Posted by Confusious on February 04, 2004 at 14:24:25:
Hey,
I was just looking at a couple of tubas sitting on the floor...
a Yamaha YBB-321 and its lower-priced clone, the Weril J980.
These tubas, by any standards outlined in the past on this bbs, are obviously "5/4" size tubas:
(18" bell, huge bell throat, large branches, large bore)...certainly - size-wise - more of a big-a** nuisance than a "5/4" Mira-188 or MW-2000...
The "6/4" instruments, seem to be the 20" bell tubas with piston valves, yet the same (largest) size tubas with rotary valves are demoted back down to the "5/4" designation.
Is a tuba only deserving of the revered "5/4" designation if it is priced over $7000?...or
Does "5/4" have just about as much real meaning as the word "euphonium"?...ie.
-Willson/Boosey&Hawkes/Hirsbrunner compensating euphonium
-Mirafone oval-style euphonium
-Conn double-belled euphonium