Posted by Joe S. on January 01, 2001 at 23:52:10:
In Reply to: F Tubas??? posted by Brad on January 01, 2001 at 22:25:37:
The main difficulty comes from contrabass (BBb/CC) players approaching the range just below the staff (on an F tuba) as if the instrument behaved like their BBb or CC instrument(s).
Obviously, there are some stinker F tubas out there, but if one "points" the air in that just-below-the-staff range (just as one does for the three and four ledger low notes on a BBb or CC) those notes will speak and focus easily on a good F instrument.
Other "approach F playing like a CC/BBb" problems include:
-"redone" (factory or shop) mouthpipe tubes which are too large
-instruments which overall are too large (bore, body, bell, or all of these)
-trying to adapt very deep cup mouthpieces to F tuba playing
On good F tubas, the notes past (below) two ledger lines are quite forgiving, as far as "focus" is concerned.
I play an early '80's B&S with a standard mouthpipe, the full (5) gradations of bore sizes through the valve set, and 6 valves. The 6th valve eliminates serious pitch compromises that might not matter as much on a CC (being that those equivalent notes on a CC would be extremely low). Benefitting are the B natural below the staff, low A, low Ab, and low G. The sixth valve also offers some fantastic half step trill alternatives.