Re: beginning player


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Posted by Rick Denney on April 13, 2003 at 18:02:08:

In Reply to: beginning player posted by Bill Johnson on April 12, 2003 at 14:12:47:

Most sousaphones are in BBb. Eb sousaphones are still pretty common, though. Eb's usually use a false tube or shoulder rest, with only one main tube going around your body from the valves to the bell. The false tube just disappears where it is attached to the bell stack. BBb sousaphones have an additional tube making the complete circuit.

You can confirm the basic pitch of the instrument by playing the open tones. As a trombone player, you should be able to do this well enough to figure it out. The open-tone series on the BBb tuba is the same as on your trombone, except that it is an octave lower. Starting with the low Bb below the bass cleff, the open-instrument series is Bb, F, Bb, D, F, Ab (flat sounding), Bb, C, and so on. If it is an Eb sousaphone, it will be Eb (just below the bass clef), Bb, Eb, G, Bb, and so on. The tricky bit is that the trombone low Bb (the one on the staff) can be played open on both Bb and Eb sousaphones.

If it is a Bb sousaphone, you should be able to play your trombone tuning scale an octave below where it is on the trombone with the following fingerings: Open (first position, of course), 1-3 (6th position), 1-2 (i.e. fourth position), 1 (third position), open (first), 1-2 (fourth), 2 (second), and open (first). If the major scale with those fingerings starts on an Eb, then you have an Eb sousaphone.

One of these tricks ought to get you your answer.

As to why the doubled letters, it is because a long time ago musicologists denoted piano octaves by the series XX, X, x, xx, xxx, and so on, where X is a not name. BBb meant an octave below Bb. But it was done wrong in the case of tubas (CC and BBb aren't in the same octave, officially, even though they are only a step apart). Old habits die hard. BBb and CC tubas are contrabass tubas, Eb and F's are bass tubas.

Yes, you have to tune valve slides on tubas, but you should get recognizable scales and melodies without doing so. As with trumpet, moving the slides during play is an adjustment to fix little pitch discrepancies, not to make otherwise unavailable notes.

Tubas require much more air than trumpets because they are played lower. A tuba Bb two octaves below a trumpet requires four times the air, or something like that. Also, tubas are a total-relaxation instrument. You have to keep the corners of your embouchure firm, but just about everything else from head to toe should be relaxed to start with. Try buzzing on the mouthpiece alone for a while, with your finger partially covering the opening if you need the resistance.

Check your instrument for leaks. Any leaks at all will ruing the sound and response of the instrument. Spit valves are an obvious first place to look, but you can also gently insert a wine cork in the upstream opening after pulling out the main tuning slide (assuming it's downstream of the valves, which it may or may not be). When you blow into the plugged horn, you may feel a breeze where one should not be. Cover leaks with electrical tape temporarily until you find all the leaks, then have the instrument repaired.

Also, make sure you are using a proper gooseneck and two tuning bits.

Rick "who can't think of anything else at the moment" Denney


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