Contemplateing a tuba...

[JonBerryhill]

I may be opening up a can or worms here but here goes. I have played trumpet off and on for several decades. In my prime I was pretty good at it. Since school, I've played with small community, church, temple groups off and on, mostly special occasions. I would like to take up the tuba and ideally also continue with my trumpets (I have Bflat and C horns). I have more time now and have restarted my trumpet work with daily practice to get my lips back. I'm having a blast. To be clear, this is all just for fun and for my own enrichment. I'm considering renting a tuba for a couple of months to make sure it's a doable thing and if all goes well I would like to buy my own tuba around the end of the year. I am familiar with the bass clef, I've been singing bass in various choirs for a long time, but the treble clef has always been my home.

So my questions... what tuba would be right for me? I'm thinking a Bflat or C. Should I put the effort into being as familiar with the bass clef as I am with the treble clef? I see that there appears to be quite a bit of tuba music written on the treble clef. I'm not adverse to doing the rewriting/transposition that might be necessary. Just wondering where I should put my effort. It's just that the trumpet treble clef fingerings are so ingrained in my brain.

Any input or advise from anyone who lives in both the high and low brass world?

[DonO.]

You say “quite a bit of tuba music is written in treble clef”. Are you in Great Britain? British brass band music is the only place I’ve seen treble clef tuba music. Otherwise, bass clef is the thing.

There are really 2 types of tubas, bass and contrabass. Bass tubas are in F or Eb, contrabass in CC or BBb. Your choice depends on what you want to do. Soloists seem to favor F, concert bands in the US use BBb primarily although you see CC there too. Eb is associated with brass band music but can be used other ways. Most orchestra players in the US like CC for most of their work. But any of the above can be adapted to any kind of music, really. The big difference is the range from low to high and what range is required of you by your music.

All bass clef tuba music is written in concert pitch, no transposition. So you just have to learn the specific fingering for you instrument key. IIRC treble clef tuba music has a built in transposition similar to trumpet.

I favor BBb, but that’s just me. Many players in the US favor CC.

There’s a trick band directors used to use when they wanted to switch a kid from Bb trumpet to tuba. They would give them an Eb tuba, tell them to pretend the bass clef was a treble clef and add 3 sharps (or naturals, as appropriate) and voila! They could then play the tuba with the fingerings they were already used to. I’ve heard that called a “shake and bake” tuba player. In my case I switched from Bb baritone horn to BBb tuba, so all the fingerings were the same, my notes were just an octave lower.

Welcome, good luck, and I’m sure you’ll get lots of other advice!

[matt g]

Related…

When I was a youth in the Tampa Bay Area, I showed up to a Tubachristmas event and saw Mark Ridenour show up with an F tuba. Apparently he fiddled around on it for fun (and maybe airstream stuff?). I wanna say this was 1991 or 1992?

In 9th grade I was still playing trumpet in jazz band and tuba in concert band. That was the only year of that hybrid mashup as I moved from trumpet to tuba.

Anyhow, doesn’t matter what key you get. You’ll need to do some work to figure out the clef and fingers. That’s part of the fun!

[bloke]

Pick up a beater King 3-valve with OK valves...or a beater Olds (a bit smaller).
Move up from something such as those (or don't) as your interest increases or wanes.

advice you're seeking: Do what you want to do, because you want to do it. This isn't retirement investments nor your living trust.

[JonBerryhill]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll keep my eye out for a beater but I've found nothing in my area so far (northern CA). There has to be one someplace. Otherwise I think I'll go with my idea to rent for bit. What are your thoughts on the CoolWind ABS tuba? From what I've seen on YouTube the sound would be acceptable for what I want to do with it. Maybe a bit of a novelty? It looks like the price can't be beat, especially for a new one.

[matt g]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll keep my eye out for a beater but I've found nothing in my area so far (northern CA). There has to be one someplace. Otherwise I think I'll go with my idea to rent for bit. What are your thoughts on the CoolWind ABS tuba? From what I've seen on YouTube the sound would be acceptable for what I want to do with it. Maybe a bit of a novelty? It looks like the price can't be beat, especially for a new one.

Hang around here and keep an eye out. You’ll likely be able to find something in your price range. While those plastic tubas might sound okay, repair and maintenance is borderline impossible.

[JESimmons]

When I was in school, back when the Mammoths were roaming, there were lots of treble clef tuba parts for band. Usually the director would take the biggest trumpet player and put him on tuba. With transposed treble clef music, he could use his trumpet fingerings.

I'd say look for a BBb. They should be easier to find. It shouldn't be hard to learn bass clef as the fingering will be the same patterns and order as trumpet, just Bb instead of C, etc.

Keep looking here, craigslist, pawn shops, Facebook marketplace, as well as music stores.

[YorkNumber3.0]

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[Richard III]

As a life long trumpet player I ventured into euphonium a few years ago due to being in a band that lost all of their euphonium players. Within a couple of months I was doing well. Then last summer I became frustrated trying to fill the tuba spot in my trad jazz band. So I bought a serviceable Conn 10J 3/4 size tuba. I don't read bass clef. This summer I'm playing tuba with my group and it is a blast. I use Sibelius software to transpose any bass clef parts to treble clef. When I tried to learn bass clef it messed up all my other playing as my old brain had trouble switching back and forth. But playing a Bb tuba works well with reading Bb treble parts. I take the trumpet parts and fashion a bass line and away we go. The beauty of trad jazz is that I'm totally free to go any direction as long as it works with the song and the other players.

