Posted by Dave on December 26, 2002 at 02:26:35:
I have a sort of creeping miasma in my euph tone. Everything is fine down to low F, then it starts to sound like a diesel engine. It is getting worse, even though I put in an hour or more a day on euph, with about 20 min. of low-register whole tones and slurs down into the pedal range. It almost sounds like the lip is vibrating an octave below the pitch it is playing, or there is a component of the overtone structure that does not belong.
I started tuba about six months ago, and I practice about 1 to 2 hours on tuba every day also. I never had any problem with low register euph tone in 40 years of playing, so I suspect the tuba playing is the cause of the problem. Although the euph tone is bad, my ability to nail low notes on the euph down in the range from F to pedal Bb has never been better, and my tuba tone is getting better steadily.
One thing I notice is that my lips seem to be turned out more, possibly due to more flesh in the lips as a result of playing tuba.
So, I'm curious if anyone else has seen a similar problem, and whether this is temporary. I'm hoping that as my tuba embouchure builds, the problem will go away, and that this problem results from the combination of having a relatively weak tuba embouchure with a strong euph embouchure.
Thoughts or suggestions??