Posted by Barry Guerrero on July 27, 2001 at 13:08:18:
In Reply to: Ready to throw my horn posted by in the river on July 25, 2001 at 22:18:10:
I've read everything that everybody has posted below, and here's what I suggest as a response. These are only suggestions, so you can surely ignore them. I would apprecitate not being "flamed" for them. I'm certainly no Roger Bobo, but I'm just responding to one person's plea for help.
First off, if you're going to use your CC tuba for everything, then you should consider getting a good F/Eb mouthpiece - something with a width and rim that's very familiar to your face, but with a more shallow cup and smaller throat bore. You may want to consider going the Doug Elliot route, and get yourself a series of interchangeable cups and stems. This will give you more resistance to do the work (or assist, more precisely) for your face muscles. The smaller cup size and throat size will also facilitate in keeping your upper range in tune, and not go flat as your face becomes more fatigued (or conversely, keep you from pushing sharp).
Second, I would temporarily put away all over etude books, etc, and work out of the James Stamp trumpet warm-up book. This will give you nothing but progressive, slurred scales and arepeggios that will take you "up" a half-step at a time. It'll also give you lots of mouthpiece drill, but drills that won't waste half your day trying to find the right pitch. Roger Bobo and Floyd Cooley have both used these warm-up studies. Roger himself has studied with James Stamp. Personally, I love them.
Third, I would go someplace that stocks good F tubas, and treat yourself to an hour or three of playing on them. Don't take the V.W. with you (you'd have to transpose anyway). Instead, play nothing but slurred scales (both diatonic and chromatic), and a few slurred arpeggios. Even if you can't afford an F tuba, it'll let you know if this would a goal that you would want to work for, financially speaking. Play long enough on an F that you can begin to make mental comparisons between that, and playing for a long period on your CC.
This is a final note, but others will not agree with this. I don't think that you're going to make any quick or meaningful progress by playing around with your embouchure (sp?) or "wind speed", and all of that stuff in a practice room. In my opinion, the best thing is to do is lots of slurred scales and apreggios that will "train" and "lead" your embouchure (and wind speed) into what you want it to do. This way, you can build your upper range in a gradual, progressive way. Who knows, you may find that suddenly you have a bit more endurance, and more center to your upper notes when you transfer that physical knowledge over to the V.W.
These are just suggestions from someone who has also had to work long and hard to develop a decent upper range.
Barry Guerrero; San Francisco