[Mary Ann]

As someone who started out as a pro violinist, became a horn player, then a tuba player -- if you want to, you can. The use of air (LOTS more on tuba) and the width of the mouthpiece cup (WAY bigger on tuba) will be your tasks in the switch. I don't know how big you are, but size, heh, does matter a bit with tuba. To play a full size BBb you do have to have some lungs. Buy something you can re-sell, and don't get one of those plastic things. The one I heard in concert by a pro, the valve noise was louder than the tuba. Really, just don't go there as it's not worth it. As far as reading the clef, I got a community orchestra gig shortly after I got my Eb, (I had played CC and F before) and I did not know the fingerings very well, so I xeroxed the music, wrote in the fingerings, and did just fine; I knew them down pat in a couple months and could stop xeroxing the music, and WAY less work than trying to "transpose" or put every single piece in something like Finale or Sibelius. Playing just for fun is what retirement is all about; go for it!!

[bort2.0]

advice you're seeking: Do what you want to do, because you want to do it. This isn't retirement investments nor your living trust.

My practical advice is to buy something you won't have trouble selling later.

Tubas aren't forever. At some point, either by desire or necessity, you're going to need to unload it. Make it easy for yourself to do that.

[2nd tenor]

I may be opening up a can or worms here but here goes. I have played trumpet off and on for several decades. In my prime I was pretty good at it. Since school, I've played with small community, church, temple groups off and on, mostly special occasions. I would like to take up the tuba and ideally also continue with my trumpets (I have Bflat and C horns). I have more time now and have restarted my trumpet work with daily practice to get my lips back. I'm having a blast. To be clear, this is all just for fun and for my own enrichment. I'm considering renting a tuba for a couple of months to make sure it's a doable thing and if all goes well I would like to buy my own tuba around the end of the year. I am familiar with the bass clef, I've been singing bass in various choirs for a long time, but the treble clef has always been my home.

So my questions... what tuba would be right for me? I'm thinking a Bflat or C. Should I put the effort into being as familiar with the bass clef as I am with the treble clef? I see that there appears to be quite a bit of tuba music written on the treble clef. I'm not adverse to doing the rewriting/transposition that might be necessary. Just wondering where I should put my effort. It's just that the trumpet treble clef fingerings are so ingrained in my brain.

Any input or advise from anyone who lives in both the high and low brass world?

Skilled pals in the Brass Band seems to move between instruments without too much bother, for the rest of us it’s a challenge.

Before deciding on the pitch of the instrument decide on the groups you’ll be / would like to be playing in and see what they use (then use the same). Of course it would be wise to talk to groups about your plans and about joining them, reach out to their bass sections and you might well get useful help.

I’m an Eb Bass player in a British Brass Band, IMHO the Eb is a sweeter sounding instrument than the BBb and it’s arguably easier to play too. However in the USA Eb’s aren’t popular so you might well be best advised to buy a common three valve BBb instead … and they’re common for a reason.

You’re going to be surprised by how much air these things take … so don’t buy an oversized instrument.

The chops that you have for trumpet won’t drive a tuba, you’ll sort of get by but you’re going to have to build a fresh set. I’ve changed instruments before (last switch was from Trombone) and that’s what I’ve found the hard way. Some folk manage that building easily, but a good set of chops can take many months - years even - to build.

[bloke]

Go cheap, go playable, go b-flat. Be able to get back out of it - if it's not for you after all - without your pocketbook having been hurt.

[The Big Ben]

Pick up a beater King 3-valve with OK valves...or a beater Olds (a bit smaller).
Move up from something such as those (or don't) as your interest increases or wanes.

Dittos! I had a 2340 King for a couple of years and they are very good! Not having a 4th valve is not the handicap that it might be thought to be. In much concert band usage, the 4th valve is rarely necessary. That said, the 12/2340s I've seen (including mine) came with a recording bell. That's good for playing outside. Upright bells all by themselves for sale don't seem to come up on e-bay much.

[Mary Ann]

If you are starting out with trumpet chops and trumpet air, you'll have a bit of a learning curve. Most likely you will get pffing sounds mostly for a while; with trumpet you have to blow really fast air and not that much of it. Tuba is the complete opposite in that you have to move a lot of air but not very fast. I went from horn to tuba, and yup I made pffing sounds for a while; and my lips just didn't want to do the type of flapping they have to do in that mouthpiece that will feel like a teacup on your face. However, if you stick with it and are patient for a while -- you'll find it is incredibly fun to be the foundation of the group instead of the screeching at the top.

I agree get an inexpensive but good condition standard-to-smaller sized BBb, that you can re-sell for what you paid for it.

[Worth]

I was very much in your situation as someone with ingrained trumpet fingerings but a fluent knowledge of reading the notes themselves in TC and BC as a piano player. A switch shortly after HS to Euphonium had me reading mostly TC parts for convenience. When I moved to Tuba later on in life, I chose a CC tuba because when you read the BC notes for what they are off the page, the CC tuba fingerings = the ingrained trumpet fingerings (of course with alternates). This has always worked for me but we each have our own system. My only deal now is having to sight read BC euphonium parts which still scrambles my brain a bit.