Posted by Greg Crider on May 24, 2002 at 10:04:34:
In Reply to: Re: Basses and Contra B. posted by If on May 24, 2002 at 00:55:07:
Just a few guesses:
1. weight--dropping an octave will at least double the weight of the horn if all things are proportional, although I think that quadrupling the weight or more is more likely
2. a mouthpiece that would be a proportional fit for the horn would be almost too big for most people's faces; I've seen pictures of people playing one of the few subcontrabass BBBb tubas made, and they were using normal sized mouthpieces; I've often wondered what effect it had on the tone.
3. referring to 2 above, a few BBBb horns were made, but they were taller than the average person and almost non-portable
4. there are plenty of people around who can play notes with subsonic fundamentals, but these notes are almost entirely harmonics with very little fundamental there; a larger horn should add fundamental, but it would be slow to respond and sluggish because of the extreme length of the tubing
5. as much as I love to drop octaves and play in the sub-basement, there are times when dropping an octave sounds lousy and doesn't fit the scoring at all
6. sub-octave F, Eb, and C experimental tubas have also been produced, but their size and other problems have prevented them from ever catching on
7. why spend that much money on a horn that could only be used on the rarest of occasions? even the biggest low-not freak has to admit that you couldn't use a horn like that very much of the time; at today's production prices, who can afford to experiment with this type horn, especially if it turns out to be a dud; imagine the cost of just producing the tooling
7.