mustaches

[tubafour]

LoL.....I have some peach fuzz on my lip. When I shave it to try to get it to change to that manly main, it irritates the crap out of my skin when I play, so you could say I'm fuzzy wuzzy.

Do any girls out there have trouble playing with facial hair? Since this seems to be a manly discussion, why not bring the women into it?

[GC]

I returned to playing about 4 years ago, and I had to get rid of my moustache completely. I have extremely coarse beard hair and a lip that's not very flexible, and I cannot get a seal aound the top edge of the mouthpiece with a moustache. The more hair I have under the MP, the less low range I have. In fact, 3 days growth and I can't even play a low Bb.

[tubatooter1940]

With mustache only,I looked like Sonny Bono so I grew a full 'stache and beard.People seemed to like my beard but the change in some people was amazing.
I walked into a restuarant-poorly dressed in my paint clothes and a cop stands up and puts his hand on his gun.Without my beard I looked so honest I could usually talk my way out of traffic tickets.With my new white beard all the children in airport lounges came over to talk to me.Without a beard kids usually like me but don't pursue me.I have no idea what women prefer and I don't think I want to know.Fascinating!
First dose of South Alabama summer heat and I shaved the damn thing off.Never tried to play tuba with one.

[chevy68chv]

Everybody I know that has facial hair shaves where the mouthpiece would be in contact with the face. I had a goatee in high school for a while (I had to prove I could grow more facial hair than my older brother ), and was amazed at the difference when i shaved it.

[Julie W]

I'm afraid I can't speak from experience as to how it would affect your playing. But I would just avioud facial hair. . . chicks don't really dig it.

[Captain Sousie]

Hey that line about chicks not liking the beards ain't always true. Lots of girls like to pet the face fur

ohhh yeahh

My wife, for instance.

[Arkietuba]

I have never had a problem with my goatee in terms of my embochure being effected (or affected) adversely. My upper register is solid and my lower register is solid too. My tuba instructor has facial hair as well as the tuba players a chair below me and infront of me. I've had a goatee for so long that I don't remember what it's like to play without one.

[Rick Denney]

At age 46, I grew a full beard and moustache last winter. As it filled in - my low register began to disappear. I play a B-flat, so everything below Low-F (octave and a half below the staff) became suspect, then non-existant.

I'll have to try your strategy. I've always thought my nonexistent pedal range was inconsistent with my other playing abilities (by which I mean people who don't play as well as I do play their pedals much better). I've had one teacher say it was a problem, and another say it wasn't.

I've had the beard since college, and would have an identity crisis if I shaved it off (I'm your age).

Plus, my wife likes it, and that is more important than being able to play a pedal BBb that never appears in actual music.

Rick "who'd rather have a chin than a pedal range" Denney

[Captain Sousie]

I, on the other hand, have never had any problem with my low/pedal range (or even my high range for that matter) and I have played with facial hair for 5 years. It all comes down to you, not anyone else.

[JB]

Having been both fully bearded and clean shaven at various times over the last twenty years, I can notice and hear a difference in my own playing. This is much more extreme on CC than on F tuba (due to size of mouthpiece I gather).



Whenever having the "Grizzly Adams" look, the extra facial hair inhibits the seal of the mouthpiece on my face. I find that this affects the low register most; response is much less immediate/easy and some range in the pedal register is lopped off. There is much less affect in the high register.

When cleanshaven, it is all definitely "there."

[Rick Denney]

You could always shave just the moustache and lower lip like we all did back in the 1980's (a la John Fletcher). The Amish look was in vogue.

No offense to those who have it, but I cannot abide the Amish beard look. I'd shave it all off first.

Rick "whose wife also can't abide it" Denney

[SplatterTone]

Resurrecting an old thread ...
Before starting a thread on the topic, I did a little searching and found this one.

I've done enough experimenting to say that I do fine with all the face hair if it is short. As it begins to get long, the tone quality -- mostly in the mid-range -- goes downhill.

Small, sharp rims seem to permit more face hair -- on my mug, anyway. As mine gets longer, I start favoring the Conn Helleberg which I normally don't prefer. That is my cue to get out the trimmer and shorten the hair down to the scruffy look again.

[lgb&dtuba]

I've had a full beard and moustache off and on, mostly on, for the past 35 years. The only time it's been a noticeable problem was recently when I went for a full handlebar moustache and had to wax it. To properly grow a handlebar you have to let it get quite a bit longer and extend well below the lip line. When you do that the hair will end up well into a tuba mouthpiece and basically get very dissarrayed in the process. Moustache wax will disolve and migrate into the horn, which can lead to gumming up the rotors. Looks pretty bad half way through a gig, too. And it did affect my playing adversely as well.

It's not as much of a problem on a trumpet since very little of your lip actually contacts the mouthpiece.

So I'm back to a fairly short moustache that doesn't extend further than the lip line and things are back to normal.

As other posters suggest, whether or not having facial hair affects your playing is a personaly thing and YMMV.

[sinfonian]

I have a goatee and moustache that I feel comfrotable with. I however do keep the stache trimmed up and keep a small semi circle clean shaved under my lower lip that my MP sits in, this way no hair breaks the seal between me and my MP.

[windshieldbug]

I always shaved the lower lip part when I had a moustache/beard. Just the lower part (like whatsisname on CSI), I'm no fan of the Amish look, either. The moustache part didn't seem to affect my playing noticibly, but it always felt better playing clean, so after a year or two, I'd go back.

My wife claims no preference, but I always liked shaving it off with no warning to see the look on her face when she next saw me... no heart failures, but maybe I am a closet sadist...

[MaryAnn]

I'm afraid I can't speak from experience as to how it would affect your playing. But I would just avioud facial hair. . . chicks don't really dig it.

Oh, my....speak for yourself, dear. I don't understand the current fashion of men shaving "everything" including their chests. The fuzzier the better!

One observation though; a full beard hides facial expressions, making it difficult to get nuances of expression. Well, more than nuances....two times in the last few years, men I knew shaved a full beard, and I was astonished at what I'd been missing in their expressions. Both had appeared somewhat wooden-faced.

I'm still working on boyfriend trying to get him to grow back the full beard he had when he was younger, but to no avail. Fortunately the rest of the fuzz is still there.

MA

[MaryAnn]

What, you like your women bald?

MA

[sloan]

In my opinion, very short (or growing out) facial hair can be a problem - but once it reaches a reasonable length, it's not a problem.

[Steve Inman]

A fuzzy lip ruins my low register -- even if the hair is reasonably short. I've tried to grow a mustache several times (and can do so effectively). But in the lower register, my attacks suffer greatly -- it's hard to get the note started.

Like Rick, I don't personally like the Amish look. I recently did the chin-only goatee (no lip covering) and kept it reasonably short. Since it now strangely comes in gray instead of black as it used to, it's actully rather subtle. Seemed to work reasonably well -- I figure the more of my face is hidden, the better.

I know several posters' experience is that there are no adverse affects from facial hair. However, in an older thread on this topic, it was claimed that such folks would play EVEN BETTER were they to shave. I would think that skin in direct contact with the mpc would yield the best possible results. That's my personal experience, and it also seems logical.

YMMV, but I keep my upper lip clean-shaven for best results.

Cheers,

[tubatooter1940]

I never shave the whiskers off my horny hide, I just drive 'em in with a hammer and bite 'em off inside.