Posted by Gus Pratt on September 27, 2001 at 01:55:46:
In Reply to: Microtonality and tubas posted by SD on September 24, 2001 at 13:26:49:
1/4 tones would be easily do-able if you tune the 5th valve so it is halfway between the pitch of the first valve and the third valve. You could play a 1/4 tone partial scale by playing 1, 5, 3, 2+5, 2+3, 1+5, 4, 3+5, 2+4. Additionally you would be able to play quite a few 1/4 tone notes in upper register since there are so many overtones.
A few years ago I constructed an Eb tuba that has 6 valves (2 clusters of 3 each). The sixth valve on this tuba is a 1/4 step, so playing microtonality on that tuba is a reality.