Posted by Joe S. on July 06, 2001 at 21:07:16:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: German? American? A rose by any other... posted by Rick Denney on July 06, 2001 at 13:39:18:
You're right. I don't really notice "that range" that many discuss about F tubas.
Admittedly, the first time that I blew on an F tuba (one of those tiny Mirafone rotary models) I didn't have a clue about blowing in "that range". Soon, I realized that the air had to be coaxed through in much the same way that one learns to coax the air through a CC tuba when playing low Ab, G, Gb, F, etc. (Possibly, you remember when you first tried to play those [equivalent range] notes on a BBb when you were a kid, and you had to "back up and punt" to figure out how to make the noise come out.) Once I realized that, I never really tripped over those notes again.
I can see how if three or four notes are a stumbling block (no judgements being made nor implied...I could give you a "quick list" of about 6000 things that I "stumble" over daily - ' top of the list being tact ;^), that perspective would indeed classify any tubas with "that characteristic" in a group. It sure rules out a bunch of fun, flexible, and glorious sounding instruments, though.
When I've played Apollos, they've reminded me of kazoos - no resistance, no focus, no pitch center...sort of like a 20J tuba that I tried to cut down to CC once by removing all of the tubing from one part of the instrument.
Most MW F's to me are inflexible. I've read raves from many about the most recent batch, but to me they are about the same as the larger MW F's that I've played in the past. OK, but not much fun. (I NEED fun.)
B&S F tubas are a crapshoot. Some of them stink, many of them are playable, and perhaps 15%-20% of them are exceptionally player friendly (to me).
I "see" a Yamaha 621 F regularly. When I've played it, I sound just like the guy who owns it sounds on it, and I'm not sure that I like that very much. For its small size, it doesn't seem to offer the kind of flexibility that I would expect, and the security of some of the notes (perhaps because the mouthpipe is [possibly?] a bit too large for the size of the bore and body) is not as good as I would hope for on a nice little "pea shooter". The intonation of second space C always makes me want to loosen my tie.
Joe "My F tuba ain't perfec', but I guess I'm used to it." S.