Posted by Joe S. on December 12, 1999 at 11:16:39:
In Reply to: Re: Advantage of CC tuba over anything else posted by Steve Oberheu on December 12, 1999 at 08:00:33:
The point made above was really it: You are taking a tuba that starts as small and ends up as big as a comparable BBb, but it is two feet shorter. That offers a big difference in "quickness" and ease of playing.
Provided the sonority is still there and the pitch is good (as compared to any CC's "sister" BBb), the CC is simply just a bit less work.
The "fingering" thing is true about some orchestral pieces, but is not really much of a consideration to me. I would bet that if I thought about it, I could come up with some "major" orchestral passages that actually have easier BBb fingerings.
Here is an analogy: Think about one of the most well-known and commonly asked-for-on-an-audition trumpet excerpts, the opening of the first movement (Funeral March) to Mahler's Symphony #5. 99.9% of trumpet players play that excerpt on a C trumpet, which offers horribly awkward fingerings, and a stuffy first note [TONIC C#!] that has to be nursed into tune. In addition, almost impossibly quick slide movements are required to adjust the pitch back for a G# in a quick arpeggio. If they played that excerpt on a Bb trumpet, virtually all of that excerpt's response and intonation problems would disappear. However, they all continue to select the C trumpet for that excerpt, so there STILL must be some advantage that all of those players feel in their C instrument being 6" shorter than their Bb (unless they are all simply too "closed-minded" to consider "belting it out" on their old Bb, which may also be the case ;^).