Posted by Doug Whitten on January 19, 2003 at 17:25:30:
In Reply to: Rotary vs Pistons in Germany(and Europe) posted by Stefan Antwarg on January 19, 2003 at 13:57:01:
It is extremely unlikely that a tuba player will be on an audition committee for a tuba position, and thus, they probably have no idea what equipment an auditionee is playing on. They may have a preferred sound in their mind, but I sincerely doubt they would or could differentiate between the respective keys of various contrabass tubas. They would note the differences between a Kaiser-tuba and a smaller horn long before they would notice the key of the instrument.
As to the piston/ rotary debate: clearly there is a visable difference. A piston Holton is going to look a lot different than a roray Stehr, or Meinl. Will it make a difference? I doubt it. While living in Berlin I noticed that many of the professional tubist were playing piston CC tubas, to be specific, Mark Evans of the Deutche Oper. Perhaps in the ultra nationalistic areas such a Bayreuth the "German-ness" of a horn might be taken into account, but my experience dictates that it is the sound that matters, not the key or configuration of the equipment.