So ... assuming it doesn't normally go that way, what tuba has been winning the auditions? I infer from your proposal that this could be a valid question.Chuck Jackson wrote: And I posit: Level the playing field for the next CSO audition. Give everyone a 186-5U and two mouthpieces of their choice and may the best MUSICIAN win.
I don't know nothing about today's top of the line tubas myself, but the initial proposition reminds me a little of saxophone mouthpieces. I've been looking at tenor saxophone mouthpieces lately. I dare say saxophone mouthpieces make more difference than is the case in the tuba world, in the sense that the tonal potential can vary quite radically. The market is something like cheap student $20-$50, serious production $90-$300, boutique & custom $300-$600 and up. That's for plastic/hard rubber, add more for a metal mouthpiece. There doesn't seem to be a strong correlation between quality/consistency and price - a Selmer Brilhart Ebolin at $40 is much more reliable than a Berg Larsen at $180. So what do you get, for $500? Bear in mind, it's a tenor saxophone, usually to play in a loud band, in a club with people yelling at the top of their lungs to make themselves heard over the band and each other. What I think people hear in these mouthpieces, they alone hear.
That doesn't mean it's a bad thing, though. If you play your horn and it sounds like what you want to hear, in your head, that's got to help you play like you want to play. That might apply to tubas, too. Probably one reason the sousaphone isn't prized so much.
