Posted by Doug Whitten on November 27, 2002 at 13:58:14:
In Reply to: in your dreams posted by Marcus Bowers on November 27, 2002 at 12:44:34:
For an Army band you should definitely get BBb horns. Most players in Guard bands will play BBb and also there is the sousaphone issue... it is difficult for many players to switch back and forth between keys. All musical issues aside, I believe the MTOE requires that the instruments be in BBb. To get CC tubas will require an exception to policy.
When I was active duty, in Berlin, we had 4/4 Hirshbrunners which were great. Personally, I would like to see our military bands purchasing buying American made horns. Consider the King 2341.
There was a time when the military could only buy US instruments, and this had its problems because many believed American instruments to be of lower quality than imports. A King tuba may not be as "exotic" as many foreign made horns, but they are high quality.. certainly worthy of use in any band. Certainly you should get the best horns possible, but consider buying American.