Re: Lippin'n' Slidin'


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Posted by Lew on June 12, 2002 at 13:45:38:

In Reply to: Lippin'n' Slidin' posted by circusboy on June 12, 2002 at 11:38:03:

I too am an amateur, and I almost never do any slide pulling. Jay has a good point about lipping notes affecting the sound. That is why I selected a tuba on which I can play every note I need in tune without slide pulling or lipping. I play a BBb in a community band, and find that once I am in tune with the band on a tuning Bb, everything else seems to be in tune on my main horn (new King 2341). When I tried it out I could play a 3 octave chromatic scale and be within 5 cents of center on the tuner on every note. I have never had any comments from the director or any other band member about intonation, and if there were problems he would definitely mention it, as he does almost every week to our bassoon player.

On my prior horn (Conn International/Cerveny 786 stencil) the only note that was a little off was the first space A, which was a little flat. I didn't want to cut the second valve slide, so the only way to adjust was to lip it.

When I use my big Conn 22J or Conn 20K sousaphone there is that flat 3rd partial to deal with, but I have learned to deal with it. I only use them outside anyway and it doesn't seem to be as much of an issue there.

Watching Roger Bobo play I noticed that he seemed to be playing a slide tuba. He was making what appeared to be significant adjustments for many notes. I certainly can't argue with the results he gets this way. I will never approach what he can do with a tuba. Almost all of the other pros I have watched seem to use the tuning slides at least to some extent.


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