Are you a slide puller?

[jlbreyer]

I've found I tend to play sharp on the F down on the fourth leger line and a 1st valve slide pull really helps.
jlb

[MaryAnn]

I'm becoming more and more appreciative of the right hand's usefulness in my french horn. Moving the hand to alter pitch becomes automatic after a year or two...and you aren't even really aware of doing it, any more than you are of using a valve combination for a pitch.

My Mfone's 1st slide has obviously had extensive prior use as a trombone slide, because it almost falls out when put upside down. However I don't use 1-2 except for the E in the staff that is flat open; I use 3rd valve, tuned for those pitches, for the usual 1-2 notes. Since my 5th valve is 2-3 (major 3rd) instead of a flat whole step, I can use it for all 2-3 pitches that might otherwise be sharp.

I can't reach the tuning slide to move it; so while I probably should move slides now and then I'm pretty close to the right pitch with how I tune my valve slides. I'm not advanced enough on tuba to tell a whale of a difference in sound quality from lipping a pitch to be on target....so I guess that's why I get away with non-slide-pulling. Maybe I'll invent some artifical hand I can put in the bell, so I can use technique I'm used to.

MA

[tclements]

I ALWAYS pull slides if a note is out of tune (usually only the first slide will do everything). I always want to play the note 'the horn wants to play.' In my experience, if you LIP a note, the tone color changes too drastically, PLUS you are fighting the tuba. Use a tuning box, tune your tuba to itself and adjust the instrument's length to play the appropriate pitch. As far as using 'optional' fingerings for some notes. Again, my experience shows that when you use a long valve in the upper register, the tone color changes too drastically. UNLESS one spends A LOT of time 'warming' those notes up. It is far better to push a slide in, than use a long valve slide.

[Chuck(G)]

Doing a little name dropping...

Allow me to drop another one...

I seem to remember Pat Sheridan saying something to the effect of "pull for tone, not pitch" at a master class.

[Chuck(G)]

What do you think meant by that? Share with the class a little context, if you please...

Mr. Sheridan must have known what he meant when he said it, but here's my take:

I think he was saying that it's good practice to know how to buzz in pitch without using the horn to "slot" the pitch for you. Pulling a slide to make the horn's pitch center conform with what you're buzzing will improve the quality of the sound, but slide-pulling to tune your buzz is probably not a good practice.

How about "lip first, then pull"?

[Dylan King]

The first tuba I owned was a Mirafone 187 with jiggers on the first valve and fith valve slides. With the fifth valve in the left hand, I had seven fingers on a rotor or jigger at all times and the horn could be played perfectly in tune on every note with ease. I am also played trombone and violin and was used to tuning in that manner.

On my Yorkbrunner the first valve slide is always in my hand and often in use. It is a difficult horn to keep in tune but entirely possible with slide pulling. I would go as far as to say that slide pulling is essential on the Yorkbrunner, for I have seen other pros doing the same thing. If first line open G wasn't so sharp, the horn would play perfectly in tune using only the first valve slide. As it is I have to use the force when playing that note. It works every time, but isn't cake.

The Rudy F that I just sold had 6 valves and played in tune using alternate fingerings with no slide pulling at all.

The Yamaha 621 that I have replaced it with plays more easily in tune than any horn I have tried. The Japanese seem to have invented some way to prevent one from having to use the left hand on the tuba. This is fantastic for me because now I can play tuba and finger cymbals at the same time.

[Art Hovey]

On a BBb tuba I like to tune my 4th valve to a perfect 4th, for C and low F. Fingering low B and E 2&4 then requires a pull of either the 2nd or the 4th valve slide. If the neighboring notes in the passage require the 4th but not the 2nd then I pull the 2nd. But if there are no neighboring notes requiring the 4th valve alone, (for example, in the keys of A, E, or D) then I pull the 4th. On rarer occasions I use the 1st slide. I have not found any need to pull my 3rd slide, though.
I used to have a Bohm & Meinl with an accessible main slide, but I found that I did not like to use it because it requires too much coordination.

[hurricane_harry]

Having a way to change the pitch on any note is fabulous and FAST - my main tuning slide moves so freely (but does not leak) will fall out if the bar is not attached.

Kanstul has been building "Tune Any Note" slides into their G bugles since 1990. They're similarly loose & fast, and have screw-down stops to keep them from falling out.

Below is a pic of their large size contrabass, with the tune any note slide zoomed in, and that slide's thumbring highlighted by a dashed line.

