I don't even try to play piston horns because a) I can't reach them, and b) my hands are not strong enough, and c) the piston "throw" is so much farther than the rotor "throw." I can play a rotary just like I would play the piano, basically, just wiggling my fingers up and down in the "general area ...

well, you know, I play the violin and I certainly don't have my fingers directly over the notes I'm going to play. On violin, those notes are all over the fingerboard. I just have to know where they are. Same with piano, 88 keys and ten fingers, yet look at what they can do. I think you made ...

Lots of interesting stuff, he said. If I thought I could blow that Bell CC I'd be tempted. I've never bought a tuba from there but have looked a lot. The only "store" I actually bought a tuba from was Dillon, and that was just because I waffled on it when it was first offered to me by the owner ...

The local concert band that for decades played a 4th of July concert "up on the mountain" which has the silliest 4th of July parade on the planet every year, except of course last year -- has gotten only four people total to volunteer to come up. Historically it has been in the neighborhood of 30. I ...

Way back when I was making an effort at earning money with violin, I joined an Irish traditional music cum bar songs band. The other three were from Ireland, and one was a very good button accordion player. They all had Irish rhythm, which is just bam on the beat. You know, reels and jigs and ...

It's not all bad; I just got a tuba shipped via UPS that arrived unscathed due to proper packing. But the box also was not demolished, and packing can only protect to a certain extent no matter how well done. As opposed to the Bombino I tried to buy a few months ago, and every single time I tried to ...

Because the previous owner had removed the spit valve on the main tuning slide of the NStar and because pulling the slide and putting it back under time stress didn't have me at my best, I put a joy key right next to where the spit valve had been. My experience was, for some reason I had to pull the ...

A musician friend had her house invaded and ALL her instruments taken while she was ASLEEP. So it wasn't just replacing "an" instrument. It was all of them, including a very nice string bass, her Elkhart Conn 8D horn, and I don't remember what else. Some irreplaceable. I don't know what insurance ...

You left out Bydlo. Played on a euph by moi back when.

Clarion. Covers it everywhere.

I had a highly-engraved Keefer tenor horn for a while. It was in tune with itself but high pitch, had extenders that were the wrong length to put it in 440, and very very badly needed a valve job. Had its original mouthpiece. Sold it to a local trumpet pro who bought it for a student who passed on ...

Didn't want to hijack bloke's post, but the comment about Protectaclear got me going. My horn (HORN, not "instrument you blow in,") is unlacquered. It is tarnished, has what appears to actually be rust in places, and has one spot of red rot on one of the slides, which eventually is going to be a ...

I really should not read this part of the forum. I believe I have augmented and diminished dents and have no idea how to get rid of them.

My 184 CC liked my PT-64. But so did the MW 182, Sam Pilafian's Besson CC, and the NStar. So take that for everything it's worth. There are times when I think it's a lot more important to be able to play the mouthpiece than it is to be able to play the tuba. I can't play a deep funnel mouthpiece, so ...

Yes, we are in exact agreement on all of that.

Part of it is what the instrument can do, and part of it is what the player can do. That's all the precision I can come up with.

Grade school? Did you mean grad school? I don't know of any calc courses, ever, in grade school. Flying fickle typing fingers or Genius Southern Boy? I think my drive to actually understand calculus, instead of just getting A's in it like I did, is quite a bit stronger than my drive to be a high ...

I wonder how many kids have been wrecked by the emphasis on competition as if it were Little League (which has wrecked sports for a lot of kids, too.) Parents get involved and kids are compared to each other -- it can be really high pressure to achieve, and the music is left behind for the ...

For me, the sheer mass of the pistons, plus their diameter, is what makes them impossible to play. Oval tubes were tried by Conn at one point -- I think I had a Conn baritone that had "oval tubes on their sides" to make valve travel shorter. And oval tubes "standing up" could make valve travel ...

To continue the story, we had a quintet rehearsal this afternoon (I play euph on the tbone part; we are "recreational.") The tuba player, who has the NStar I played that made me decide that was the perfect tuba for me, and who has been told that I'm getting another Eb (smaller one this time) -- said ...

bloke said: In my experience, short throws (most rotors, compared to most pistons) require more precision when playing legato, as the movement of the rotor or piston needs to be timed perfectly with the movement of the lip vibration and air for a slur to work nicely on a big old tuba. (I have been ...