Posted by Gus Pratt on February 11, 2001 at 05:38:14:
In Reply to: Re: BBb Tubas posted by Gary Swart on February 10, 2001 at 13:13:11:
I've always heard this debate and dont buy it anymore. I don't believe it has anything to do with the key of the horn but rather your exposure to the sharp keys. I do't find it too difficult to play in the key of Gb (6 flats), yet find it extremely difficult to play in the key of F# (6 sharps). The theory that flat keys fall better of BBb falls apart here because Gb and F# are both the same scale, just written differently. Your fingers do the identical things on a Gb scale as they do on a F# scale. If the theory that certain keys work better on BBb were true then both the key of Gb and F# would fall at the same difficulty level for the BBb player. Instead what has happened is our exposure to the flats keys is what has made playing flats easier. If a BBb player was exposed to sharp keys all the time and never saw flat keys, then he'd be able to play the sharp keys better. I don't believe it has anything to do with the key of the horn.