BBb 4-valves / CC 5-valves - why?


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Posted by bloke on November 20, 2003 at 15:13:43:

ya' know, I've read a lot of threads on this bulletin board about "why CC tubas are offered from makers with 5 valves and why BBb tubas are generally offered from makers with 4 valves".
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Some folks have tried to relate this to stuff like

- how "serious" the average player is
- how much money the average BBb player is willing to spend on an instrument vs. how much the average CC player is willing to spend on an instrument.
- blah, blah, blah...
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The explanation is quite simple:

LOW F, a commonly-written pitch in ensemble literature's tuba parts, can be played well with a BBb tuba with only 4 valves, but is a treacherous problem on a CC tuba with only 4 valves.
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Now, they're are a lot of "tricks" (we are all quite familiar with) that can also be taken advantage of with a 5th valve, but the obvious MAIN REASON is LOW F. In mainstream ensemble literature, an extremely small percentage of works ever ask tubas to play below F or E natural, but many many LOW F's are written.

' should be obvious, and let's stop assuming that BBb players are "cheap" or "not serious"

- bloke


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