Different tuba fingerings -- a survey


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Posted by AW on March 13, 2003 at 21:08:53:

In some recent posts about what type of tuba one should buy, there has been some mention about learning new fingerings if one buys a tuba that is in a different key from the tuba one originally learned on. I was puzzled about this, as I don't see learning new fingerings as a particularly difficult thing to do. [There are plenty of other things that are difficult for me to learn, though.] It has occurred to me that it's possible that I'm unusual in my attitude concerning tuba fingerings. Or is it just that those who find new fingerings difficult have expressed themselves on the subjuct, and those who have learned a few different fingerings don't think to talk about it.

I would like to pose a question to this BBS on fingerings: Do (or did) you find new fingerings hard to learn? How about for BBb/CC/Eb/F? How about three valves to four valves to five valves? How about different fingerings required for different tubas even though those tubas are in the same key? How about using alternate fingerings to solve technical problems? How about maintaining your skills on more than one key tuba at the same time? A related question is how easy do you find it to read treble clef? How about transposing music (such as British brass band parts)?

Allen Walker
pipes2000ATtheatreorgans.com
substitute (AT) for AT

PS: My own experience: A new key tuba took about two weeks to learn fingerings, and about two months before I don't think about it any more. Learning to use five valves seemed harder than learning a different key tuba. I came back to tuba after years of playing treble instruments. After taking up tuba again, one day I tried to play tuba reading treble clef, and found that I could read it with equal facility as reading bass clef (not so great, but improving steadily). [That opened up the world of playing from lead sheets in fake books.] My transposing is poor (I can only read and play slowly), however if I cared to I suppose some weeks of hard work would get me at least started on doing that. I would need a tempting brass band...



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