Switching horns.

[TonyZ]

Sousas don't hurt my back or my stomach, just my shoulder. You'll find out. About two weeks into the season your shoulder muscles will strengthen and it won't hurt as much.

Back when I wasn't "old" I played sousa at Cedar Point in live shows for three years. 8 thirty-minute shows a day put a great crease in my shoulder, and a bizarre lump in the middle of my back that finally went away after 8 years. Really awful instruments to use for the long haul.

[MaryAnn]

When I went to my CC tuba, I had air problems too, but I got used to it (blow a LOT) and now it feels normal. It just takes a little while, and you'll be fine.

A friend of mine had problems with his low F too....he needed to push his jaw out and down more to get that note.

If you're missing the pitches low, it likely is the air problem, or you might want to push in your tuning slide some. You'll have to make adjustments while you're getting used to the bigger tuba.

Keep buzzin!

MA, another of the "old" people on the BBS

[bigboom]

I got one of those old yamaha 641's from the college I will be attending and I too think they are a very different to play. I've played on mostly a yamaha 321, Conn 5j and the Conn 20k sousies my school has. It is much harder to play than any of those and than any I remember playing and I'm not real sure why. I do think it has a decent sound but slurs are incredibly hard on the 3rd and 4th valves. If you were playing on 3/4 horn in your middle school it is probably a huge change. I hope I get a little more used to it because it's been 3 months and it still is hard. Have any of you out there had issues when they first started using rotary valves. Well good luck and you'll get there with how hard it seems you work.

Ben

[tubeast]

Hey there,

don´t know about the sousaphone they´re going to hand out to you, but occasionally (once a year, so too seldom to have my shoulder get used to it) I´m wearing a helicon with a nasty small pipe resting on the shoulder.
What I do: get a nice big newspaper (Saturday edition with all those small adds in there), fold it to appropriate size and stuff it on shoulder between t-shirt and shirt or jacket. Cardboard will do nicely, too. It won´t take the weight off your shoulder, but spares you from a whole lot if itches and pains.

Make sure it´s thin enough so you won´t look like a football player.