Posted by Steve Inman on February 11, 2002 at 20:52:27:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: the key of a tuba posted by Devin on February 11, 2002 at 00:04:33:
After playing BBb for 25 years, I had a pretty tough time when I switched to Eb about 5 years ago. However, I didn't really "practice" the Eb very much -- I just tried to start playing all of the old things I used to play on BBb. I kept having problems with faster passages, where my mind would simply go absolutely blank.
Fast forward about 5 years, and I decided (with some trepidation) to pitch the Eb and move to F. [Rationale: I wanted a 3/4 size bass tuba for use in a quartet where the bass voice was typically a 2nd bone part. It seemed to me that tubas in the key of F offered more options. Hence the switch.]
Now, maybe this time was easier because I had done this before. BUT, this time, I got out the old "lesson books": Rubank, Arbans (for tuba), etc. I played LOTS of exercises that I DID NOT KNOW -- i.e. SIGHT READING. I played them very slowly, THINKING about the new fingerings. AMAZINGLY, after a couple weeks of this, the "old" performance folder was suddenly pretty easy to play on the "new" F tuba. I think it had a lot to do with the patient approach of playing lots of things I was totally unfamiliar with, very slowly and patiently.
Steve "my experience, FWIW" Inman
Kokomo, IN