acemorgan wrote:So, with that as a preface, the general tuba consensus is that the range of a contrabass and a bass are essentially the same, yes? Even though their fundamentals are a 4th or 5th apart. Okay, so the euphonium is a 5th above the Eb tuba, and a 4th above the F tuba. Same interval range as the bass and contrabass, right? So does it not follow that the euphonium "should have" the same range as the bass? Or does the bass still have the same range as the contrabass?
I love playing my euphonium in its lowest range. I consider myself a tuba player who happens to use a 1/4 tuba. Does it sound like a 6/4? Of course not; it doesn't even sound like a 3/4. But does it sound good in its own right? I think so.
If the physics of the horn allows us to play well below the bass staff, I feel it's worth developing. If it is stuffy or if there are intonation problems, we work on those things, right?
My preferred F tuba mouthpieces are far more similar to my Bb tuba mouthpieces than they are different. But both are far different from euphonium mouthpieces.
My Yamaha 621 F tuba sits between a 4/4 contrabass and a euphonium, but my B&S is much closer in volume to a small contrabass than to a big euphonium. Yet both the Yamaha and the B&S sound like tubas, not euphoniums, until a try to push the volume (the B&S goes tuba-like, and the Yamaha goes euphonium-like when really pushed).
I heard a professional euphonium player warming up in the low register, and before I walked through the door and saw that it was a euphonium, I thought it was a tuba. And then I recalled a comment by William Revelli, or Philip Farkas (who were giving a joint presentation at a TMEA conference back in the deeps of time), which was listing to a trombone player and then rounding the corner and discovering it was a French horn player. Yes, it was loud, or low, or whatever, but the player had lost the characteristic sound of the instrument. A euphonium should sound like a euphonium even when played low, and a tuba should sound like a tuba even when played high.
For me, that distinction seems to follow the mouthpiece. I own a trombone mouthpiece with a tuba shank, and it makes a tuba sound like a bad baritone horn. And I own a Wick 1 with a bass trombone shank (old Besson shank) and it sounds like a tuba when put into a euphonium that can take the shank. There are those who can get a characteristic euphonium sound from a mouthpiece with a tuba-sized cup, but I'm not one of them.
So, even though I might be able to play as high on a Bb tuba as on an F tuba, it loses the F-tuba singing quality in the upper register. And even though I might be able to play an F tuba as high as a euphonium, it's really difficult to maintain the purity of tone one gets with the euph-sized mouthpiece.
All that said, I can think of one case where being able to play strongly in the lower register is more than just a parlor trick: Bydlo. Sure, sensible tuba players will want to give this to a trombone player for playing on a euphonium. And tuba players don't want to use a euphonium because of the part of that movement that
isn't melody, which sounds much stronger on a tuba. But if it was on my stand without the option, I'd rather optimize for the melody and compromise the low stuff, than compromise the melody using an F tuba. (I've heard enough top pros struggle with those high G-sharps, especially the
piano entrance near the end, to suggest that an F tuba is harder than it seems on that note.)
Rick "who hasn't had his euphonium out of the case in a long time--maybe soon" Denney
