Posted by Wade on December 08, 2003 at 15:55:36:
In Reply to: visualizing another instrument posted by Jim Barnett on December 08, 2003 at 14:49:34:
I am dyslexic, so I try to not do that or I start to drag as I get bogged down in translation.
I have found that I think in German when I go over there and use it a lot. Likewise, I think in Spanish when speaking that language for an extended period. The old brain just sort of slips into this practice.
And this seems to work best for me with instruments as well. When switching between CC and F, I must approach the newly picked-up tuba as a whole different and unrelated thing. When I play upright, I construct very different basslines for a tune than if I were playing it on tuba. Again, I try to think only in bass terms or in the terms of whichever tuba I have in my lap at the moment. This is partly why I have one piston and one rotary tuba: when I play them, the the strong physical cues given by the vastly differing tubas helps me focus on the correct set of fingerings. If for some odd reason I choose to play my old rotary F, my reading goes out the window on my Ales CC for days! (Then my CC and F "experience" becomes muddled and I get lost sorting out the fingerings. Keeping one horn piston and one rotary seems to work for me.)
Crossing these things for me is a sure way to screw up something.
As an aside, I arrange differently for quintet if I am thinking of one tuba over another. I try not to do this, but it still occurs a bit.
My very skewed experience talking here. Your mileage will vary quit a bit, I am sure.
Wade "always the problem child" Rackley