Playing every day.

[Tubadan]

I usually lurk around here. I think I posted a few questions in college. Other than that I enjoy reading the posts here. I was a fairly decent player in college and took a few years off from playing the tuba while I was working my first job due to a lack of free time. I would play every now and then, probably once a week. Now I'm a band director, and I started playing every day. I hadn't progressed any from college but still sounded good. I started playing almost every day. I really enjoyed getting back into practice. Recently I noticed my playing is getting worse. My sound is unfocused, and my embouchure is almost non existant. My tone sounds sa little better than a beginner. Technically I'm doing well, but put the horn to my face and it sounds bad. I am really getting discouraged. Anybody have any tips?

[Michael Bush]

I've been dealing with that too, in a somewhat similar situation. I've been playing at least an hour a day, and rarely less than two lately. I got better and better for months. Suddenly everything went south. I couldn't even count on hitting the partial I was aiming for with a given fingering.

I poked around the internet and finally took advice I read somewhere, probably on here, and took Monday and Tuesday of this week off completely.

Yesterday, after the rest, everything was much better. I suspect until lately I've had a certain amount of enforced rest because I was traveling all the time. Then I hit a slowdown in my schedule, so my daily routine hasn't been interrupted for a while. The planned "interruption" made a big difference for me.

So it could be that "every day" without a break is the problem?

[SousaSaver]

Instead of thinking about it too much, (while making a BIG sound) imprint some tuba sound that you like (c.d., YouTube, whatever source) and try to imitate that sound.

This is great advice. It reminds me very much of Arnold Jacobs.

[Art Hovey]

Try ditching your daily practice routine and playing something completely different, but FUN.

[bort]

I think it's important to play every single day. Even if you only have 20 minutes to play through your scales, keep the horn on your face and keep fresh. For me, it just *works* for "maintenance"!

[Wilco]

Hi, if the change happened overnight there might be aleak in the horn somewhere. Perhaps a leaky spitvalve?

[Bill Troiano]

Lessons! You might get some useful advice here, but there is no substitute for studying with a reputable tuba teacher.

[Roger Lewis]

Bill's got it right. No amount of good willed kibitzing from us here on TN is going to help in the long term. Find a good teacher - soon - and get some help from someone who can actually WATCH how you are playing.

Roger