Re: Flute to Tuba Converts


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Posted by Casey on October 10, 2001 at 21:44:49:

In Reply to: Flute to Tuba Converts posted by tuba tutor on October 10, 2001 at 20:49:50:

I did this conversion in 8th grade. I volunteered one day, the next I played with our section leader, the following with full band. To hit the F or BBb he told me to relax my mouth. My first day I could play F, but only hit BBb once. The 2nd day I tried a low BBb for my first note of the day and it has come out ever since. One thing that helped me the first day was to literally flap my lips off the horn and then bring the piece and horn to my mouth and hit the BBb. I did that the 1st day as well.

IMHO You cant start somebody off by trying to make them conform to a really great embrochure. That may be wrong, but an extreme novice must just kinda figure out how to do it and change it a little later.

I heard somewhere that flute playing takes much the same airflow as tuba playing (this may be wrong), and I was gifted with large lungs, so air was never a problem for me. Just make sure they in the words of my teacher "tank up" so they are ready to go.

If I were you i would be sure to correct any wrong notes and fingerings of course. But dont be to pushy, if they are in HS already they can figure it out a little. Knowing the bass clef will be secondary in my opinion because they will figure it our after the association with the fingerings.

That probably wasnt written very well so I'm sorry.
The best advice for you as a teacher may be to
1) Relax, and not to worry, they will progress.
and 2) Take it easy on them and they will definately figure it out. Only kick it up a notch if they are showing no progress because of lack of effort.

If you would like send me an e-mail and I can answer more specific questions since I can still remember my switch even though im a senior now.


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