Posted by Rick Denney on December 18, 2002 at 10:34:19:
In Reply to: CC versus BB Tubas posted by Robert on December 18, 2002 at 04:14:38:
This is a big question, and there are as many opinions as there are tuba players.
Some will tell you that CC's are more responsive. Others will tell you than their overtones are easier to tune with an orchestra. Still others will claim that CC tubas are easier to finger in the sharp keys used so often in orchestra music.
There may be some truth in all these points. CC tubas are two feet shorter than BBb tubas, which is two feet less of air column to start vibrating. That is between 10 and 15% of the length of the tuba, so it stands to reason there would be an effect. If an F tuba is more reponsive than a BBb tuba, then a CC should move at least part of way across that gap.
The tuning issue may well have been associated with instruments from many decades ago that do not meet modern standards of intonation. And the fingering issue can be argued either way, but it is true that many common notes played on a higher partial with more valves on a BBb can be played on a lower partial with fewer valves on a CC.
But I think most of these reasons came about after the general shift to CC in order to justify that shift. I think the main factor is that some influential American tuba players preferred the C tuba for whatever reason, and their preference encouraged imitators to make the switch.
As a result of that shift, there have been some trends that help keep the CC tubas popular. One is that the American orchestral tuba sound suggests a fat-belled instrument that is usually equipped with piston valves, and these were developed for professional use after the general shift to CC. So, the best examples of tubas following this approach are pitched in C, and young tuba players desiring such an instrument have many more choices of C tubas.
In Germany, the sound concept more closely matches the traditional tall-belled rotary tuba, and within this concept top-quality BBb tubas are still made in accordance with German tradition. The Meinl-Weston Fafner, Rudolf Meinl, and Alexander tubas in Bb certainly meet any standards that would be set for C tubas in the U.S.
Thus I believe that Bb tubas are still preferred in Germany because no highly influential player led a general movement to C tubas. It is also true that German orchestras are guided by tradition to a far greater extent than American orchestras, partly because of their much greater age, and partly because of different cultural attitudes toward music.
That said, there are still tuba players in U.S. orchestras who use BBb equipment, and others are finding that for some German and Russian works, the BBb Kaiser tubas work wonderfully. And even though most professionals use CC tubas, most amateurs use BBb tubas. The notion that a tuba player should be sent away because of bringing a C tuba or a Bb tuba to an audition is to me silly, and I doubt many audition committees could tell the difference by looking. It would be the player's responsibility to make sure they could not tell the difference by hearing. I suspect something else was causing the effect they disliked, and not the pitch of the instrument, even if that is where they laid the blame.
Rick "who thinks traditions often defy explanation" Denney