For a friend having problems to get the power into his horn a repair guy put some thick wire around the ornamental groove between cup and shank and it made a big difference. He's still playing it after years this way.

I would like to compare the influence of the rims on my Blokepieces. There is a ...

One of my horns has interchangeable pistons, well, almost.
When I bought my Courtois 166 Saxhorn Basse (3+2 pistons) second hand from a dealer in France it arrived in the condition showed in the pictures of his webpage. And it played as expected, except when using 4th valve. There (and only there ...

I made an interesting experience with MP weight some years ago when playing the Nirschl 4/4 C (which became later the Besson 995): Playing a Bruno Tilz MP on my Besson Eb back then I picked another Tilz for the C, but with a bigger cup. They were made with same outside dimensions so the bigger MP ...

They are nice to play. Aim-shoot-hit and a big sound for the smallish looking horn. I played one of these (GDR made) about 30 years ago for a while, only with a different slide for the 5th valve, giving 2 whole steps. It was from a music school and they didn't want to sell

Hmmm, when I (as a German) see the optics (English style lettering and a nazi rune looking blitz) of this "brand name" which are veeery opposite to what Sturm&Drang describes originally (the romantic period in the early 19th century!) I would never consider this touching my lips

For me all informations are relevant.
Intonation characteristics are great, especially when they are good, but I wouldn't play a horn for longer which has great intonation but is awkward to hold or only works with very heavy valve springs. So comfort matters somehow. And on some horns I just don't ...

I use the Hercules stand, which has an unobstrusive tripod and is only 16" high in the lowest position. It has the cradle type top with an additional flat insert. They ar both a slippery so I used some shelf liner with it. Meanwhile I installed the stool top from the very heavy home-use Wessex stand ...

Weight is one concern and another one may be ergonomics. Most 4 valve tubas are made for large hands and on euphoniums it depends on where the 4th valve is placed (or hidden in the good(?) old Besson tradition). But I still prefer teaching beginners on four valves, so they learn better intonation ...

Maybe this band needs a better teacher for this register. If all are playing without air you need more of them to be heard

In fact the tuba was invented twice as two different instruments.
1. The Moritz/Wieprecht F-tuba with 5 Berlin valves. This was a completely new kind of brass horn to play (like a woodwind) chromatically from the lowest (pedal) notes. The fingering layout was different of what we use today with 1 ...

The only rotary horn I own is inherited (an 1920s oval Eb alto), all others I bought myself are pistons.
I love the simplicity of a direct action piston valves and until now I was able to find horns which work for me ergonomically. The ergonomics of rotaries are most times compromised by tradition ...

The biggest impact on my playing had one week with Sam Pilafian and lots of time over some years with Marty Erickson, who also showed me how to be a good teacher. Some time with the late Roger Bobo were well spent too

3+3. I never got used to this 23/24 combinations in one hand.
And even if I don't have a coordination problem with my pinky when playing piano or ophicleide (two keys there!) my weak wrist and elbow start making trouble when trying to operate a lever with a bit of force, throw and wide spread hand ...

My choice is a Schlipf Mnozil Tour mute. It works good as a practice mute but is also an adjustable straight mute if you ever need one in concert and can be carried in the bell

Not always. In symphonic use there often enough parts for trumpet in E or F# or whatever and at least in my orchestra they are always playing Bb or C trumpets for this. Trumpet is more demanding for the chops using a smaller part of the lips for producing a much higher frequency compared to tuba.
A ...

Happy tuba day!

The Besson 995 was a Nirschl design. Walter made it first at BM Symphonic (former known as Boehm&Meinl) in the early/mid 1990s and sold it to Besson in 1997 or 98. I had one of the BM made, it was a really great horn but I couldn't stand the heavy valves (with strong springs needed) and the way I ...

Roger Bobo told the story about RVW having complained about the changes in the printed edition, but it was never corrected to his original version. Back in the 50s RVW sent a copy of his manuscript to Roger, this is now available from upperhaymusic.com

So it is in Ab? Seems a good deal

This happens with printed music also. Played Brahms 2nd symphony this weekend. With two or three notes to play between 30 or 40 bars rest for over 15 minutes I had to colour-mark when to play in my sheet