sousaphones

[tubatom91]

Well our school just started using brand new 4 valve Dynastys. I love em. Especially when the whole section sounds great. We play on LOUD mouthpieces as well.

nice I need new souszys for my section we have 7 silver yamahas and 20+ fiberglass (2 kings, 16 22Ks and 2 36Ks) 2 of the silvers are broken and 12 of the fibers are in or going into the shop. I say sell them all and buy some new horns...

[andrew the tuba player]

spioled?? come on, i never used any chair. they always told me that i had to stand with a sousaphone. i remember when i first started we marched for loke 3 hours and my shoulder was killing me. so, instead of sitting they gave me the old fiberglass. i decided i hated it enough that i just took
the pain and now it doesnt hurt

[iiipopes]

Back then I took the horn, (and to quote an old comedy line) and, I LIKED IT like that. Now, I'm wondering, with the price of a chiropractor, that the chair may actually be worth it.

[andrew the tuba player]

I like standing because it opens your airways alot more. I was thinking about getting straps for my mirafone, but i learned how to just hold it. I usually stand when im practiceing any instrument.

[sloan]

I like standing because it opens your airways alot more. I was thinking about getting straps for my mirafone, but i learned how to just hold it. I usually stand when im practiceing any instrument.

I often sit down while practiceing the piano.

[Rick Denney]

I like standing because it opens your airways alot more. I was thinking about getting straps for my mirafone, but i learned how to just hold it. I usually stand when im practiceing any instrument.

If you are holding the instrument through the use of arm and shoulder muscles, then your chest is constricted and your body will be full of tension.

When I played sousaphone in concert band (which I did throughout my school years), I used a Wenger chair, even to the point of taking the chair to contests.

I have played a Miraphone standing on many occasions. When I do so without a strap, my posture is terrible, unless I support the entire weight of the instrument with my left arm and right thumb, in which case my body is tense. At least the Miraphone is pretty light--easily 10 pounds lighter than the York Master or Holton. That's why I use it for standing gigs, but only with a strap.

Sumber Erickson has been a strong support of playing while standing, and did so in the Pittsburg Symphony for many years. But he used a stand to support the instrument.

I enjoy playing while standing, but it requires a careful approach. I made my own harness for supporting my Yamaha 621 F tuba during my theme-park gig with the TubaMeisters, and the 621 is probably the tuba closest to being playable without such support.

And a sousaphone rests right on my shoulder bone, causing excruciating pain. For most folks, the instrument sits on the trapezius muscle, but mine aren't shaped that way. And lest you quote your size again, I'll add that I'm 6 feet, 225 pounds, and a former endurance athlete. When standing or marching, I always held my sousaphone up with my left hand--but then there's that tension again.

Rick "who refuses to stand while playing either the York Master or the Holton" Denney

[andrew the tuba player]

yeah i usully sit while playing piano organ and cello...the sitting instruments...
ok i wont quote my size agian lol. i've never used a strap...i will admit its hard to play a conn 20j 6/4 while standing though

[sloan]

yeah i usully sit while playing piano organ and cello...the sitting instruments...
ok i wont quote my size agian lol. i've never used a strap...i will admit its hard to play a conn 20j 6/4 while standing though

You can't stand with a cello? What a wimp.

You might be interested in an instrument I've seen used by a group called "Montana Sky". He plays "finger style guitar" and (mostly) sits. She plays traditional cello (sitting) and an electronic version with 6 strings and a fingerboard (and nothing else but a strap a bit like a bassoon strap except that it's anchored at her waist.)

The electronic cello has an extra bass string and an extra soprano string - extending the range considerably in both directions. The lack of a "box" and the strap allow considerable range of motion - all sorts of dancing and prancing. The only constraint is the cable (and the need to tapdance on the special effects pedals and buttons and sliders and...)

[andrew the tuba player]

I can stand with a cello...Its just weird to play it very well. Have you ever played the sousa with one hand and the back up piano line with the other?? It usually requires a piano bench, but yeah...It's fun

[Rick Denney]

No WONDER there are SO MANY "tense" trumpet, trombone, baritone, flute, clarinet, and string players.

They all sound tense to me.

But when that trumpet or flute weighs 20 pounds (or 28), then we'll see how quickly they put stands on them to prop them up.

