choice Pieces for the World Music Contest next week.

Steve Marcus
BBb Bass, Chicago Brass Band

When Berlioz called for a tuba, in all probability he had in mind a little Eb, scarcely bigger than a euphonium. So I guess I'd leave the heavy artillery at home.

a bass tuba blends with the trombones much better for the Berlioz stuff. the tessitura is such that a smaller horn just works better the majority of the time.

I meant the orchestra version. I saw the high G and I definitely thought of my F tuba.

I played this piece last year on a Meinl Weston 2145 CC. It was doable, but had I owned a bass tuba at that time, I definately would have used it instead of the CC.
It's sort of a challenge to play that piece on a contrabass, and is probably more historically appropriate to use a bass tuba. Those horns used back in Berlioz' day were a bit different from our present day BAT's.