Posted by Benjamin Schardt on January 28, 2001 at 13:00:14:
In Reply to: Is it the tuba or the player? posted by Jay Bertolet on January 28, 2001 at 11:42:32:
The horn obviously doesn't make the player, but it can limit the player. When I first started playing tuba late in high school, I began private lessons right off the bat, with my own horn belonging to my instructor. That horn was the Alexander BBb I still use today. However, for my first year or so of lessons, I truly prefered the small, 3 piston Yamahas we had at school; they were easy to blow and required much more air, and I honestly liked playing them more. I went back to play with the pep band last year and didn't bring my Alex, and I just detested playing on that 3 valve little horn.
My point? You can only go so far and do so much on any one horn. If I were to play a huge York this afternoon in the practice room, I probably wouldn't like it. It would probably be the same story with the MW 2165, Mel C. VMI or any of those other huge horns that many people rave about. It would take me some time to get used to these larger horns and be able to play them well. After I became accustomed to them, I'm sure I would have a much different and possibly better sound than before, using more air, etc... You probably see what I'm getting at, even though I'm rambling. Didn't have much sleep. Oh, well.