Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: changing from BBb to a CC


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Posted by Rick Denney on December 31, 2002 at 09:06:08:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: changing from BBb to a CC posted by Chuck Jackson on December 30, 2002 at 21:42:38:

On my last visit, Joe S. was showing me a solo work that he was preparing for the big tuba concert he and others performed in before Christmas. I recall it being written in treble clef for a transposed instrument, or perhaps it was alto clef or some other horror.

The point was, Joe just played it. No fuss, no muss. He was even a bit afraid to analyze how he was managing it because it would mess him up if he knew.

This ties in with your story: There are some players whose brain has all the right musical connections in it so that dealing with such confusions comes naturally. I envy you guys. But I can't do it. My engineering brain insists on the analysis and gets in the way.

The reason guys like Steve and I are confused is because we don't have it, and we can't understand it. For us, learning a new instrument takes months of work.

I absolutely agree with your, Chuck, about learning the pitches away from the music. But I also agree with Rex about concentrating on the fundamentals just as you would if you were learning the instrument from scratch. My biggest trouble playing a C is connecting a certain sound with a certain combination of buttons. When the sound comes out (slightly) different, my brain tries to make it right. It's close enough for my brain to think there is a mistake.

With F tuba, it was never that way. It was different enough from the start to put my brain on a completely different path.

There are those moments when I can pick up a C and just play a tune out of my head. I'm getting better at this on all tubas, and I think that improvement will make switching instruments easier, too. But when I look at the music--analysis paralysis comes right back and the only solution to that seems to be to learn it the old-fashioned way.

Rick "who thinks cognitive progress works differently with different people" Denney


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