Grooving for Heaven wrote:If you could only have one tuba (and I know that's the case for many people) What's the largest tuba you would consider using as an everything, everyday horn?
When I was in college I played a Cerveny 601 (18" bell, School tuba in CC) and I was told it was too large to use as an "only" tuba, but when I compare my 601 I have now to a thor that a student of mine has, it's not that much larger, and I don't think many people would say that a thor is too large for everyday use
It's funny how what used to too large is now "just right"
I used a Cerveny 601-5 CC tuba as my only horn for about three years. It was fairly large (5/4 ?), and needed quite a bit of air. It worked fine in quintet, church orchestra, and 70 piece symphony. Dynamic range was extraordinary. I used it for big-scale works (R. Strauss, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, etc.), but it could easily be dialed down for smaller ensembles. Very versatile tuba IMHO.
I view this as a "whatever you feel most comfortable on" kind of thing. Some will play everything on their F's or Eb's. Others may like various sizes of C or Bb. Why does the Size matter so much. If you can play any volume on it, bigger doesn't have to mean louder crush the group. Several years ago the conductor of this little orchestra I was in asked the trombones to play softer. The lead player, who had retired from the West Point Band nodded to the affirmative while the two college professors scampered offstage and changed horns. So I figured they thought they could only play the one volume on their different sized horns. Since there is so much to choose from I can understand the trumpet player in your quintet asking about your equipment but to let others manipulate your choice of horns to match their, sometimes very limited, exposure seems counterproductive. I had the pleasure of taking with Herb Wekselblatt while I was in the West Point band in the 70's. He had been in the NY Met. Opera for quite awhile and mentioned that when conductors would ask him to forgo his Sanders Bb and play the F he would grab an Olds 99.I currently favor my 36J and refer silly feedback to the old Louis Armstrong song "Do what Ory say".Which was the printable version of what he did regularly say. Kiss my ******* ***".Rant over. Ed
The largest one-tuba tuba I would consider buying is a 1291; that's even a stretch. I only play F anymore (and euph and bass trombone, I have considered an F contrabass trombone as my only trombone though ).
What do you do every day???
Play in a large band or a full symphony orchestra that frequently performs late Romantic period works?
Play mostly cimbasso, ophicleide, or serpent parts?
Play in a small jazz combo?
Play with 10 trumpets and 10 trombones or 2-3 of each?
Play mostly chamber, recital, or brass quintet literature?
Play in a Broadway style pit orchestra?
Play as part of a 6 tuba section or as the only tuba?
The biggest every day tuba for YOU depends on what YOU do every day.
The bulk of what I do weekly is with a larger college/community orchestra and a medium large church orchestra. When I had left my big horn home and brought the 3/4 Conn 2J to either, they had both asked for more (not just louder, but -more-). I have never heard that my BART 6/4ish horn was too big, as long as it is played appropriately to the context of the music (big horns can play soft too, they just sound different doing it.) I have played the BART in a few quintet and small ensemble things and can get by with a smaller mouthpiece. If my duties were reversed, I would not see that as the ideal instrument.
In the UK most tuba players use a compensated EEb tuba for everything and having personally tried everything up to a 6/4 Neptune - the EEb is the best all around tuba.
The 6/4 Neptune worked great, and I loved playing, but never found it suitable for everything.
I would agree with Marty, it depends on the nature of most of your playing. Do you mostly play in large concert band, quintet, or orchestra? Then choose the best tool for the job.
"The music business is a cruel and shallow trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." Hunter S Thompson
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