Re: CC or EEb?


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Posted by Jay Bertolet on August 11, 1999 at 07:52:22:

In Reply to: CC or EEb? posted by Scott on August 10, 1999 at 16:54:52:

I think your concerns are justified. While the case can be made that an Eb tuba is the most versatile tuba around (I personally play Eb and not F) and some really great players have done it in the past (John Fletcher), I still think that trying to maintain Eb as your only tuba will be tough. Being a college level instructor myself, I can honestly say that I would have reservations about a student who only had 1 tuba that was in Eb. The previous poster Ian makes a good point in that a good player should be able to get all the notes on an Eb. And certainly, you should have no fears about an Eb tuba keeping you out of bands and/or orchestras. But even the best quality Eb tubas (at least all the ones I've played) just won't have the projection and ease of execution in the low range as a CC tuba. My teachers always taught me that people don't pay to listen to a tuba player play in the high range. They pay to hear you play the low range. To be sure, you could do it but my advice would be to save your money and get 2 tubas. The Eb you buy doesn't have to be exceptionally expensive. Nor does the CC tuba. Try the used tuba market, you might be able to get both instruments for less than you would pay for either one new. If you're truly only able to have one tuba, you might be better served looking into a smaller CC tuba which would still work in quintets and other chamber music but would also have the ease of execution (but probably not the projection!) of a CC tuba. Good luck!


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