Posted by Rick Denney on October 23, 2001 at 11:46:55:
In Reply to: Bell-less practice? posted by NC on October 22, 2001 at 17:12:30:
I played all through five years of schooling using a bell-less sousaphone at home. Bringing both the body and the bell was impossible in the car we were using at the time.
Story time:
I was working on my seventh-grade solo contest piece. This was my first year playing tuba, and the piece I was performing was In the Heart of the Mountain King, out of the old Rubank book. My sister, only a little more skilled than myself, was accompanying me.
In our first rehearsal, the intonation was horrible--like a semitone off. No amount of discussion seemed to reveal the difficulty. My non-musical parents hired a piano tuner to "fix" the piano, and while the piano benefitted from a much-needed tuning it didn't solve the problem. The next afternoon after that, my band director, after receiving a phone call from my mother, asked me to play a tuning note to compare with the tuner there during band practice. Perfect.
It was some days later before the truth finally emerged. But you already know what that is.
Back to the problem at hand: A sousaphone doesn't sound very good without the bell and it is somewhat sharp, but it does play, and practicing it will improve your chops and your musical abilities. If the sharpness doesn't bother you, and if it is the only practical way of practicing at home, then do it.
Rick "noting that 'practical' and 'practicing' share the same root" Denney