Posted by Tony E on February 09, 2003 at 03:08:46:
In Reply to: Bigger is better posted by Rick Denney on February 07, 2003 at 17:39:47:
Rick,
Sounds like you’re on your way to making this Holton your own horn. These instruments invoke a very personal feeling. I find myself trying to explain to people why I would consider a full refinishing even though I would never get the money back out of it, and it wouldn’t make it sound any better. When I say ”because the horn deserves it”, they just look at me with that deer in the headlights look. But you know exactly what I’m talking about.
We’ve had some correspondence about mouthpieces with the 345, and I see you mention it again here. I was thumbing through Song and Wind recently, and page 165 really hit me. Here, he helps me become comfortable with my experience to date, which is that this tuba is best exploited not with one mouthpiece, but perhaps several:
“I own fourteen tubas and forty different mouthpieces. Within our trombone section and in our hall we have quite a large range of dynamics, so my choice of instrument and mouthpiece are equated together. It is based on whether I need a certain strength in the fundamental of the tone. If I use a mouthpiece that makes a horn too bright, then the trombones intrude into the overtones, I am not left with anything – I tend to disappear. So I have to find a mouthpiece that brings out the fundamental and lessens the overtones a little bit. Otherwise the balance of the section would be lost.”
“There are certain established rules such as a very large tuba played with a very large mouthpiece is going to have a very strong fundamental in the tone and rather weak overtones, a phenomenon that can be measured by electronic analysis.”
“If we have the same situation of a very large tuba, and the player is put into a situation where he needs to lighten the tone, this could be done very easily by using a shallow cup mouthpiece. If he has to do a solo or play some very sprightly music where actually too much weight in the tone would be in the way, the smaller cup mouthpiece would dramatically alter the quality of tone coming out of the tuba. If the player played with somewhat the same embouchure and with the same tuba, the introduction of a shallower cup will immediately enhance the overtones and decrease the amount of fundamental in the tone. I use this procedure a great deal myself when I am playing with a large tuba, one that would be very adequate for a Prokofieff Symphony and the Ring operas of Wagner, but if I have to go on the stage with that tuba to play a French work, Berlioz or something very spirited and light, I immediately will switch to a shallower cup mouthpiece and the difference in the quality of tone is amazing. We are simulating the change to smaller equipment, even though we are still using the same tuba, we very definitely have an altered quality due to the mouthpiece.”
“As soon as I would use the smaller cup mouthpiece, I would gain tremendous projection to the audience because of the increased overtone content and weakened fundamental, but it would be much more recognizable because I would be the soloist. I would not be fighting all sorts of sounds intruding in my overtones. The weakened fundamental would be of no disadvantage and the enhanced overtones would give much more soloistic character to the tone.”
If I’m not mistaken, Mr. Jacobs has just told us how best to be heard with a large tuba, depending on whether we are playing together with a section, or in a solo setting.
His observation that playing together with the trombone section intrudes or obstructs his sound if it is rich in overtones is an observation which I found applies directly to Tuba Quartet as well. Until very recently I had been playing a Laskey 28H in the quartet in order to have as much control and response as possible. This is a smaller Helleburg style mouthpiece. I played the much larger by comparison Dillon/Sheridan PS02, this past week with the quartet. In comparison to the 28H, the 02 is not nearly as lively in color, and almost seems flat if played back to back. But, wouldn’t you know…there was no doubt that the larger, deeper 02 was a superior match with the euphoniums and 1st tuba! The euphoniums were definitely canceling out the overtones being produced when using the smaller cup 28H, leaving much less to be heard. I suspect I will find the same this week at Brass Band, where I have also been playing the 28H. Interesting that Pat Sheridan, who solos on a fairly small mouthpiece, uses the PS01 when playing in a brass band/brass section, a mouthpiece that is even deeper than the 02.
So, perhaps you may find yourself talking to Doug Elliot about two mouthpieces, not one.
Tony E