Posted by Doug Whitten on April 10, 2002 at 15:12:02:
In Reply to: Intonation... posted by Out of tune on April 09, 2002 at 18:16:48:
In my experience, the mouthpiece can have some affect on the intonation, but it is generally subtle. If you are playing on a very large mouthpiece you may have a tendency to play flat if you have not developed the musculature. I must restate, the mouthpice does affect pitch, but not by a whole lot.
On many CC tubas the Eb must be played 23, and the G can be played 13 or 4. On my F tuba I can get better intonation using alternate fingering but the sound is a little different. For example, 4th space G is flat using 1st valve. 4th valve puts it right in tune but it sounds "stuffy." So I must decide wheter to adjust with my lips or alternate fingerings withing the context of what I am playing. For me, there is not just one way to adjust the out of tune notes.