What is the key of your primary instrument?

[Doc]

I have always played F tuba, but it (6v) became my primary and only tuba a while back out of necessity/convenience due to an old shoulder injury. I needed something that was big enough to be an all-around tuba, have enough fingerings available so as not to require slide pulling, and be easy to hold for extended periods.

[MN_TimTuba]

I only own one tuba, but I like it, and it's a fat BAT BBb. However, after playing a King 2341 for a year I came to appreciate a smaller, lighter horn that plays really well. That got me to thinking strongly about going all the way and adding a 4/4 or larger Eb or F. I have performed on all the other brasses so am confident in learning new fingerings. Possibly the best path for me would be either one of the used Eb or F Tubas that Baltimore Brass always has for under $2G or just get a Wessex combo Eb/F travel tuba to see which fingering plays better in my head.
Pardon me for thinking out loud here.
BTW, Bloke - do you mind sharing how you tweaked your friend's 2341 and how it was improved? I did like that one I was borrowing, and it still speaks to me at times. Many thanks.

[bloke]

Playing my Eb in a British brass band. If I were playing tuba in a concert band (not right now) I would use my BBb.

I don't do orchestras, get tired of counting rests!

I'm with you there brothah...and "un-bashing sousaphones" actually pays more than "orchestra services"...but "counting rests" is easier than is "unbashing sousaphones"...and also not as dirty, greasy, nor sweaty.

[Donn]

Possibly the best path for me would be either one of the used Eb or F Tubas that Baltimore Brass always has for under $2G or just get a Wessex combo Eb/F travel tuba to see which fingering plays better in my head.

I'd propose to forget about F, right off. I've actually used an F tuba for ordinary playing - I mean, nothing you'd have to audition for, just hacking around - and it was marginally OK, but it was the exception that proves the rule: an Amati 4V F helicon. With a relatively (I gather) productive low end. But I'm here to argue that ordinary F tubas are really a waste of time for anyone who is going to play, for example, the top line in band charts. The extra whole step of low end that you get with an Eb bass is huge. It means for one thing that you can expect a pretty solid, fat C, where the BBb contrabass is getting a little flabby due to max valve tubing. The big question (for me anyway) is really not whether I need an F tuba, but whether I can live with 3 valves on Eb. That commits you to the bass tuba role, there's no faking contrabass on 3 valves, but ... who am I kidding? there's no faking contrabass tuba on that thing anyway. What you do get is not just a lighter tuba, it's a slightly different instrument with a much more singing voice in its core range, like splitting the difference between tuba and euphonium, and when you're picking one, that's what you want to hear.

Anyway, I was really surprised that band players (supposedly) play F tubas, in that other poll. That just seems crazy to me. F tuba is about getting a very expensive instrument with many valves, to compete in orchestra auditions.

[Casca Grossa]

It’s B-flat or no-flat.

So it’s B-flat or C?

Maybe F?

[Doc]

It’s B-flat or no-flat.

So it’s B-flat or C?

Maybe F?

F would be one flat... no?

[bloke]

6-valve F tuba button-mashing is less complicated than saxophone button mashing..and saxophone button mashing is about as simple as it gets.

[besson900]

Primary instrument? Only 6/4 F tuba, ou can play low, high, solo, quintet - EVERYTHING on it. If You Are professional player F is enough for You i think

[bloke]

Tubas with 16' expanding bugles – "in C" – aren't particularly sharp-key friendly.
However, a 17' tuba - built-in B - certainly would be, and one particular orchestral excerpt which is asked at 100% of all auditions would certainly be easier to play. Finally, all of those people who attempt to chop Bb tubas down shorter would have a much easier time.
Further, "E tubas" might offer the playing characteristics that both F tuba and E-Flat tuba players seek, and would be amazing for Mendelssohn, as well as rhythm and blues.

[Doc]

Tubas with 16' expanding bugles – "in C" – aren't particularly sharp-key friendly.
However, a 17' tuba - built-in B - certainly would be, and one particular orchestral excerpt which is asked at 100% of all auditions would certainly be easier to play.

Further, "E tubas" might offer the playing characteristics that both F tuba and E-Flat tuba players seek, and would be amazing for Mendelssohn, as well as rhythm and blues.

I think either a B or E would make the Ride and Fountains a bit more playable, but when playing with guitars in guitar keys (E, A, D, etc.), an E tuba would eliminate a fair amount of knucklebusting.

On Sunday, I played with a group that did Under the Double Eagle in D?G (instead of the standard Eb/Ab). D is not the end of the world on F tuba, but it certainly wouldn't be my first choice. I quickly had to dismiss any remembered/engrained fingerings from playing it hundreds of times previously a half-step higher.

[KingBassTrombone]

Primary and secondary are almost oblivious to me, since I don't really play tuba anywhere. I have a BBb and an EEb that I switch between every now and then. The BBb has a better low range and a fatter sound, but the EEb is more nimble and ergonomic (front valves)

[bloke]

I have never denied being a kook, but/and...

...On long (OK, or short) trips, the radio usually sucks:
- bad classical (note-reading) music
- bad all other types of music
- tedious Marxist propaganda
- tedious (so-called) "conservative" propaganda

Often, it's quiet in my car. If I'm not thinking about solving blokeProblems (typically, 3D problems, as Mrs. bloke tends to solve the human-related problems), the other thing that I tend to do (and almost without realizing that I'm doing it) is to play difficult melodies (perhaps a "standard" that goes though unusual chord changes with unusual melody leaps, or perhaps some only-sort-of-tonal or dodecaphonic "classical" tune in my head) in some "remote" key on the "air tuba" (fingers)...and no, I don't audibly hum along.
I suspect (??) that nervous habit (which passes the miles and/or distracts me from the emotions involved in idiotic or tedious traffic situations) may (??) help me play more commonly-encountered melodies/bass lines in most any key on any of the four common lengths of tubas. I've stated this before, but I almost always use the Eb tuba when playing in jazz bands, and the Eb is my weakest (between Bb/C/Eb/F) "note-reading" tuba. ...I am getting better at reading changes (tunes I've never heard before) and playing the Eb tuba, and I'm finally beginning to embrace the reality of the 1st-valve C#...though it still makes no sense whatsoever.

