Posted by lucky cat on June 02, 2001 at 08:53:00:
In Reply to: What should I be looking for? posted by Jimmy on June 02, 2001 at 00:10:55:
Hi,
Trystan is absolutely right in his post! "It's all you", as they say, in essence.
Your sound is your trademark, so to speak, and the most important thing is to strive for the sound that makes you personally sound the best. It's a little bit like a visual artist's style, or a writer's style, or a composer's style... There are lots of different movements of work, and lots of different takes on each of those, according to the individual's own unique style and aptitudes. For us tubists, our sound helps to lend us our own unique identity as a tuba player. Look at the pros... many of them sound entirely different, so don't limit yourself. You may find that YOUR ideal sound is a combination of both schools of thought, (if that's possible!)
As far as choosing a horn, do the best you can with your budget right now. This way you will get good service and value out of the horn you select. With resale values often being less than proportional to the true value, this will be of aid. In other words, look for something now that will at least last through your next academic phase (i.e. your undergrad).
With the selection of the horn, that again is a personal thing. I have played lots of tubas, but when i sat down with one of those, I KNEW that was the horn for me, no doubt in my mind. I had the kind of sound I was looking for and continue to strive for, and I felt comfortable. The horn is an extension of who you are as a player, so it is somewhat important, in my opinion, to feel comfortable with it. (That's not to say that a player can't sound great on any horn with hard work...)
Go someplace with lots of selections, and just spend the day playing. Don't necessarily predetermine what kind of sound you want... Listen for the sound you like while playing different horns and take it from there!
Hope something here helps... good luck!