Posted by Tom Mason on August 29, 2001 at 16:16:11:
In Reply to: setting your tuba down posted by Ricky Lopez on August 28, 2001 at 16:44:13:
After seeing all of these comments, and teaming them with my personal experience as a performer and director, I feel that I can set you straight on this issue.
1. The weight of a tuba is almost never centered where the bell can equally absorb the weight in the 360 degrees of its structure. The weight will cause more pressure to be applied to a smaller area of the bell, therefore causing it to weaken over a long span of time.
2. The thickness of a given bell will only absorb the weight of the valves, slides, and bows for a certain amount of time. When this time expiers, the bell will start to crease.
3. There are millions and millions of instrumentalist who seem to loose control of their eyes as they travel through the tuba area. This will lead to the eventual falling of the tuba in the wilderness. ( If no one is there, will it make a sound )?
4. No bell is made out of a thick enough metal to be truely able to absorb the shock and weight of the instrument.
I tell my students to lay the instrument on its back, with the valve stems pointing up from the floor. There is no other way.
Tom