Posted by dave on August 26, 2003 at 11:02:47:
Even with all the threads about practice lately, no one has mentioned how they divide their practice time between tuba and euphonium. By trial and error I've found a few things that don't work (for me), but I'd be interested in knowing how others have managed their practice so that they don't end up with negative effects on one or the other instrument.
My tuba skills need a lot of work, but if I spend a lot of time on the tuba, I start getting a double buzz on the euph. I've also found that it is tough to practice the tuba then switch to euph, my lips swell up enough that a good euph embouchure is hard to achieve. I've also found that if I practice euph hard for an hour and a half then switch to tuba when my embouchure starts to tire, that also doesn't work.
On the other hand, when I play tuba a lot, my air flow and support improves on the euph, so there are some cross over benefits as well.
-Dave "who wants to keep improving on euph, but to bring tuba along too" Erickson