[ckalaher1]

I probably spend 60-70% of my total weekly playing time on my Miraphone Elektra. I probably use my F tuba for 90% of my work that pays.

I like the sound that I get out of my 3098 CC very much, but the Elektra is just easier for me to handle at this point in my life (musically and orthopedically), which is a trend that I only see progressing further in the future.

[Northernlb]

All my orchestral and quintet stuff I play on CC,
Jazz stuff I play on BBb, I have a 1937 four valve silver king 1256 sousaphone
Lessons I teach on BBb tuba, euphonium, and trombone.

[Bnich93]

Tubas with 16' expanding bugles – "in C" – aren't particularly sharp-key friendly.
However, a 17' tuba - built-in B - certainly would be, and one particular orchestral excerpt which is asked at 100% of all auditions would certainly be easier to play.

No offense meant here, but I have noticed that in your posts you tend to "codify" certain things. Examples being when referring to foreign 6/4 york style tubas, criticisms of Wessex, the above, etc.

I'm not sure of the reasoning behind this but since you have been in the community for a long while and have experience with all sorts of tubas and tuba repertoire, your opinions on these things can be quite valuable, and new people who don't know what excerpt you are referring to may like to know what it is you are speaking about. I assume it could be either Ride of the Valkyries or Fountains of Rome based on the description, but i'm not even positive.

[wisekwai]

I have an Eb heart but a BBb schedule.

[TheTuba]

Tubas with 16' expanding bugles – "in C" – aren't particularly sharp-key friendly.
However, a 17' tuba - built-in B - certainly would be, and one particular orchestral excerpt which is asked at 100% of all auditions would certainly be easier to play.

No offense meant here, but I have noticed that in your posts you tend to "codify" certain things. Examples being when referring to foreign 6/4 york style tubas, criticisms of Wessex, the above, etc.

I'm not sure of the reasoning behind this but since you have been in the community for a long while and have experience with all sorts of tubas and tuba repertoire, your opinions on these things can be quite valuable, and new people who don't know what excerpt you are referring to may like to know what it is you are speaking about. I assume it could be either Ride of the Valkyries or Fountains of Rome based on the description, but i'm not even positive.

Reading bloke responses give me a harder reading than any book!

[Ace]

B&S trumpet in C; H.N.White mellophone F/Eb/C (configured in C); Jupiter valved trombone in C; Weril 3/4 tuba in C.

Ace

[bloke]

I have an Eb heart but a BBb schedule.

like

[bloke]

Tubas with 16' expanding bugles – "in C" – aren't particularly sharp-key friendly.
However, a 17' tuba - built-in B - certainly would be, and one particular orchestral excerpt which is asked at 100% of all auditions would certainly be easier to play.

No offense meant here, but I have noticed that in your posts you tend to "codify" certain things. Examples being when referring to foreign 6/4 york style tubas, criticisms of Wessex, the above, etc.

I'm not sure of the reasoning behind this but since you have been in the community for a long while and have experience with all sorts of tubas and tuba repertoire, your opinions on these things can be quite valuable, and new people who don't know what excerpt you are referring to may like to know what it is you are speaking about. I assume it could be either Ride of the Valkyries or Fountains of Rome based on the description, but i'm not even positive.

Most (6/4) York-style tubas are foreign-made, so they accept the brunt of my criticism - at least - as far as "how much work they are to play well vs. what-and-how-well they generally do for me and for those who hire me to play tuba" is/are concerned. I continue to almost be tempted to put in an order for an 836 (surprising workmanship & intonation characteristics) for $h!tzngiggles, but then realize that it would be played heavily for a few months, and then (yes, I know this) would begin to collect dust...and my own slightly-smaller already-owned instrument (easier - for me - to play...to the point that I often forget about "the instrument" which is between me and the sound being produced) would collect dust in the meantime...This same thing happened when (at only a little above dealer cost) I bought one of those PT-6P copies...yeah, good/great/etc., but... As to this-or-that brand mentioned specifically, you'll have to show me examples. It does disappoint me when people bring in high-priced hastily-assembled stuff, and ask me to maximize its usability. I do my best for them, but there's often not enough there which is reliable to improve on. I can align wildly out-of-alignment slides, and can temporarily remedy rotor clanking, but that's about it. I often think back to 1976, when I bought a four-rotor 184 Miraphone tuba for $1600...which - in today's inflated money: $8000 or so - is about what the same tuba might possibly cost...so when some specific model of tuba is priced at $1800 - $3000 today, one should probably expect a tuba similar to one priced at under $400 in 1976...and (though I do recall some not-widedly-marketed-in-the-USA no-name B&S-made tubas which cost about $800) I just don't recall any tubas offered in the USA during that time that only cost $400...but nor do I recall any USA-marketed instruments that were as hastily-assembled as are some today. As to the post (quoted), it is a joke. No one is going to have a "B tuba" built to play the Wagner nor the Respighi. I suppose it's difficult when there is someone who posts both information and sarcasm, but (as yet another type of joke, I guess...) rarely identifies which is which. Some people know me by now. Others, apparently, do not. ...oh, and - btw - there really is ~not~ a music conservatory called "blokePlace"...but there really ARE "elephant rooms" and "dent bags", just in case those might also present confusion.