A day early!

iiipopes · Post by **iiipopes** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 3:37 pm

Congrats on the new tuba!

iiipopes · Post by **iiipopes** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 3:56 pm

There's a good fingering chart right here on this very website; click on "Tips" at the top of the screen.

Jobey Wilson · Post by **Jobey Wilson** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 6:05 pm

Congrats on the new horn...what a great feeling! Many of my students have made the switch in the past few years, and I had them all do the same thing I did (simlar to K-town's advice):
1. Drop BBb COLD TURKEY! (sink or swim)
2. Get a scale sheet, and LOOK at each note as you play them, and say each note's name in your head as you are playing...start SLOWLY (long tones) -your fingers should already know the patterns, so all you really need to do is "turn on the CC switch" in your mind.
3. Arbans book...just the first few easy pages (all patterns)
- Again, look at every note & say it in your head!
4. start transferring most familiar, simple etudes (not too many leaps yet)
5. larger interval sections of Arbans
6. Once you get the hang of the fingerings (I did it in about 2 weeks), keep talking to yourself while you play, but replace the note names with lyrics (beginning "Song & Wind").

Good luck, Jobey

quinterbourne · Post by **quinterbourne** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 9:53 pm

This is what I did when I started playing CC...

I mentally transposed all the music down a tone. Any written A's I would think of as G's - valves 1+2. This made sight reading difficult, but over a couple of months, I just eventually stopped doing that mental transposition and the CC fingerings were just magically learned.

Now whenever I play BBb tuba, it is extremely difficult. I've been playing Bb euphonium quite a bit, so playing BBb tuba is getting easier.

Same goes with memorization, if you play a piece enough times you eventually memorize it, without really giving the process too much thought.

That's how my mind works!

Jobey Wilson · Post by **Jobey Wilson** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 3:37 am

IMHO, I would suggest you not to think of it so much as transposing, unless you possibly began on trumpet & have past experience with whole step tansposition. MANY players successfully transpose when they pick up different instruments, but I have found better PERSONAL success by thinking differently when I grab a different instrument. If you can simply take off your "BBb hat" and put on you "CC hat," in the future you may not have problems when picking up a BBb tuba (can y'all tell I've recently been re-reading a remarkable book by a Tubenet sponsor?). While teaching my younger students, I'll occassionally pick up his/her BBb tuba, trombone, euph, or even trumpet (imagine that...better imagined than heard!), and, like I said before about "turning the CC switch on," I have a different train of thought with each instrument (even between bass clef & treble clef euph). I toured nationally playing golf tournaments from age 6-18, and I basically thought of each club the same way. (I actually use a number of golf/music correllations). I never thought of a strong 8 iron as being a weak 7 iron. Totally different feel, swing, trajectory, spin, etc... On a larger scale, differences in swing & feel between driver, 2 iron, 5 iron, 8 iron, wedge (as well as sand wedge & lob wedge), & most of all, the PUTTER! This is how MY mind works; definitely not for everyone, but my system has worked very well for my students with my council. Just another idea...take all these ideas in, and find what's best for you!!! Oh, just incase y'all thought "maybe he sucked at golf & has no idea what he's saying," I was a scratch golfer by age 14...rarely play now, but definitely have my eyes on the Senior Tour (in, uh, a few years

)... jobey

Steve Marcus · Post by **Steve Marcus** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 9:59 am

I used a similar golf analogy when explaining to my family the need for a bass tuba. Sure, we could play everything on a contrabass. But it would be like trying to play 18 holes with irons only--no woods (or vice-versa, if you prefer).

adam0408 · Post by **adam0408** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 2:44 pm

k-towntuba wrote:the only way to learn the new fingerings is to play, play, play!
I dropped myself straight into the deep end when I made the switch, the sink or swim thing wprked for me, just have a fingering chart handy and a couple of pencils with GOOD erasers. Try to write in the fingerings without looking them up, but if you get it wrong then look them up and write the CORRECT ones in (hence the erasers) Forcing yourself to be able to recall the fingerings and write them in can help you remember them.and spend a bunch of time getting used to C being the new open fundamental. The second day I had my CC, I picked it up first thing in the morning to practice, played a note and something god awful came out. the Tuba wanted to play a C but my lips were buzzing a Bb, because that was what I had played forever. Long tones and scales too.

I agree. This is very similar to what I did and I learned fairly quickly. My sight reading skills are still not what they were before I switched (a little under a year ago) but they are getting better.

My advice is to not even look at a Bb horn for a while, you will just end up confusing yourself and elongating the process.

LoyalTubist · Post by **LoyalTubist** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 5:42 pm

This is where starting with trumpet, then playing E-flat tuba (using the trumpet fingerings--the E-flat is open and looks like a middle C in treble clef), then learning BB-flat fingerings pays off. What you do is use the old trumpet fingerings but put them two octaves lower and it is easy to learn C tuba. I disagree about going between BB-flat and CC tubas back and forth--I didn't have a problem with that when I was learning the CC fingerings. Once learning the E-flat, BB-flat, and CC fingerings, the F fingerings are a snap!

LoyalTubist · Post by **LoyalTubist** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 10:07 pm

I still disagree about staying with one horn. I am multilingual (I speak more than two languages). At first, you make mistakes, but that's how you grow. Don't be afraid to make mistakes now, when you can.