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I believe that this is cross-training and it is a good thing. Athletes in a particular sport do many types of exercises to train. Playing with my elementary students, I'll play my pocket trumpet and my Martin Mammoth. I build both strength and relaxation in my embouchure and, when I get to the euphonium or trombone after a long time off, it is not bad.

bloke wrote:
After ~not~ playing any sort of tuba for several weeks (in favor of the cimbasso) and then picking a (not just "bass", but "contrabass") tuba a couple of days prior to a subscription concert (to familiarize myself with a couple of tricky-counting premiered works prior to the first rehearsal), I strongly believe that the cimbasso playing was very beneficial to playing the tuba, rather than any sort of detour away from playing the tuba. Candidly, I was a bit under the weather during the recent rehearsals/concert weekend, but still believe that I observed some benefit.

bloke "improved embouchure pitch accuracy, and improved embouchure vibration quality"

I think it's a good thing to play different tubas from time to time to keep things 'in check'. If you can play cleanly/musically on a contrabass tuba, it will be easier on bass tuba. Personally, I think it's important for tuba players to at least somewhat regularly play contrabass tuba (even if bass tuba is their main horn) to keep good fundamentals and good characteristic sound quality.

The cross-training mentioned here, weather tuba-to-tuba or cimbasso-to-tuba or trombone-to-tuba and vice-versa is good I think. The main thing is, imo, to keep a good characteristic sound on each instrument. You don't want to get a somewhat 'harsh' cimbasso-ish sound on tuba, nor do you want a somewhat 'fluffy'/tubby sound on cimbasso

One of the best lessons I had while at Eastman was immediately following a week tour of playing the contrabass trombone in the trombone choir. I think you’re right about the focusing effect.

My experiences echo this cross training effect. I play from lead tenor to contrabass tuba. I’ll sometimes integrate into practice playing the same passages on bass bone and tuba. One can open up the other, especially in terms of air. That helps lead playing. While also keeping up the doubling flexibility for pit work/shows. I think it goes beyond that. Playing electric bass, which is intensely time focused, supports my expression of time on tuba, as well as bass line concepts. But the foundation for all of this is still listening to recordings and others.

I don’t feel the cross training effect from playing Sousa, but strolling jazz gigs bring home the bacon!

I don't think I really developed my embouchure until I ventured into all the brasses. Some people have a very hard time if they try to switch but I think it is advantageous to learn to play well on all cup sizes. My take is, if you have a functioning embouchure, you get the characteristic sound out of whatever instrument you're using it on. The difference is in how wide the vibrating aperture is. You're forced to learn to be flexible.

While many on TubeNet direct a great deal of vitriol at the tornister (travel) tubas, I find that practicing on my Wessex CC Tornister tuba yields similar results. It is a difficult instrument to play with any reasonably acceptable tone quality, with the bell, being located very close to your ears, making any inadequacies obvious, and it requires considerable breath support to make "tuba-like" sounds...however, after a practice session with this instrument, my tone quality on my larger, more forgiving horns, seems significantly improved. Say what you will about travel tubas, but me, they are worth owning just for practicing...and for tubachristmas each year, where the novelty of such tubas attracts much attention (and carrying it to and from the venue is far easier than a full-sized instrument).

I added a trombone major in college along with tubq, which really helped me gain an appreciation for tuba. Being able to be on the other half of the Bass Trombone/Tuba combo really made me think about what I wanted from my own playing, and the unforgiving nature of the tuning slide has certainly improved my own tuning. Not to mention helping my breathing.

Now I am reconsidering Euphonium doubling....

Experiencing the same with my F travel tuba. I keep it laying around on the sofas, and play a couple times a day. So hard to produce a kind of good sound that when I sit down to contrabass, it's better.

+ so much easier tp schlep to Tuba Christmas!!