Rick "whose arms are heavier than the instruments mentioned above" Denney

[tofu]

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[andrew the tuba player]

I've never played a helicon. But, i like standing to. Me and my buddies formed a brass quartet and played 'Amazeing Grace'. I always praciced on the sousaphone but my band director said i had to play the concert horn since we were in the auditorium. It just wasnt the same. Even my bubbies thought that it sounded different.

[Lew]

The 20K is a 6/4 sousaphone. Like all 6/4 Conns, it has a terribly flat third partial, and other intonation quirks that I find difficult to manage. Part of the problem is the pain I'm feeling trying to hold the stupid thing up. My trapezius is not shaped like a tray, and a sousaphone ends up sitting right on my shoulder bone, which is quite painful.

Isn't my 40K in the same size class as the 20K? I haven't seen this problem with the 3rd partial on the tuner, and it's not me - I do have another tuba with an obvious (ultra-terrible?) out of tune 3rd partial, but it is not this one.

Luckily, I have negligible muscles, so the shape of my trapezius is not much of an issue. It has been a while, but as I remember it, even at 33 lbs, the 40K's shoulder plate rides pretty well for a march of a mile or two. The 20K I have been seeing lately has no such plate and the tubing rests directly on the shoulder. I doubt anyone's shoulder is shaped right for that.

I currently own a 40K and have owned a 20K and various Conn 2XJ tubas. The 20K and the 2Xj's all had that flat third partial to varying degrees. The 40K and the one 38K that I have played did not. I think the source of this problem in those horns is not that they are 6/4 sized, but their short action valves, which the 38 and 40K do not have.

The 20K that I owned did have that plate for the shoulder (as do my 28K and 40K), but the newer 20Ks that I have seen did not have the shoulder plate.

[iiipopes]

I noticed that as well. So I would know just how far to either lip up or use alternate fingerings, I took out my little Korg tuner and started in just to see that mid line D put the digital "needle" right on the center green mark. Amazing.

But what I also noticed is that the 2nd valve slide is made a little long for multivalve combinations, so A nat and E nat in the staff are a tad flat.

[Donn]

I noticed that as well. So I would know just how far to either lip up or use alternate fingerings, I took out my little Korg tuner and started in on my 38K just to see that mid line D put the digital "needle" right on the center green mark. Amazing.

Yes indeed. Though of course we have been talking about the 3rd partial (F), the 5th looks good on mine too.

But what I also noticed is that the 2nd valve slide is made a little long for multivalve combinations, so A nat and E nat in the staff are a tad flat.

I don't see this, on the 40K, but I do have that problem on my rather worn Eb Giant Bass (another 6/4 Conn without serious 3rd partial troubles, incidentally.) The 40K's pistons were recently rebuilt.

[andrew the tuba player]

ok, i know that this sohould be a different subject, and it's totally random, but, how do or can you get the satin silver on the 20Ks to have that "glow" again? Mine was badly tarnished berfore i polished it up and still is a little in the hard to reach places. But, I've noticed how all the new or nicer satin silver horns have a certain "glow" to them. It seems you lose this when it's tarnished. I was just wonderin' if there was a way to restore this "glow" into the finish.

[druby]

Andrew,

On my old Holton double bell euphonium, I use baking soda, water, and elbow grease. For the fine corners and small spots around braces, and in the valve area, use a toothbrush. On the large flat surfaces, I sprinkle baking soda on a wet sponge and work the slush mixture o baking soda andmoisture with my hand. On a sousa, I would do this outside and hose it of when done. The baking soda will clean the satin silver without leaving a polished appearance.

On the polished surfaces (joints, over the engraving, inside of the bell), I use Wrights Silver Cream applied with a very wet sponge (a little goes a LONG way), let it dry, and buff it off with a very soft cloth.

Doug

[andrew the tuba player]

Thanks ill give it a try

[tubatom91]

Andrew,

On my old Holton double bell euphonium, I use baking soda, water, and elbow grease. For the fine corners and small spots around braces, and in the valve area, use a toothbrush. On the large flat surfaces, I sprinkle baking soda on a wet sponge and work the slush mixture o baking soda andmoisture with my hand. On a sousa, I would do this outside and hose it of when done. The baking soda will clean the satin silver without leaving a polished appearance.

On the polished surfaces (joints, over the engraving, inside of the bell), I use Wrights Silver Cream applied with a very wet sponge (a little goes a LONG way), let it dry, and buff it off with a very soft cloth.

Doug

Wrights silver polish is the best I have found (creme/fluid) to keep my sections 7 silvers shining nicely. I highly recommend it.