TubeNet

So obviously, I originally registered on TubeNet as a euph player.

I'm mostly a bassist now, but had this old, beat-up 12J sitting in my corner that I started playing, taking commercial and jazz gigs, then moving into musical theater as a doubler.

About two years ago, I was hired on a Disney gig where growing a beard helped get the job. The show lasted about six months, but I liked the beard enough to keep it around.

Really wanting to tighten up my low range, I've spent the last year really working it. It's been a gruelling process. I decided yesterday to shave to see what would happen.

I now have this incredibly clear, sonorous, articulate low range all the way down to the pedal notes. I figured shaving would help, but I didn't realize by this much! My beard was never long, it was kept really short, but even that was causing issue from low F on down.

Super excited to really cultivate this sound.

I kinda feel like the beard helped in a way; like adding a handicap while working. Take the handicap away and jump up to the next level. Playing Ride today was actually a little more fun and a lot less taxing.

My favorite part is all the razor ads that I see surrounding your posts. Harry’s, flamingo ... what will show up next?

The sad thing, on mobile, you kinda have to use an ad blocking app just to see a sensible amount of ads. If not, that razor ad would take up at least half the screen.

I have been an old school double edge guy for a while. I've been doing it for cost reasons (roughly $10-12 per year for materials vs. $20+ for four cartridges or something like that), and intended to go straight edge, but decided this was a good happy medium. I use old school shave soap because I like that warm lather, and experimented this morning with some lotion as a pre-lather, which I think I like on my neck especially.

Either way, I'm so stoked for the new range. I'm finding it tougher to manipulate intonation with just my lips, though; probably because the lack of seal gave me a more variable intonation.

Last year I did the "No-Shave-November" thing and let it grow into a full trimmed beard. Even though it looked great, it was detrimental to my Christmas concerts. I didn't realize how bad until I shaved it off over Memorial Day weekend for those gigs.

Some time ago in a lessons Doug suggested I try shaving the moustache, with the idea that I was slipping off optimum mouthpiece placement when moving from high to low range. So I shaved a moustache of 25 years or so as an experiment.

I did get some improvement in sound, but also I decided I looked better this way too, and have kept it clean shaved since.

I use an electric, a triple header Norelco.

He seemed to manage.

I guess i didn't realize it made such a difference...

But then, i've rarely let my (facial) hair down since i been playing tuba this past decade.

And even then, i put enough time into coaxing a passable sound from leaky instruments in street band settings where no one expects anything resembling virtuosic playing that the difference a beard makes would go unnoticed, although i thought i successfully tucked the mouthpiece under the 'stach when i had one.

But all that as it is, this seems like an excuse to quote some Edward Robles Jr.:

"Show me a man who doesn't let his beard grow once in a while, even if it's only for a day or so, and you've shown me a man who thinks more of social pressure than he does of his own comfort. And show me a man who says he likes to shave, and you've shown me a man who is either a liar or is asking for punishment."

-from See?
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/29601/2 ... 9601-h.htm

Oh yeah, a garage sale $.50 Schicke injector razer, new blade each week or two... or three, depending on how much i care, which isn't that much. Elsewise in the shower as well. Not that i am the epitome of heigenic best practices. Mileage may vary.

Double-edge sure seems like the cost/benefit optimum to me. I got an old gold plated safety razor at a flea market, maybe from the '40s, back before the recent fad for high end shaving gear but you can still get that kind of thing for $10-20. Steer clear of the fancy crank-open style of later years - it might last for 20 years or so but will eventually fail. Unscented hand soap works fine for lather, e.g. Grandma's Lye Soap.

I just use it to clean up around the edges, but for the sake of the tuba, that includes the lower lip and a small spot at the center of the upper lip. If for no other reason that, before I started doing that, I once had a little mustache hair there get violent on me during a show and it was painful and bloody. Not a large clearing, or even a perceptibly shaved area, just need to keep that spot open a little. I play somewhat high in the mouthpiece anyway.

I've had a beard for 4 years now. Never when I was younger and playing regularly in college. Just started playing again after a long hiatus.

Unfortunately my partner has only ever known me with a beard. I just told her about this post and was instantly forbidden to shave.

It's not exactly clear from most online pics, but when Bobo had a beard and mustache, he shaved the upper and lower lips where they contacted the mouthpiece. This image is from probably ten years later than the one circusboy posted, but somewhat shows what I mean:

The eternal struggle...do I look slightly less stupid, or try and sound slightly less stupid.

Just to be safe I'll probably rock a whaler for a few weeks before NABBA.

Any tips on just shaving the MP area?

I tend to use my trimmer then a pass with a razer. Frickin love Cremo Shave Cream.

I ain’t no virtuosos, if shaving provides any advantage, I’d do it.

Some of my friends are so smart, in school they could get drunk every day, miss half their classes and still ace everything.

Me??

I should have quit drinking.

hrender said

YMMV.

Not to pick too many nits, but none of those gents except the last has a beard.
Also, I'm not sure playing in the pedal range was as much of a "thing" as it has become in the last 30-40 years. And that is where being clean-shaven is most helpful.

Several of my tuba-playing friends have grown goatees over the last few years. They sounded great when they were clean-shaven, and they sound just as good now. None of them, however, has taken the tack that because they can do it, I should be able to also. They've heard me go without shaving for four days and be unable to hit an ordinary low Bb, much less pedal notes or even ordinary low range. Successful great players with beards and mustaches do not mean a damn thing to people who can't play without shaving.

Now if there's someone who CAN'T play without their facial hair, then I'll sit up and take notice. And still shave.

I suppose I’ll chime in because I’ve had the opposite experience with facial hair and playing tuba. I kept my face clean cut for the first few years when I was starting to get more serious about my playing. A few years ago, I noticed that my endurance really suffered on days when I had shaved, and I got more comfortable around day 3 after shaving. Because of this I decided to grow out a beard and see what happened. FOR ME, it has made the world of a difference. The extra cushion of hair really helps with endurance, and does not impact me negatively.
About a year ago I shaved again just to see if I was crazy. I ended up having the same endurance issues I had prior to the beard, and my articulations and range were were no better than when I had the beard. I ended up growing it back out, and I haven’t looked back. The increased comfort and endurance without any negative side effects has seemed like a no brainer for me.

Long story short, it may the bee’s knees or the holy grail to discover what its like playing with a clean shaven face for some people. For me it was the exact opposite. “To each his own.”

TubaKen wrote:Also, I'm not sure playing in the pedal range was as much of a "thing" as it has become in the last 30-40 years. And that is where being clean-shaven is most helpful.

Ah, maybe that explains it. No one has ever wanted to hear me play in that range, and likely never will.

GC wrote:Successful great players with beards and mustaches do not mean a damn thing to people who can't play without shaving.

Yep. If anyone is implying or inferring that anyone should be able to play with a beard because this or that guy did, they're mistaken. I've spent close to 45 minutes per day in the last few months alone (with very rare exception) on long tones, concentrating in the extreme ranges. I could play the range, but the sound wasn't tight. Shaving absolutely was what I needed, and the beard was masking all of my work in that range.

Now if there's someone who CAN'T play without their facial hair, then I'll sit up and take notice. And still shave.

Sitting up. Taking notice. Thanks.

Still shaving. Keeping jawline beard. Face needs at least partial hiding.