HEY, I PLAY ONE OF THOSE!!!!!!!!
the problem with the on the moveadjusting is that when ever you bring your horn back if front of you it goes all the way back in. so when u play again, you play the tuning game all over again.

BTW WONDERFUL horn, i would highly reccomend if one has the means. its the horn that phantom regiment used b4 the went Bb

[Lew]

I very rarely do any slide pulling. I don find myself lipping some notes, and have adopted some alternate fingerings depending on the horn. On my King 2341 I find that as long as the horn is in tune with the group, I don't have any notes for which I find slide pulling necessary.

On my Besson 983 I have found that 3rd valve works better for the 1st line G, but don't do any slide pulling either. With the bands I'm in it's not clear which version of the note to tune to anyway.

[Tubatoad]

I have the luxury(?) of playing in a fairly narrow range of notes, and so by tuning branches and using alternate fingerings am able to stay in tune with my ensemble without pulling on my Cerveny BB 683.
Tuned thus:
1 = Eb at one line below staff
2 = E at one line below staff
3 = G below staff
4 = F below the fundamental

C above the fundy is 13, G and D 12.

Well, it works for me.

[iiipopes]

I had to revive this thread because I ran into a situation that for the sake of the legato line I have to use the 1st tier alternate fingerings. We are performing the Gillingham arrangement of "Be Thou My Vision."

The first @20 bars have legato D, C & G figures, with an occasional A (d minor - 1 flat). So using the conventional (on a BBb tuba) 1-2 to 4 fingerings just burble all over the place, even with the best of technique.

So, I shove 3 to play D & G, and pull 1 so C can be played 1-3. If you ride 1 for the occasional Eb, you only have to change one valve at a time, preserving the legato line with minimal rotor blurp until about measure 30, when there is a three measure hold on an open F that you can reset slides to conventional positions for the key change and off you go.

[Richardrichard9]

On my CC I pull my 1st valve for fnatural and pedal F. Also for the pedal D.

On my BBb I tend to adjust the 3rd valve often.

[The Jackson]

I usually pull 1, but occasionally pull 3 when I try to be cool and end pieces on depth charges.

[CTAYLOR]

Are you a slide puller

YES!!

[Mojo workin']

Are you a slide puller

No. The only thing I pull is my.....



Seriously, former teachers Rex Martin and Dave Fedderly don't, why should I?

Although other former teacher Ed Goldstein does, with good results.

Too much work for me personally.

[kingrob76]

When feasible, I will pull or push a slide as needed

The way I learned it, it's easier to adjust your equipment than it is your embouchure. My main teacher (Mike Bunn) always felt lipping notes can lead to fatigue, and that it was better to "set it and forget it" when it came to your face - made for more consistent playing.

I understand a LOT of people set the slides and there they shall be for the next 5 years. I'm good with that if it works for the person playing, as long as the pitch is good it doesn't really matter.

[WakinAZ]

All lip and alternate (adult) fingerings. I'm just not a natural slide puller, so by the time I remember to do it and then get the slide back where it was, I'm a measure behind.

Eric "who likes depth charges also" L.

[MartyNeilan]

[tbn.al]

Being a trombone player first and having to deal with the inherent stovepipe scale issues on my Miraphone, puliing is as natural as it is necessary. I have utilized the pull for tone not for pitch concept all my life on trombone and just didn't realize it. Early, I learned to buzz the correct pitch and then put the trombone slide where it needed to go to center the tone. After a while it either gets automatic or you have to take up tennis. I just apply the same principals to tuba. I usually only pull 1st on the 12 combos and the Eb's which are sharp for some reason on my Miraphone. I would like to have a 2nd kicker for one note, the 123 B. I had an exposed FF entrance on that note last year that drove me up the wall. If I set the slides for 23 to be in tune and 4 to nail the C then that's all I need to do. I had Lee Stofer work on the alighment on my first valve and it's as good as my trombone slide. The VMI 3301 my church just bought is a totally different animal. No pulls needed anywhere, anytime, anyhow! That sure is liberating.

[finnbogi]

I'm not much of a slide puller, having been spoilt for years by my Besson, which just plays in tune without me worrying about it.

Since I got my Fafner, I have had to get used to pulling the fourth valve slide for low B and the notes immediately above the pedal B flat. For some notes, I can either pull/push the slide or use a different fingering and it really depends on the context what I do. Given that both sound as well, I tend to opt for the alternate fingerings.