Beginner advice

[Isorropic]

Hello.
I borrowed a tuba and would like to learn how to play it. I have been using a tuner app but I am not improving as quickly as I had hoped. I can eek out a few notes, but they are wobbly and ridiculous. I am reading all the free tips I can find, but I'm not sure what to do with my lips. It feels so unsteady... by the time I am in tune, I need to take a breath. I am a distance runner so I should have lung capacity on my side, but I still feel like I don't know what to do with my face to get consistent notes. I don't want to keep practicing if I am cementing bad habits.. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks.

[bloke]

I'm not sure what to do with my lips.

You've certainly come to the right place.
An engineer will be with you shortly.

[MiBrassFS]

Distance runner borrows a tuba and wants to learn to play it.

You’re weird. That’s out of the way…

Get with someone who can play the tuba and preferably someone who teaches the tuba skills you’re seeking.

The internet, YouTube, FlipFlop, the Book of Faces, Instacrap, XYZ, etc. are all full of crap (with the occasional corn kernel of actual information poking out).

People here, as with anyone who knows tuba, would need to see and hear you to provide any useful information and direction. Anything else will be a guess in the dark.

[gocsick]

I would recommend finding a teacher. I never had lessons when I was learning because my family simply couldn't afford them. Then after high school I kept playing as a hobby and was always OK enough to get by with the kind of playing I was doing, so I didn't seek one out. . Now that I am almost 50 I am trying to build some skills that I should have learned 30 years ago.. and would have if I had a teacher to guide me.

In the meantime.. It sounds like you are using a tuner with an analysis tool like Tonal Energy. At first didn't try to keep it on the green and play exactly in tune. Don't worry about sharp or flat right now.. just play a note and try to keep it flat and steady. Let the tuba play whatever pitch it wants.

I would also recommend putting the analysis tool away and playing along with a drone. We play with our ears not our eyes. It is a good way to develop a pitch sense. Hear the note, sing the note, then play the note.

They're are some experienced teachers here.. I am sure someone will correct me if my advice is off base.

[iiipopes]

All the above. To corrupt the line out of Hamlet: "Get thee, to a teachery."

[donn]

Well ... at the risk of being one of those guys who offers advice on the internet ...

You have a mouthpiece, right? Pull it off the tuba, and hold it up to your face and play some notes there. I'm not saying this is really how you learn to play the tuba (really I believe perceptions vary about that), but it's a very loose simulation, and it could be illuminating. Or not, of course over the internet it is hard to say.

Don't look at a tuner while doing that, it isn't all that important what notes, just a couple of sustained notes. If necessary, put your finger partly over the shank end to make it easier to form that buzz, but remember we're not trying to make it easier to keep playing the way you don't want to play.

Don't look at the tuner any other time, either. Play loud, that's how everyone learns in school band. If your tuba is damaged, or is of Chinese origin, well, that could be a problem.

[Mary Ann]

Engineer here: find a teacher who actually plays the tuba.

[peterbas]

Engineer here: find a teacher who actually plays the tuba.

Shouldn't that be, find an engineer who plays the tuba to teach you.

[bloke]

pppppppppppppppppppppppppppppfft

[tubanh84]

Basic philosophical rambling, then some concrete advice:

Rambling

Playing an instrument is a physical skill. Like any physical skill, it sucks at first. It takes a lot of time and dedication to make it feel "natural." Making ANY NOISE out of it at first is good. That's your goal for now. Make a noise. Then make a longer noise. Then make a longer noise. And be an observer during the process. Observe what it feels like, sounds like, and what is going on in your body.

The art of mastery of any physical skill is reducing your margin of error. Right now yours is huge. You will more likely than not play something other than what you intend when you put the horn to your face. As you get more and more comfortable, your brain and muscles get more and more used to it, what comes out of the bell will become more consistently what you have in your head.

Speaking of - listen to tuba players. Get an idea of what it is supposed to sound like. Recordings and live.

Concrete Advice

Get a teacher.

[gocsick]

Engineer here: find a teacher who actually plays the tuba.

Shouldn't that be, find an engineer who plays the tuba to teach you.

According to some students... My PhD in engineering means that I think at too high of a level to actual be able to teach. By that logic.. being a barely passable tuba player makes me the ideal tuba instructor.

[Pauvog1]

Really could use a teacher, and really need to just play a lot at this point. I wouldn't worry about the tuner until you can play at least an octave or so with a decent sound. Get a Rubanks elementary and intermediate book to get started and just play. I'd only use a tuner if you need it to see if you are playing the right pitch, not intonation (yet).

If you can't find a good local teacher (start with local pros and/or a local college music program), try to seek a good band director (like a really good middle school / beginning band) person to help you get started.

Right now stability and tone are more important than intonation.

[Mary Ann]

Since the question was asked, and since bloke knows I can't let the opportunity go --

You don't play the tuba with your lips, which is what I suspect you are trying to do, with a smidgen of air. Nope, you play the tuba with air, and what you "do with your lips" is make a shape to push humongous amounts of air through. Someone really does need to show you this, because chances are pretty slim that you will get there without having it shown to you. There are people who can get the concepts across pretty quickly, and you should go find one and have that person show you. All else is, heh, lip service.

[peterbas]

Engineer here: find a teacher who actually plays the tuba.

Shouldn't that be, find an engineer who plays the tuba to teach you.

According to some students... My PhD in engineering means that I think at too high of a level to actual be able to teach. By that logic.. being a barely passable tuba player makes me the ideal tuba instructor.

Learning and teaching are indeed two different skills, but that doesn't mean that there are any people that can do both. At every Uni you can find some.
You can at least tell what is going wrong, the right way.

[Mark]

Where are you located?