What's your principal instrument and why?

[sailn2ba]

BBb 5v because I like the low end. NOW I need to learn how to exploit the sharp 2+3 slide. Any suggestions?

[pwhitaker]

With my 5v 1291 BBb with the sharp 2-3 slide in the 5th valve I used to pull the 5th slide until the low D (4-5) was in tune. With the 1st valve slide pulled a little I could get the bottom Bb with 1-2-3-4-5. The timbre on this note was a little cleaner than the open pedal. Also you can use the 5th valve for the 2-3 notes further up the scale ( Gb, Db, Gb).

[charlieJ]

Another EEb nod - I learnt to play in British Brass bands in the UK and never broke away.

What is interesting in this poll is the number of eefer players compared with 20 years ago, when it seemed the Eb was for the most part relegated to student models. Way back when I was shopping for Eb's (prior to the Web) the selection was limited at best, with new models only really available from Yamaha and Besson. Now there are great horns from B&S, MW, Miraphone, York, etc. + good stuff still from Yamaha and Besson....so much to choose from!

Perhaps we can thank Patrick Sheridan and Oystein Baadsvik for the turn around.

[David Richoux]

I started on Bb Baritone, then Eb Sousaphone (because that was what was available.) I switched to BBb in High School and have stayed with that pretty much. I do have some Eb tubas that I use for "fun gigs" but I find that I am more fluid and accurate with BBb. I tried learning to play on CC and F but it never really worked for me. I have not had any formal instruction in tuba playing (in any key) but I "gets by OK..."

[bearphonium]

BBb tuba, Bb euphonium here. A 3/4 BBb at that. Does what I need it to do, and the sousaphone is good for the marching gigs. Euph is mostly for fun these days, since I seem to be tubaing a lot lately.

[TMurphy]

Played BBb in HS, and the first 2 years of college. Then I played on a Besson 983, and it just fit. At my teacher's urging, I sold my BBb and bought a 983. It's the only horn I own, so it's what I play.

Someday, I will get another BBb, or maybe a CC. But for now, finances dictate I stick with my Eb, and that's fine with me.

[Wyvern]

I originally learnt on Eb as is usual in the UK. After a couple years I switched to BBb, but in brass band, so same fingerings. That I played exclusively for 17 years, before going back to Eb now reading bass clef in orchestra which I played for the following 12 years. Then wanting more weight in large symphony orchestra got CC 4 years ago playing with Eb up until this year. Now discovered the joys of F and decided it better 'compliments' CC which is now my principal instrument.

I have also learned to play BBb in bass clef, so can now play all four key of tuba to a greater, or lesser extent which is fun I would say to others - don't be scared to learn a new pitch of tuba. It is a bit mind blowing to start with, and one does make mistakes and have mind freezes (what the heck is that?), but they get less and less over time. Then learning yet another key is easier still as I recently found learning F. Half the scale is related to Bb and the other half to C, with only a couple of different fingerings - easy!

[sloan]

I'm an aging amateur bandie - just so you know my biases.

When I'm likely to be the only tuba, I bring the King 2341(new style) 4V BBb.

When I'm likely to be one of 3 or more, I now tend to bring a 3+1 EEb.

When it's just for fun, I might bring an antique 3V Eb helicon.

When we put together our "all monsters, all the time" tuba section this spring, I may bring a 1933 Conn 36J with an upright bell (4V BBb again).

On July 4, for an outdoor gig, perhaps I'll fit a forward-facing bell on the 36J.

When I get older, and even more feeble, I'll dig out the 3/4 Yamaha (yet another 4V BBb).

And, on 5 February, when I attend the 40th Anniversary celebration of the world's first Precision Ice Skating Band, I suppose I'll have to deal with a crappy 3V Sousaphone loaner, just like I did the first time around. I *really* want to bring the Eb helicon, but it's probably too much hassle to ship it.

I have no (immediate) plans (at my age "immediate" plans are the only ones I have left...) to acquire a CC or F tuba - but if I do, I wouldn't expect it to take me longer than 1 month to be comfortable with the fingerings. That's about how long it took to learn the BBb fingerings 45-odd years ago, and about how long it took to ADD (note: not *switch to*) Eb.

But I'm just an amateur bandie with low expectations. I'm sure that it's a lot harder for a Pre-Professional Performance Major to learn new fingerings up to his standards.

I'm more likely to find a reason to add in Treble Clef. After all, it's a bit confusing to me to play Bass Clef on the tuba using my right hand. Every 7yo piano student knows that you play Treble Clef music with your right hand and Bass Clef music with your left hand.

