Posted by Steve Inman on February 10, 2001 at 11:09:04:
O Wise Tuba-playing Community,
Let's assume "hypothetically" that you knew of a tubist who after 20 years of BBb playing switched to Eb. Then following about 5 years of Eb playing, decided (of all things) that maybe the Eb tuba was a bit of a compromise for his needs and was thinking seriously of selling his two Eb tubas ("hypothetically" a Besson 983 and Yamaha YEB-381 5V) and switching to a CC and an F instead. (After lots of "hypothetical" thinking, these two tubas might be a Miraphone 186CC and a Yamaha YFB-621 . . . .)
"Mini-survey mode = ON"
Would you:
1. Recommend he get a CC first and learn it well (while keeping one of the two Eb tubas for the time being), because of the similarity in "C" treble clef notes to Eb tuba bass clef notes/fingerings? Then as an added plus, learning F second might be easier as "half" of the F tuba fingerings are the same(similar) as BBb fingerings, whilst the other "half" of the F tuba fingerings are the same(similar) as CC fingerings.
2. Recommend he get an F tuba first, since most of this tubist's playing is with quartet/quintet (while keeping an Eb tuba as an emergency backup)?
3. Recommend he "burn the ships" and sell both Eb tubas, and buy both a CC and an F, and learn the two new sets of fingerings simultaneously?
4. Recommend he take the easy way out, keep the Besson 983 for the high-register qualities of this horn, and buy a BBb, which he could re-learn very quickly? Please don't make this recommendation without also first voting for one of the first three choices!
5. Recommend he switch to the bagpipes?
Thanks,
Steve Inman
Kokomo, IN