Posted by Eric on December 11, 2003 at 17:07:41:
Today I did an experiment to test something I suspected since the first time I electrified my tuba. What I noticed years ago when I first rammed a microphone down the bell was that on low notes I could really get the speaker to blast out deep bass using false tones rather than 4th valve combinations. The difference was night and day, with the woofer vibrating about 3 times as far with false tones.
Today I tested with the microphone placed outside the bell, several feet away. Lo, and behold, according to my analysis, false tones produce easily twice as much fundamental bass as do real tones at the same pitch.
Does anyone besides myself find false tones acceptable, even superior, for performance? I remember a few years ago I arranged "I wonder as I wander" for a group of pro tuba players to play here in L.A. that included at one point playing the melody starting on low Bb with the bottom at a low Db. On their 5 valve C tubas they seemed to struggle with that part which is a piece of cake on a 3 valve BBb tuba using false tones. Perhaps it was thoughlessness bordering upon cruelty on my part, but really, why not just use the false notes? I've asked many fellow players of other instruments to listen and tell me if they hear anything wrong when I play the same thing using valves and false tones, and they can't even tell the difference!