On what is he playing?

[P@rick]

Watch the Tuba player at 16 seconds...just before the lovely lady

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDs24rL_b6E

It's not an optical illusion. Maybe you only see this lady but the Tuba is really there .

Now for real. Did the tuba player forget to take of the mouthpiece pouch or what is it?

[Kevin Hendrick]

Looks like a wood mouthpiece to me (I'd guess rosewood, from the color).

[Wyvern]

I tried to watch this video, but seem to have some technical problem. Every time I try it inexplicably freezes on the woman Yes, really!

However, I managed to look at the tuba just before and I too think it a wooden mouthpiece.

[P@rick]

Wood I never new there were wooden tuba mouthpieces. That's quite the opposite of stainless steel or even titanium. Does anyone here have experience with wooden mouthpieces?

[Wyvern]

Wood I never new there were wooden tuba mouthpieces.

Good for people with metal allergies, but I have no experience of playing one.


What got me about that video (when I at last got to view the lot) was the popular reception a wind band was getting by young people. In the UK, sadly our audience is usually made up largely of old people.

[eupher61]

definitely a woodie.

[P@rick]

...What got me about that video (when I at last got to view the lot) was the popular reception a wind band was getting by young people...

It was a rock concert with lots of drunk young ones. The contrast of this band on the rock concert could not be bigger. I think did the trick

[windshieldbug]

Probably rosewood. The plastic mouthpiece before plastic. Good in cold environments when you're outside. Think Conn Visible Embrochure or Kellyburg

[Kevin Hendrick]

Does anyone here have experience with wooden mouthpieces?

Funny you should ask ...

Here are a couple of pictures of mine:





I bought it about 5 years ago from a euphonium player who had been one of the alphorn players at the Salt Lake City Olympics, and who drove from Utah to Kalamazoo to play in our TubaChristmas (he'd intended to fly, but the weather there was so bad they closed the airport, so he got in his car and drove instead ).

The outer diameter is about 2", the inner diameter about 1.15", and the cup depth around 1.75". I was told it's made of rosewood, and several woodwind players who have seen it thought that also.

The wood makes it a good extreme-temperature mouthpiece -- I've used it for outdoor performances from below freezing to 100 degrees (you'd think it would crack, but it hasn't thus far). Maintenance consists of oiling it about once a year, similar to a clarinet or oboe. It seems to damp out the upper harmonics, leaving a mellow sound, and I have used it in concerts when that sound was appropriate.