[Tubachin]

And, on 5 February, when I attend the 40th Anniversary celebration of the world's first Precision Ice Skating Band

Ken,

I wonder if you will be "Ever True" to the band while proudly donning your "Brown" turtleneck? Is it a home game or a Rhode game?

Class of '78

[sloan]

And, on 5 February, when I attend the 40th Anniversary celebration of the world's first Precision Ice Skating Band

Ken,

I wonder if you will be "Ever True" to the band while proudly donning your "Brown" turtleneck? Is it a home game or a Rhode game?

Class of '78

Home game, Friday 5 Feb at 7 (you know where). Reception at 6 (you might need directions). Music and (by pre-arrangement) instruments provided. Extra game Saturday afternoon. Y'all come. Ki-Yi-Yi. We only do this every 10 years, so pack that helicon (got a spare?) and your skates and start driving. There might be a special edition "button".
http://www.cis.uab.edu/sloan/feb70.html

[UTSAtuba]

I chose CC because that's what I have, so that's what I work with. I was taught on BBb, then learned CC in college, but only because I was naive. Things would be different if I could start again. I also chose CC because that's all I have for the moment (I won't have anything soon enough...long story )

Joseph

[Mike Finn]

... I was taught on BBb, then learned CC in college, but only because I was naive. Things would be different if I could start again...
Joseph

What was naive, being taught BBb or switching to CC? What would be different? Just curious. I know I'd do some things differently too, like not trying to remove that stuck slide by standing on the bell rim and pulling up with all my might.

[UTSAtuba]

... I was taught on BBb, then learned CC in college, but only because I was naive. Things would be different if I could start again...
Joseph

What was naive, being taught BBb or switching to CC? What would be different? Just curious. I know I'd do some things differently too, like not trying to remove that stuck slide by standing on the bell rim and pulling up with all my might.

Thanks for catching that. At the time, switching to CC was a naive thing to do. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy playing my CC and will actually be looking for a replacement in the future. I just don't think the time I took to learn CC actually contributed to anything. I'm a Music Education major, so being proficient on CC was not on the list of requirements The actual naive part came from me giving in to the whole "you're not a true college player unless you play CC". Hey, it's no biggie now. I'm just glad I've learned something. That's what really counts.

Joseph

[bigbob]

when I started playing tuba in 8th grade it was a BBb and played through high school I hurt my Back in 87 and bought a BBb king sousaphone and chair after a year of playing with lessons My teacher thought a CC was better for me.. He said it was better centered I have been playing that same 3J in my room for the last 21 years I really know of no other horn but this one... But I love to look at all the other horns.. and maybe at the army conference get to play some.. I'm really interested in the BAT older horns and there huge sound... I've been saving my money... Someday..............Bigbob

[Lee Stofer]

My principal instrument these days is a 200-year-old Tyrolean string bass, as that is what is in demand in my area. Second on the list would be tuba, and I have managed to acquire a 1923 York "4/4+" BBb this year. After repairing all the defects, this instrument provides me with a really dark sound with plenty of "bite" if needed. People are talking about a "hammer sound" these days - this instrument provides me with a large, gloss black hammer sound if desired. The intonation is as good as any CC I've ever played, and better than most. Since I try to practice all of my scales, fingering patterns don't seem to make a lot of difference. I've owned fine CC tubas and played many more that were owned by the US Army, but this instrument leaves me with no desire to seek out a CC tuba to play.

After starting on euphonium in high school, I switched to tuba during the first semester of college, and I was supplied with a kaiser Cerveny BBb. By my junior year, I had bought into that "you have to play CC to be a serious tuba player" and played the college's CC tuba until I could buy one of my own. For the next 20 years I did the majority of my professional playing on either Rudolf Meinl or Hirsbrunner CC tubas. I discovered F and Eb along the way and enjoyed both, but never really considered them as primary instruments. In 1996 I purchased an old Conn 25J, for instrument repair reasons as well as a possible player. Once it was mechanically near-perfect, I found that it was so much fun to play in band that I started playing BBb in band and haven't bothered with CC for a band since. I felt as if I had been beating my head against a wall for 15+ years in bands, and suddenly found relief. The brass band that I was playing with winning at NABBA that Spring was a confirmation that I was on the right track, and CC became a brass quintet horn. I found that the whole BBb vs CC debate was like a truck vs car debate, where there are so many choices and models of each, and so many personal uses and needs, that it becomes nearly useless. The piece of music, the person and the ensemble all factor into what is most appropriate, and that is not always a simple, pat answer. I played F tuba exclusively on a concert band tour once, where Chuck Jackson was the other tubist. He played a Rudi 3/4 CC, and I played a Rudi 5/4 F. The concert band was not particularly large, and the repertoire did not call for a lot of massive sound. It was a well-blended, finely-honed sound. On the other hand, I've been on tour with the Heidelberg, Germany Army Band as part of the "4 Horsemen" tuba section, where we had 2 Hirsbrunner CC's, a Mirafone CC and I played the Band's Rudi 5/4 BBb, and, as the music called for, we cleaned house. There is a time and place for everything.

