Posted by Eve Flatt on June 03, 2000 at 02:07:58:
In Reply to: Re: How to Start a 10 Year Aspiring Tubist posted by Steve Dedman on June 02, 2000 at 23:05:28:
---Steve Deadman wrote ---
IMO, starting kids out on euph is a better option, since you can oversee the development of their embouchure much more easily than on tuba. On smaller kids, the mouthpiece can be as big as their mouth. If they can get the embouchure right on euph, the switch to tuba is going to be easier.
---
Agreed!!! (obviously it does depend on the physical size of the child).
Bad habits can easily form (and are harder to monitor) when the m/piece is like a "bucket" over the face (larger than the mouth). Go the euph... it IS after all a tuba, and that way all the fingering practice and valve patterns sequences will be worthwhile learning and easily transferrable to other lower-pitched members of the tuba family later on.
I started on one of those wee "single" (small bore) E flats (3 valves) People used to mistake it for a euphonium, it was so small... the mouthpiece was tiny (in tuba players' terms). I also played a fair bit of euph in the next few years. When I started I was 15/16, so I was physically bigger already.