Posted by Doug on January 13, 2002 at 21:06:57:
Hi everyone.
Ive been thinking recently about switching over to CC from BBb but not for any reason like "it plays better" or "it fits orchestra music better" or "they're made better" or any of that other stuff i usually hear. I'd put my Mirafone 186 up against ANY CC out there it terms of quality, and i agree with whoever said that if you can play all your scales then playing in any key shouldn't be a problem.
No, the truth is i don't think i can develop musically any further on a BBb horn. Why? Because its what i learned 7 years ago, and it was also my first ever exposure to music theory. These two components have combined to form a situation where I dont even think about what im doing when i play. It's become routine, habitual. And I'm starting to suck. I play a note with a certain fingering because thats what i learned in middle school, long before i ever understood what partials are, or just exactly how valves work. Which means, basically, NOW I know why my horn works the way it does, but sicne I didnt know that when i learned to play it, I cannot use any of that information while i am playing.
Getting rather bored this evening, I said to myself (yes i talk to myself) "Doug, this is a CC tuba, youve never played CC before, make it work." So I sat down with some music and (pretending my BBb was a CC) forced myself to basically start over with learning the instrument. No fingering chart, no picture guides, no graphs, no mehtod books like were used 7 years ago. The result? I had to THINK about everything I did. I had to concentrate and say "thats an F, a whole step down from a G, so finger it 1" (not in so many words of course)
I played better than I have in at least 6 months when I did that. Which makes me wonder, maybe we should encourage students to switch instruments not because of any presupposed superiority of one over the other, but because the intellectual stimulation of the process results in a better thinking, better playing musician.
Thoughts?
Doug
ps Im sure ive heard the above conclusion before soemwhere, but to actually experience that dramatic of a difference in playing really amkes one take notice.
pps Maybe the same should apply in reverse, and folks who started on CC in the very beginning should switch to BBb for the same result
PPPS or am i just looney?