Switching from BBb to CC

[ZachDomrese]

Zach Domrese here. I'm a high school student about to get my own tuba and will be getting a CC tuba. So does anyone have some advice that will make the switch easier and quicker?

[bort]

Play every day. Don't skimp on the scales either. For me, the weirdest part was hearing a different pitch then I was used to when mashing down the same buttons. Play a lot every day and you get used to it quick.

[The Jackson]

Hi, Zach. I'm also in high school and have played nothing but my C tuba for the past year. To me, the switch was not hard at all. In a few weeks, I was pretty well-versed in the key. All I can say is to just play the horn a lot and get the feel of the new tuba and the new key.

[pigman]

Great advise.
Forget switching and practice . CC is the answer to no question
Ray

[iiipopes]

Just do it. Live with this until it becomes automatic:

http://www.chisham.com/tips/fingerings/CC.html" target="_blank

(It's in the "Tips" section of the home website to the forum)

[UTSAtuba]

What everyone said, especially scales. Play familiar things to help adjust finger-to-pitch.

[MartyNeilan]

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[jonesbrass]

First, play simple tunes from memory to get used to the pitch center of your horn. Then, find a method book and some etudes that you're not familiar with, and work from those. That way you're not bringing any "baggage" with you to the new horn.

[bort]

But Marty... that would be switching from BBb to CC to F to Eb to Euph to Trombone to... (how many is he up to now? 15?)

[sloan]

Zach Domrese here. im a high school student about to get my own tuba and will be getting a CC tuba. So does anyone have some advice that will make the switch easier and quicker?

One word: Rubank's

[pierso20]

Play familiar etudes that you know well on BBb. Some players say this won't help, but it seems to have helped me quite well because it forces you to adopts a new set of fingerings.

Learning your first new key is more difficult...in the future, learning a new key won't be as difficult. Good luck!

[tubeast]

I´ve gone through the processes of a) replacing one pitch by another and b) adding one pitch to another.
a) played BBb only, switched to F. Played F and CC, switched to F and BBb.

I´d recommend You start off with certain notes functioning as "anchors" for You.
As in: find the most frequent notes in Your band folder and concentrate on those.
It really helps if You get into the physics of horns in general.
Answer Yourself questions such as "What will 2nd valve do to my horn ?"

(The answer is: "Lower it by one half step").
This kind of knowledge is not to be taken for granted, as I had to find out just recently: I found a guy who had been playing tuba in a band for 25 years who was unable to answer questions of this type. He simply had fingerings memorised as in "lowest space in the stave: press "2" and toot. With a little b-thingy in front of that note, use "1" instead". This method sure works (this guy´s doin´ just fine), but You´ll be completely lost if handed a horn of different pitch or asked to play a chromatic scale starting at something different to "BBb".

[Bignick1357]

I was in the same boat as you about a year ago and thats exactly what I did I played it for everything to force my self to learn them. Giving me no other choice but to play CC, it only took about 1 to 2 weeks to be pretty much to be totally switched over

[ZachDomrese]

thanks everyone for the advice
now i just have to actually get the horn!
hopefully im under a month away from getting one

[sloan]

If you compare (where they occur in the industry) same-models of BBb and CC tubas, (whether or not they are actually "better" instruments) the CC models always require less work to blow through and to produce a sound...

Really? Can you cite a few concrete examples, please?

[sloan]

If you compare (where they occur in the industry) same-models of BBb and CC tubas, (whether or not they are actually "better" instruments) the CC models always require less work to blow through and to produce a sound...

Really? Can you cite a few concrete examples, please?

Sure...

by widely-recognized model numbers:

184/185/186, 345, 621, 56J-vs.-2341, 32-vs.-20...

bloke "I assume that you noted the all-important parenthetical

(whether or not they are actually "better" instruments)

part."

So...I'll pick on the one I have some experience with: 56J-vs.-2341 and simply say "that has not been my experience". Your milage may vary. If anything, I found the 56J to be *more* work than the 2341. But then, there are *significant* differences other than the pitch between these two horns.

[iiipopes]

I will agree that a CC generally has less mass than a BBb of the same model, even if it has a 5th valve, because of the difference in taper in critical areas and the different balance of conical verses cylindrical tubing, and the main bugle being @24 inches shorter, with corresponding shorter valve slides. Less mass, generally, all other things being equal, means less inertia, which can be inferred to mean quicker response.

Notice I said "generally" because not absolutely, depending on the manufacturers.

Notice also I did not comment on anything having to do with pitch, intonation, mouthpieces, the player, etc.

And finally, notice I said, "...all else being equal," which it most definitely is not, because a tuba is a complex musical instrument, not simply a single dimension resonance chamber. With the curves, valves, nodes, antinodes, placement of braces, different aspects of conical v cylindrical in diffrent areas, etc., the "blow," which could also be referred to as the "mechanical impedance" of the instrument, may vary in other ways.

So I'm not so sure I would go all out and make the same inferential conclusion that bloke did, because of the imprecision of the word "blow," which can mean anything from how much air is expended to intonate a particular note, to a generic subjective description as to how the horn plays overall, and everything in between.

[Bob Kolada]

Quick and nimble my ***. When I play a contrabass tuba (especially a large one) I want the SOUND*, and to me most C tubas don't have that.


*Possibly because of all my "weight training" on my "new" Giant in the last few weeks the last time I played my unit's 187 I was surprised at how easier it was to play and I was really digging the sound.

[UTSAtuba]

I think what bloke is trying to say (this is not to say I believe in it) that a CC would "blow" better because of *slightly* shortened tubing. I.E., "Blowing" into a subsubcontrabass tuba in CCCC versus "blowing" into a piccilito trumpet in C10.

FWIW, I feel a 186 CC is only a tiny bit more air efficient than a 186 BBb. It's there...but it's tiny.

Just my $.0005

Joseph

[Rick Denney]

It is completely reasonable for the C tuba to cover a bit of the ground we normally expect between Bb and F. My F tubas are definitely more nimble than my Bb tubas, and that's one reason I play them.

I have also experienced the difference between Bb and C Miraphone 186 models, even of the same vintage.

But nimbleness is just one quality, as Joe explains.

Rick "who can't tell any difference in sound out front" Denney