Whenever I have had facial hair, I have always kept the mustache (moustache to those on the other side of the pond) area well trimmed to not cover any of the red part of the lip. Many tuba players have done variants of the "Abe Lincoln" beard with little to no hair on the upper lip at all. Yet every picture I see of Augustus Helleberg shows an enormous mustache. How did he do that - does the mouthpiece go under the hair instead of over?
Second, I've had a beard/mustache on and off over the last 10 years. I've never been much of a "mouthpiece up the nose" person (whether that's good or bad, it's just how I play). I'm wondering if the middle of Helleberg's upper lip was mostly shaved a bit, and just had some overhang to make it look filled in?
Especially in those days, where shaving was straight blade and imprecise for small areas, I'm guessing he just wore the 'stash the way he wanted it and learned to deal with it.
On at least one or two of those followup pictures, you can clearly see a little skin between the 'stache and the lip itself.
AH's seems to come way down to or even over the lip in all his pictures.
I get fatigued faster playing after I shave. When I play with some stubble, it feels warmer and I don't get fatigued as quickly. I don't grow very good facial hair, but for the sake of my tuba playing I'll go a few days without shaving. Hmm...
Michael Ebie PhD Music Theory (ABD) — University of Cincinnati CCM
MM Music Theory — Michigan State University
MM Tuba Performance — Michigan State University
BM Brass Performance — University of Akron
I personally prefer playing with a fresh, clean shave.
Quite often, shaving is the last thing I do before putting on the "Tracht" and leaving home for concerts.
Stubbles are annoying to the point of being shoved back into my skin by the MP, causing my lips to actually bleed. I have a slow beard growth rate, but it seems to be quite on the wiry side.
So no, I have no Idea how mustache-wearing players manage to play successfully. I tried to and failed.
Hans
Melton 46 S
1903 or earlier GLIER Helicon, customized Hermuth MP
2009 WILLSON 6400 RZ5, customized GEWA 52 + Wessex "Chief"
MW HoJo 2011 FA, Wessex "Chief"
tubeast wrote:
Stubbles are annoying to the point of being shoved back into my skin by the MP, causing my lips to actually bleed. I have a slow beard growth rate, but it seems to be quite on the wiry side.
So no, I have no Idea how mustache-wearing players manage to play successfully. I tried to and failed.
I doubt that's how Helleberg did it, anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if he had never shaved that mustache in his life, and it didn't start out as a patch of wiry stubble. Playing with grown out facial hair is one thing, playing with stubble is another.
It's all individual. I can't play anything in the low register with more than three days' worth of growth. The guy I've sat beside for more than a decade has a fully advanced goatee, and it doesn't seem to have ever affected his playing. One person's deal breaker can be another person's irrelevancy.
JP/Sterling 377 compensating Eb; Warburton "The Grail" T.G.4, RM-9 7.8, Yamaha 66D4; for sale > 1914 Conn Monster Eb (my avatar), ca. 1905 Fillmore Bros 1/4-size Eb, Bach 42B trombone
Used to have a full beard/mustache, and never noticed anything amiss. Then one day I shaved off both, and was amazed how much easier the pedal range was. Didn't really affect other registers so much, and I doubt Herr Helleberg needed to play much in the pedal range.
Didn't really affect other registers so much, and I doubt Herr Helleberg needed to play much in the pedal range.