Cold Weather Tips ???

[jamsav]

Wow !! Merry Christmas to all. Happy to see that I can still type, but after playing for the arrival of Santa Claus this evening , I thought I'd need the hospital to surgically remove 25 lbs of frozen brass from my body . I felt like that kid, Ralphy, with my lips stuck to a pole ! Horn went way out of tune , in all directions , my chops couldn't blow anything below the staff , fingers weren t doing too good either !! I got paid at the end of the night, but it must have been for enduring the cold . My playing was awful . Tuba Christmas aside, I will go out of my way to avoid these jobs, but when duty calls...any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Jamsav- 3rd Tuba Napoleons Legion Band - somewhere outside of Moscow.

[jamsav]

I had the Wick 1 stuck in the Besson !

[jamsav]

A truer word , never spoken...to make matters worse, I released the water key down a pant leg and into my sock !!! ( unintentionally) . The Macallan 12 does taste particularly good right now ...goodnight tube net

[Kevin Hendrick]

I trust you were using a Kelley mouthpiece, that would have been your only saving grace.

In this weather, Lexan is your friend! Highly recommended.

[rocksanddirt]

well....a Kelly, lots of layers, possibly a chemical hand warmer affixed in some manner to the valve block to keep it warmer than frozen, more layers, ear muffs and a hat.....

[Tundratubast]

McCallan 12;

a very fine choice during cold weather operations & recovery. Well played.

[TUBAD83]

Ask yourself: Do I need a check this bad? Personally I don't do gigs in extremely weather (had enough of those when I was in the army). Do not risk your health or your instrument for a check.

JJ

[iiipopes]

A Kelly 18 will stick in far enough. It won't fall out, even though the Kelly has the "American standard" .520 tip, and your Besson has the .490 small receiver. That's what I use when I play Salvation Army kettles, Christmas parade floats, etc., during the season. The only color you can't get one in is, unfortunately, is opaque British Racing Green. I have one in "Marching Maroon" to match the colors of the sponsor organizations of the bands I play in.

As above, I also strongly urge you get one for outdoor gigs. It also has a smaller throat and the rounded cup so you get a little bit of mouthpiece-resistance feedback to your chops to help control intonation in the cold, but still deep enough to get good tone out of the beast.

Hint: wrap the throat of a Kelly 18 with a circle of golfer's lead tape to help stabilize the mouthpiece at dynamic extremes.