Posted by Sean Chisham on February 20, 1999 at 11:09:39:
In Reply to: tuba and instrument combination posted by Tim on February 18, 1999 at 22:56:55:
There is so much black magic which is involved with matching a mouthpiece to a player, horn, and situation that there are no "rules". As Dennis AsKew stated, there has been a thought of big horn/small moouthpiece, small horn/big mouthpiece. The idea was to reach a common ground while still getting the benefits of the varies horns. Of course, these theories are an attempt to figure out the "rules" of equipment.
If a PT-88 sounds great on your little F tuba, then use it!!! Music is not like stock car racing where you have to run restrictor plates on the carb's. There are really no rules on equipment if the musical product is world class. People have mentioned that Roger Bobo, on occasion, used a Miraphone 184 with the Los Angelos Philharmonic. Ask anyone today as to their opinions of using any Miraphone as their primary tuba in an American orchestra and they will probably try to steer you towards something else, but at the time people must have been pleased with what Bobo was doing with them. The product always justifies the means.
happy hunting,
sean