new tubaer needs help!

[iiipopes]

A Yamaha 1 series tuba usually has a pretty small bore, and is considered a starter tuba. This may be a big part of your problem with low notes. But coming down from trumpet, it may actually be a really good horn for you to start on. The mouthpiece is a pretty standard mouthpiece, with a wider rim than some other models. It should be OK until you decide you just want something different. The next step is to try something like a Bach 18 to see if you like a medium rim and a medium deep bowl. But at this point, don't try to rush things. It will take about a year for your embouchure to assimilate to the different instrument, so go slowly and think more about breath and intonation rather than range. It will come with practice, proper deep breathing and relaxation. I laid off for years also, then got frustrated with myself when it did not come back as soon as I thought it should. If you get the chance, try to play other tubas or sousaphones so you can start experiencing the difference in instruments. Welcome to the trenches! Good luck!

[Dan Schultz]

Welcome to tubadom (izzat a word?)!
You'll find lots of advice on this forum. The 24 mouthpiece you have is a bit smaller that what works for me, but it's not a bad start. Don't worry so much about playing high or low for the time being.... and by all means, don't begin the quest for the 'perfect mouthpiece' quite yet. There's plenty to learn in what I call the 'sweet spot'... between Bb below the staff up to Eb in the staff. You're not going to find much in beginning music that goes beyond that anyway.
I think the best way to learn new fingerings is to 'just do it'. Find some recordings you can play along with and just go with the immersion route. Sit in with a community group if there's one in your area. I made the switch from Eb tuba to CC and BBb tuba a couple of years ago after playing Eb for over 30 years. The transition went very quickly once I decided to 'just do it'. Now, I switch back and forth easily.
One thought... if after you spend some time with the tuba and still can't get the grasp of playing low, you might consider switching to baritone/euphonium. By then you will already know your Bb (bass clef) fingerings. I know several ex-trumpet players who made the switch to baritone/euph because it's much easier on their chops than trumpet.

By all means.... have fun

[Donn]

Some mouthpiece dimensions can be found at on-line retailers, e.g., http://www.dillonmusic.com where I find a Bach 24W, medium depth and 31.25 mm diameter. That's a middle-of-the-road size. Low-note specialists often like a really wide, deep mouthpiece, but that's more about tone color than whether they can reach the note, I think.

I'd guess your struggle right now is with breath. Join the crowd, it's not easy to learn to deliver the right kind of air to make the real tuba miracle happen.

It is possible, however, that you would do better on a different horn, different mouthpiece, etc. There are a lot of tubas out there that just don't sound good, and a lot more that don't sound good when I play them. I can think of three ways to test this hypothesis: 1) find someone else who plays tuba and will play yours, let you play his/hers, 2) buy some more randomly selected tubas and mouthpieces, and 3) ask on Tubenet. One of those ideas won't work.

[tubeast]

Hi and welcome to the GOOD instrument.
Don´t worry, the low range (at least down to the F below the staff) takes some (not too much) time to get the knack of it.
The good part: practising low range won´t wear you out as does the trumpet stuff.
I agree with tubatinker that with a midrange in good shape, resulting in enhanced breath control, your range will increase on both ends.
Since you seem to be left on teaching yourself, check what you can do with forming different vowels as you play.
Mess around with big, open mouth cavity and a shallow one and observe what it does to your tone. Try the same with singing: which helps singing low ?
(These things are more obvious in their results on tuba than they are on smaller brass)

Always remember: on tuba, there´s no such thing as too much air.

Good luck and tons of fun

Hans

[lgb&dtuba]

Speaking from the other end of the spectrum, I've played tuba for over 45 years and now I'm messing around with a trumpet. I find that the trumpet is a high pressure, low air volume instrument. I have to dump air while playing. Tuba is a low pressure, high air volume instrument. Your breathing is necessarily different between the two and I find harder to compensate for that than the lips.

I agree with everyone else that it's fine for you to stick with the 24AW for now. It's not going to be the limiting factor for getting below BBb.

What I would suggest is (drum roll) ... scales.

Play them very slow and very softly. As softly as you can. You don't need the pressure you are used to on the trumpet to get the notes. In fact, if you are trying to force the notes with pressure, like on a trumpet, I think the lower notes will just collapse.

Don't worry about volume (sound level that is) until well after you can hit the notes easily.

Now, can someone tell me how to get above C above middle C on the trumpet?

Jim

[Wes Krygsman]

Don't worry about mouthpieces yet. Work on yourself first, until you know that it's your mouthpiece holding you back.

I also switched from trumpet to tuba in high school. What helped my low range was basically 2 things, air and relaxation. I had never used that much air in my life before that, and once I started breathing deeper and opening up more with my air column, things started to really happen. Low range takes a very thick, slow air stream, the exact opposite of anything on trumpet. It's all about air flow and almost no air pressure, the air should fall out of you that low, not be pushed out like with trumpet.

The relaxation part has to do with 2 things, the air and the lips. All respiratory muscles should be relaxed, don't think about what needs to move, just take in as much air as you can, and the second is the relaxation of the lips. I couldn't play below an F under the staff for the first week I played. Then something amazing happened, the best euph player in my school who doubled a little on tuba told me the secret, relax your lips more than you think you should. Let them vibrate freely, what a concept, and ever since then my low range has been better.

One of the things I do to further my low range advancement is long tones. Set a metronome to 60 (or use a clock's second hand) and play whole notes in your whole range. I usually work my way down, a version of the Remington trombone long tones.

Start on whole note F right below the staff, then slur to E natural whole note, then breathe before repeating the F slurred to an e flat, etc. all the way down to the low B flat. Then hold the F as long as you could. Then start the same sequence on low B flat to A, then A flat and so on.

As a quick side note, patience is a must with any thing in music. There are no short cuts. A quote from Bud Herseth, former Chicago Principal Trumpet, "Everyone knows how to become a great player, you work your tail off!"(taken from my memory of the Song and Windbook from Brian Fredrickson). So do the work and you'll be happy with your results.

[iiipopes]

First of all, everyone has come to a consensus that the correct term is

"tuberist"

This was decided long ago (early 1970's) by the inventors of/(two or three state university professor-buddies of) this instrument.

Isn't a "tuberist" a person who eats Yams?

[windshieldbug]

tuberist