Mouthpiece for a Smaller student.

[Davestankus915]

I have a new tuba student, just starting 5th grade. He played baritone for a year, and now wants to play the tuba. He is rather small, and the mouthpiece he was given with his school horn seems too big for him ... A Jupiter 24AW, which is about 32 mm diameter. I need to find a smaller diameter mp that will fit his embouchure better. Looking for suggestions

[arpthark]

The only other mouthpiece I can recall off the top of my head that has a smaller ID than that one is the Bach 32E which I think is around 30mm.

[dsfinley]

https://www.dwerden.com/Mouthpieces/tuba.cfm

[gocsick]

My son started on 6th grade on a Bach 25 and it fit him very well. Smaller diameter and smaller throat. Didn't suck the wind out of him.

[2nd tenor]

I have a new tuba student, just starting 5th grade. He played baritone for a year, and now wants to play the tuba. He is rather small, and the mouthpiece he was given with his school horn seems too big for him ... A Jupiter 24AW, which is about 32 mm diameter. I need to find a smaller diameter mp that will fit his embouchure better. Looking for suggestions

The 24AW has a medium dia deep cup and a wide rim, years ago I tried a 24W and it didn’t fit my adult face because it was too wide overall. Try a Bach 25, it’ll be a step forward in terms of giving the youngster something that he might manage to use. In my adult journey from playing Trombone to playing Tuba the Bach 25 was a piece that I used, it was very helpful to me and I made a lot of music using one. It can take a long time to build Tuba ‘chops’ and it’s better to use a smaller diameter cup that allows lip control than a bigger one that doesn’t - if you’re playing a three valve tuba then surprisingly small diameter cups still work. One of my section mates used a Wick 5 (30mm cup) in a BBb,

[Jperry1466]

I used to start my beginner 6th grade tuba students on the Bach 32E. As they grew physically larger, I moved them to a Helleberg 7B.

[2nd tenor]

I used to start my beginner 6th grade tuba students on the Bach 32E. As they grew physically larger, I moved them to a Helleberg 7B.

^^ Good to hear.

In my amateur experience Tubas can be played with quite small cups. Provided the lip control is there then bigger cups seem to produce richer sounds and allow access to the fourth valve low range. If the lip control isn’t yet there then smaller cups allow some music making and progress. At one time I played a three valve Eb with a 28 mm cup Bass Trombone piece (Tuba had a receiver to match the shank) and it worked just fine. As mentioned earlier the Wick 5 (30mm) worked in a BBb for a section mate, the Bach 30e is a similar size to that Wick. The Bach 32e has a - even smaller - 29.5 mm cup, well that’s what I recall it being.

For the smaller cups it’s a case of seeing what’s about at a reasonable price and then trying something.

As they say: “try everything, use what works”.

The OP doesn’t say whether his student is using an F, Eb, C or BBb Tuba; I think that the BBb is now predominant in Schools in the USA but at one time Eb’s were also used too. As a young person, and now here in later life too, I’ve made a lot of good enough music on an Eb Tuba and imho they are noticeably easier to use than a BBb - guess what size I’d want to start a child on.

Opinions vary and children do some amazing things; the child will play what size - and pitch - the School lends to him.

[Mary Ann]

As someone probably not a lot bigger, or maybe not at all bigger -- the JK 8C and the Wick 5 come to mind as mouthpieces that are more tuba cups than a 32E (I have one of those and bleah) and still 30.5 mm diameter.