the river of spit


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Posted by Patrick Donahue on August 13, 1999 at 22:56:48:

hello all -

after playing the trombone for years, i have plunged into the world of the tuba. however, after playing for a couple of weeks there is now a river of saliva sloshing around the snakes of tubes. with a trombone, removing saliva is obviously quite simple - one tube, one spit valve and it all comes out. but with the tuba i am truly confused - actually not confused as to how the spit gets trapped, but as to how one removes it.

releasing the spit valve and blowing till i'm blue removes a paltry amount - i removed the main tuning slide and all 4 rotor slides, turned the instrument upside-down, right-side up, shake, shake, blow, blow, and nothing; the river lives on. it's come to the point that attacking any note with any oomph will cause the river to gurgle loudly. what am i missing here? how does one drain the tuba?

thanks so much for any responses,
patrick


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