Screwin the pooch...

[MikeMason]

I played it on f last year out of necessity, never again...small CC is the way to go in the cramped quarters i'm usually playing from...

[windshieldbug]

That's totally what's going on with me. Since I got my Eb about 4 months ago, I've been working extra hard trying to get that up to par. I didn't think my CC playing would be that affected

And then when you get good enough to use either, you'll have memory lapses that will make it freaky on one or the other. Make it about the Music, NOT the horn you use, and you'll find the whole thing MUCH more natural!

[tbn.al]

It is not just different tubas, the same thing happens to me going back and forth from tuba to bass trombone. I set the embochure to play a note and the wrong fracking partial comes out. I think I tried about every solution posed here, but the key for me is working on both horns in practice. Like Roger said; play the same lick on tuba, then trombone, then euph. It sure makes a session go slowly though. There is enough of a fear factor to make me do it when in performance I have an exposed entrance after a long rest and I have no clue as to which partial will speak. My stomach has churning just now thinking about it.

[rascaljim]

Sing

[eupher61]

Been there, done all of that, from the initial switch from BBb to CC 25+ years ago, to getting back to BBb, to adding F, then adding Eb with only an F otherwise...now THAT is fun, having only Eb and F tubas. Now with no Eb but a BBb again, and still the F (although the Eb souzie needs to be pulled out and used sometime...)

Roger seems to have the right idea, even though I don't feel the need to do that kind of dilligent practice. I play whichever horn I feel like playing on any gig, excluding a quintet or German gig (F only for those).

It took me almost 2 years to feel comfortable enough on Eb to use it on a jazz gig, no charts. As was also mentioned by someone, I just let the music be the focus, and it all came out right.

It's funny that trumpet, horn, and clarinet players, as well as jazzers on whatever, do the change of key and change of horn sometimes at the same time--playing a D trumpet part on an Eb f'rinstance, or the same picc in either A or Bb. I guess it's a bit different in that they look at a specific part and learn it that way, while we tend to learn it on whatever or every horn we can. (I do know one trumpet player who only owns a C, a picc, and a Bb cornet. Plays the hell out of all of them, any key, any transposition, and sounds stylistically right on all. Amazing.)

[iiipopes]

Events eventuate.

That's a politically correct way of saying $#!+ happens.

Then the sun rises on a new day. And you start all over the better and wiser for it. Hang in there! It's happened to all of us.

The basic fact that you are concerned enough to post about it indicates you are conscientious enough to work at what needs to be worked at so to minimize the chances of it happening again.

You'll be fine. Good luck on your playing. Cheers!

[tubatooter1940]

Our tuba buddy WSB pontificates "Some days you're the windshield and some days you're the bug."
Sounds like you had a "bug" day. Welcome to the human race.
We started a recording studio session at 11 A.M. I had been on a diet since January and was hungry and coffee was no help. My best buddy was paying $50 an hour to record me splitting notes and blowing clams.
When I told my wife, she said, You're not worth a sh#* when you're hungry." She was right of course.
They couldn't schedule me a second session and spent time cutting and pasting my lines until they cleaned me up. The result is O.K. but I am not lighting 'em up as I had hoped.
I did get back in to re-record two tuba solos and sing backup as well as a lead vocal in the duet for the tenth cut . Needless to say I was full of groceries on that day and things went speedily and well.
At my age I expected the hard, basic lessons to be learned by now.

[DaTubaKid]

I don't really directly play worse when I'm hungry. But being hungry makes me uncomfortable and distracted, so I end up playing worse. Many practice sessions have ended not because I was tired, but because I was hungry!

[djwesp]

Of course, I don't booze it up before legit gigs.

A couple shots of whiskey before a recital, really helps me lighten up. For some odd reason, I can also play higher much more easily. That, paired with the breathing gym, does wonders.


Note: I said, "a couple".


I've also found that avoiding caffeine for the day or hours prior helps a lot. You don't need any "uppers" during a performance.

[iiipopes]

Besides, isn't that what rehearsal is for to some extent? If I played perfectly at each rehearsal, well, no if, actually. It just doesn't happen.

Back in February I had the same thing happen two weeks in a row at community band. My first valve slide solder joints had deteriorated, and my beloved Besson was in the shop while I was trying to figure out whether and how to get another tuba. I borrowed a, well, let's just say it had not been maintained, and try as I might, I just could not get the rotors smooth, and I was unaccustomed to it, and I would have preferred more time to practice my CC fingerings at home as they were a little rusty, and, well, enough excuses. I absolutely $#!+ the bed at rehearsal. Unmitigated disaster. If after that rehearsal you had asked the question did I really know which end of a tuba to pick up, well, it would not have been out of line.

My director understood and gave encouraging words, especially after I sorted out getting my Miraphone and getting some good practice in over spring break when we had a week off rehearsal.

I'm not as tee-totalling as Doc is. I will have a little coffee in the morning at work. But he's right about soda pop. I just don't do the sugar. I drink a lot of water, and unsweetened decaf tea. And I've gotten rid of some of the extra baggage so I can breathe better. But every little bit does help in that regard.

[sloan]

Of course, I don't booze it up before legit gigs.

A couple shots of whiskey before a recital, really helps me lighten up. For some odd reason, I can also play higher much more easily. That, paired with the breathing gym, does wonders.


Note: I said, "a couple".

This is backed by research. A *moderate* amount of alcohol improves performance on mental tasks.

Be careful though - performance goes up a bit for a moderate amount...and then falls off a cliff if you go one drink too far.

[tubatooter1940]

You're right, Doc. A beer or two puts my brain in party mode and I relax and let the tuba sing. Some German (lenten) beers are a high calorie meal in a bottle.

[iiipopes]

Hey, Doc -- thanks.

True story: my uncle was a complete tee-totaller, back in the Cold War days when men drank whisky and smoked Luckys. One of his Army tours of duty was the Pentagon. At the end of his tour, he was so highly respected for a job well done that instead of the usual going away celebration at the officer's mess, they threw him a ginger ale party instead.

Where were we? Oh, yes -- caffeine can dry you out in a bad way. And I must confess, that's one reason I so dearly love my old Besson -- so on those gigs and rehearsals where it is the protocol of the evening, I can have a beer with the guys and not worry about my valves -- they have enough wear that a little beer mixed with the valve oil is not going to do anything to them, and if a guy trips over my tuba at a break, even though I've made sure to put it out of the way, it's going to be him that gets hurt, not the tuba!