Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Difference between Euphonium & Baritone


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Posted by Rick Denney on July 10, 2001 at 10:16:47:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Difference between Euphonium & Baritone posted by Dan 'not a pro - but improving' Schultz on July 09, 2001 at 23:05:14:

Dan, no offense, but I'm trying now to figure out what you really want to know. I thought you were interested in the Yamaha Eb on ebay, even though I'm pretty sure it had been offered here previously. Then, I thought you really wanted to know how much you'd extend a low range by buying a compensating Eb tuba (so-called EEb by their sellers). Now, I'm not sure what you want to know.

You now ask, "Is it possible for a tuba to be an EEb horn without having four or more valves?" As I've tried to explain, the term EEb is not specific, has no technical meaning outside the advertising brochure of Boosey and Hawkes, and seems to be used by them to denote compensation and not the number of valves. Anyone can find an old, three-valve Eb Monster Bass, and call it an EEb based on size alone, with as much legitimacy as Boosey and Hawkes has using "EEb" for their compensator. Terms that have no standard meaning cannot be misused (but they can still be misleading).

The Boosey and Hawkes folks would probably say that the term "EEb" can only apply to four-valve Eb tubas with compensating valves. But if they insist on that usage, it would seem only to make their tuba look better than the competition in a catalog, and I don't see the need to adopt their usage just because they saw so.

I would therefore place no value on the term "EEb" and just play the tuba that makes the notes you want to make.

Rick "hoping he got it right this time" Denney


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