[chipster55]

I learned to play BBb in HS. When I started playing again 10 yrs ago, I got a 3/4 BBb 'cause that's what I could afford at the time and I still play it. It does OK for community band and church. Besides, I'm too old and set in my ways now. If I decide to play the lottery and win, I'd get another BBb.

[ken k]

Eb tuba is my only tuba right now, I have a BBb helicon for parades and jazz gigs. I started on trombone in elementary school and then learned BBb tuba in college. In grad school I tried a Boosey Eb and liked the way it played so I bought it and have been playing it for 26 years. I would like to get a big BBb sometime, but I can use my helicon if I need a big BBb for now.

ken k

[J.c. Sherman]

My first tuba purchase was an Eb Boosey & Hawkes Imperial. At the 1988 TUBA conference in Tacoma Washington, it stood out in price, for sure (it was used) but I LATCHED onto it as the best thing I'd ever played. Learned the fingerings from my trumpet background and now it's my most comfortable and trustworthy instrument. Truly, I love and hate the thing; it's like a long marriage now, and I know every quirk. I do keep an Eb Sousa around and a miniscule Eb King recording, and hope to have a Conn monster 5v conversion done soon so I can ponder retiring from CC.

I love my 621 F, and use that a great deal too, and probably did 60% of my playing on F in college. Between those, you could say my two main instruments are bass tuba and bass trombone.

I learned CC almost because I thought I had too. But I've never really been at home on it. I use my Kalison DS more frequently now than I've ever played any CC, and people seem to like it, but my Eb looks at me sternly when I leave without it.

My Alex 164, my BAT is another familiar old friend I love and hate. She bales me out when I'm outgunned on the small horns, and no one ever asks for more from me when She comes out to play. I don't know I could ever give her up except for a King Monster Rotory BBb. I have a BBb, a Reynolds with a custom bell, which I assembled for myself after unloading a King (also a great instrument). I'm more comfy on BBb, but haven't sucked it up enough to go for broke and get rid of the CC to play a really great BBb. I'm a coward.

A new acquisition does give me pause; I now have a 184-4U CC Miraphone from the 70's and it's as easy to play and get around on as my old Eb. No 5th needed, really, but wish I had it sometimes. But it's such a simple instrument! It's getting a lot of use in quintet work with me now. Otherwise, I could probably abandon CC all together if pushed... I just don't really see the point in them; the Conn 2J and the Miraphone 184 are okay for me and are more suited to their length, I think, than their humongous counterparts. But give me the right BBb, which I'll always be more comfortable on, and I'll avoid CC forever.

Unless I'm handed a $25,000 instrument; some of those play well

J.c.S.

[Eupher6]

Well, despite the screen name I'm playing more tuba (a recently purchased Mirafone 184) than euph these days, and even more bass trombone than euph.

That's all because of the new brass quintet we have going. I never would have even thought to make the plunge to tuba (into the dark abyss?) if it hadn't been for the almost complete dearth of tuba players in north-central Missouri.

So with 10 days of practice under my belt, I play my first pay gig on tuba (borrowed Lee Stofer's King 2340 in BBb while my Mirafone was in his shop), playing Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony. Holy-moley. Talk about baptism by fire. (Yeah, I know there are harder parts, but with only 10 days of tuba time ever under my belt? - c'mon, gimme a break!)

I somehow survived and didn't embarrass myself.

Things are getting better on tuba and bass trombone, without a decided loss of euph chops, except in the tessitura above 4th line D in the treble clef.

I sure do miss my euph, though. *sigh*

[roughrider]

I started playing the tuba in elementary school. A BBb four valve Yamaha that was so big, I took it back and forth to school on a wagon behind my bicycle. This lasted until my band director found a 3/4 size that I just kept at home and practiced there. Later in high school I purchased the King bass that I have used ever since. Other than a laquer job, it has required very little maintenance on my part. Two years ago I purchased a VMI rotary valve BBb. It and I are getting to know each other finally and the sound is improving. These are the only two instruments I will ever need considering my ambitions do not go beyond a very good amateur band. I enjoy watching the "tuba envy" that goes on as well as the pictures of some of these dream instruments shown on Tubenet.