genuine kaiser tuba resonance

[bloke]

https://www.facebook.com/reel/116191363 ... 7S9Ucbxw6v

This is a fine Greek tuba player who is also a composer. His biography gives the history of his experiences performing in German orchestras, and he currently performs with an orchestra in Berlin.

https://vikentios-tuba.com/

I thought some of you might be interested in hearing the characteristic resonance - close up and personal - of an authentic German kaiser tuba, and how it differs from the wide-belled York style tubas that so many of us Americans are familiar with and/or own ourselves.

To be clear, my own tuba is a hybrid, and doesn't feature a bell of this shape. Mine has features of a kaiser all the way up to the bell, and then features a 6/4 York shaped bell, so mine doesn't offer this much "edge" unless my own playing is "over the top". A kaiser (as heard) offers this type of resonance at a normal fortissimo. To my ears, it blends with very loud trombones, and it also allows the tuba to be heard more clearly and easily in the orchestra at loud volume levels as it throws out more overtones as aural clues for the patrons and other musicians alike. These are not "the tuba should be felt and not heard" tubas. These are heard tubas.

A far more commonly found model in the United states, the Meinl-Weston 25, is sort of a scaled-down kaiser. It offers the same type of resonance but just isn't quite as big an instrument.

[Oedipoes]

He's an amazing tuba player!
Do check out his etude books https://vikentios-tuba.com/product-cate ... ude-books/
You can find some example etudes here: https://www.youtube.com/@VikentiosGionanidis/videos

[tubatodd]

@bloke I believe this is on topic. Check out Florian Hatzelmann with the Zurich Opera. He is crazy good. He plays what looks like Kaiser tuba. Wonderful tone and technique that is flawless.

[cktuba]

Being an owner of both a cerveny 601 with a 20 inch Bell and an Eastman 534 with a 20 inch bell, I could probably put together a pretty interesting comparison video

[cktuba]

Here's Paul Halwax blowing the audience back about 20ft. Incredible sound.

[bloke]

The jazz-man is a hoss, and that's a great example of the way that a kaiser sounds at "regular forte" (even though the notes are flying by at a very high velocity).

I'm not taking anything away from the Vienna player. He does have these advantages:
He's playing in the very range (B-flat tuba) where it's the very easiest to play very "brassy"...
C (C#, D) and down to B-flat and A-flat (etc.)
Also, he is able to recharge after every two or three pitches are played (which indicates that Wagner understood the fairly newly devised contrabass tuba)...

...and yes: That's how a kaiser sounds with gas pedal to the floor.

I offer this "trick" to anyone who owns a C tuba or a B-flat tuba:
If you need for your "open" C or B-flat to sound like that - and additionally have the advantage of five valves - play your "open" C or B-flat with 5-1-3, and pull out the first slide just a bit. 5-4 is fine, but sometimes the #4 circuit is too long (ie. flat) for that combination and so many tubas are built with a larger bore in the 4th circuit. Thus, it's most effective (in my experience) with 5-1-3, rather than 5-4.

Tchaik 6, mvt. 1 (C tuba players)...
Here's a textbook example:

Play this C with 5-1-3 (immediately after the bassoon fades away), you'll be heard over the timpani, and the patrons will either wake up, pee in their pants, or both...and the music director (unless some wussy) will LOVE it.



The last time I did that, a high-performance/race car mechanic friend was in the audience (always revving up large engines to high rpm's, etc...) He told me - afterward - that it scared him.