Posted by M. M. Carrasco on December 17, 2000 at 22:08:50:
In Reply to: hORRIBLE PEDAL REGISTER!!!!!!!! posted by extremely frustrated on December 17, 2000 at 19:20:48:
Clay,
I empathize with you.... I too struggled to acheive a decent low range. It wasn't easy but it can be done! Ask yourself: "when I practice, how much time a do I actually devote to the lower register?"
If you're like most folks (myself included!), you enjoy playing the solos or etudes that sound good. Why wouldn't you?!? However, the "hard" stuff can be, well, not so much fun..... Also, what exactly do you feel is wrong with your lower register? Is it poor tone quality? intonation? or something else?
For me, the things I had to overcome were simple: 1. Hearing the correct pitch AND timbre BEFORE playing the note. 2. Correct position (comfortable chair, jaw down, open throat) 3. Plenty of hot, moist wind. and 4. Slow speed air, but high volume. Work your way down with long tones. A lot of them! Skip a note if you need to- for example: on a CC tuba, pedal C# can be harder to play than C due to the extra resistance from the fact that every bit of tubing is needed to play that pitch. If you can't get it out - move on to C and come back to it later , it'll come with ...... practice! <----- and that's #5, 6 and 7 on my list! I hope this is useful for you and good luck! Moises
extra tubing required.