Re: 7 Valve Tuba


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Posted by Frederick J. Young on January 24, 2001 at 17:55:25:

In Reply to: 7 Valve Tuba posted by Jay Bertolet on January 24, 2001 at 15:21:29:

I had the monster built! It is a double tuba in BBb and EEE. It has 5 double valves which have ten separate lengths of valve slides. The first three are the standard ones. Valves 4 and 5 lower the open tone by 4 and 5 semitones, respectively on whatever side of the horn is in use. The 6th and 7th valves are ganged together to make a switch valve. They are operated by one key. The valve nearest the mouthpiece sends the air through either tier of slides depending upon its activation. When the switch key is not depressed the short set of five valve slides is available. When depressed the air goes through the long set of five valve slides and also through an 8 foot plus length of large tapered tubing that comprises the extension to the EEE tuba. To get out of the end of that tube and go to the bell requires the large (1.4" bore) valve which is the 7th valve.

I have played the instrument for about 10 years in many bands, orchestras and ensembles. The intonation is very good. It fits well with compensating instruments as long as they are good players who lip their 12, 23, 124, 234 and 1234 combinations down sufficiently. It blends best of all with 3 valve compensating instruments which are almost perfectly in tune. On the other hand, simple 3, 4 and 5 valve tubas clash unless their players do a lot of slide pushing and pulling.

Most of the great experts, both euphonium and tuba players know of it and want nothing to do with it because they simply don't wish to learn how to play it and/or don't want to carry it. The valves are not as fast single valves because they are twice as long and that may scare off some of the virtuosi. Steven Meade pretended to be interested but didn't want to take the time to see it! Many conductors have remarked about how good it sounds and say they would like to look at it, but are really too busy to bother.

One of the main benefits a double instruments provides in addition to better intonation and less stuffiness has to do with tone quality. When the standard tuba descends below the third and second open tone, the harmonic content gets very large. So large that there is hardly any fundamental left. The fundamental is almost completely devoid of the fundamental frequency and the frequency one octave above is also very small. There is more of that frequency in the open tone one octave above the fundamental! I can hardly count the number of times when fairly well known tubists have come to the end of a great piece which ends c (two lines below staff), G (4 spaces below) and CCC the fundamental on their York-Brunner $15000+++ tuba, and greatly enjoy playing the pedal CCC. However, in the audience one hears the first two notes descending with mellow tone and then the bottom of the groups disappears with the playing of the pedal C. On the double tuba one is well advised to switch to the lower tuba near the bottom of the staff. The sound is much fuller then it would be on the high tuba. It is like the difference between the F and CC tuba. Then one can easily descend to the aforementioned low C with good tone. In fact with the right valve combinations one can go to the low F below the pianoforte keyboard without ever playing a pedal tone. There are many other very musical things that French hornists do with double horns that can be done on a double tuba.

I think double tubas will not catch on until people quit using outmoded copies of the old York thinking that is what made Arnold Jacobs great, and start using modern instruments.


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