Re: Considering F-Tuba


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Posted by Rick Denney on August 02, 2001 at 16:54:45:

In Reply to: Considering F-Tuba posted by Keith Esau on August 02, 2001 at 15:02:39:

I was in exactly your shoes.

For listening to the sounds, I would suggest Gene Pokorny's Orchestral Excerpts. Some of the excerpts are played on his large contrabass, and some are played on an F tuba. You'll hear the difference, but it won't glow in the dark the way you think it might. And the F tuba won't add much if anything to your absolute range, though it will add quite a bit to your working range by making the upper register more secure. The Arnold Jacobs Portrait of an Artist CD (from Windsong Press) has excerpts and selections played on both contrabass tubas and F tubas (though mostly it is on the big York).

I bought an F tuba because I wanted a more agile instrument for playing music that if I were better I could play on a big horn. I wanted a tuba that would open up more brass quintet literature to me, and that would be a good middle voice in a tuba quartet. I did NOT want an F tuba for playing in a large orchestra, though I would use it for a small amateur orchestra. I did not anticipate public performance of extended solos, but I wanted to be able to work on the standard solo literature for my own edification and amusement.

To meet all those requirements, I needed an F tuba that was agile, that provided a wide range to accommodate the literature in my proposed applications, that was easy to play, and that didn't require an approach radically different from my BBb tuba. I also wanted an F tuba that sounded like an F tuba, and not like a BBb tuba or a euphonium.

After learning F tuba fingerings on a Musica that was cheap but that didn't meet many of the above requirements, I started testing different instruments. The rotary F's I tried were like the Musica (only better). They required special skills for notes below the staff; skills I didn't possess. I mentioned these reactions to my teacher at the time, and he let me play HIS F tuba. Wow! It met all my requirements and then some. He helped me pick a new one at a conference, and I bought it. It is the one instrument I own that I thank myself for buying every time I pick it up, and it is the only tuba in the fleet that has earned its way with occasional professional gigs. It's a Yamaha YFB-621, and I recommend that you include it on your list. As a mediocre amateur, I feel like I come much closer to making real music on the F than on the BBb for most of the literature that is out there.

I have used it successfully for all my intended applications, and for playing the upper octave in band parts, where it works really well as long as you have a sufficient section covering the main part.

My point in telling this story isn't to lead you to that horn so much as it is to outline how I made the selection: 1.) Define the requirements, 2.) seek the help of a pro in making a selection to fulfill those requirements, 3.) play-test the alternatives, and 4.) make the selection that works for you.

Rick "who loves his F" Denney



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