Posted by Rick Denney on July 27, 2001 at 10:08:12:
In Reply to: Re: Re: german F sound concept posted by Jay Bertolet on July 26, 2001 at 22:31:09:
And even in Germany, traditional players would use a large BBb for the Ride, not an F.
Also, many of the comments about the desirability of F tubas in terms of clarity, especially when the listeners are non-tubists, don't just apply to German-style F tubas. They apply pretty well to all bass tubas and even small contrabass tubas. I played in a 30-piece German wind band in San Antonio, and the director asked me to bring the F tuba (a Yamaha) for all performances because the audiences loved the light, clear sound. We also had a good player providing a floor with a CC, but when he wasn't there, the director would not let me switch to a larger horn.
I agree that an F tuba can be used for most applications short of large ensemble work, but not just any F tuba, or at least not any F tuba/player combination. It has to have a wide usable range. I have played, in performance, notes as low as the pedal DD on my F tuba, and these notes sounded better on that horn (with me playing them) than they would have as false tones on the BBb. Quintet music is often more soloistic, requiring a greater range, than large-ensemble tuba parts.
Rick "the F tuba YOU use has to work for YOU in all ranges, if you want to use it everywhere" Denney