Posted by The lower 3 waterkeys.... on January 11, 2004 at 19:47:09:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Gronitz PCK candids posted by pic #4 on January 10, 2004 at 22:15:24:
...look very original with their long lever arms, which definitely have a German look to them.
The 2 ones sitting on the sharp bends of the 3rd and 4th valve tubing probably are the ones which have been added. Their placements are very logical seen in the light of the law of gravity, but somehow makers tend to avoid such placements, where water is guaranteed to collect.
For a long time I thought the long lever arms on the water keys on German rotary trumpets were just a matter of a builders tradition. My GDR-era Meister K. Wolfram rotary trumpet has such a long lever arm. Of course it was convenient to be able to open the water valve with the right pinkie without having to shift the hand from the playing position. But I still thought it was just a matter of a craftsmen's tradition.
Only much later I learned, that the hole in the tubing is placed on an acoustically significant place. Opening the water key while playing certain high notes will stabilise those notes. (I don't play that high anyway).
I see a big potential for improving tuba designs acoustically by the addition of several "water keys" all along the almost full length of the tubing. Of course such keys cannot be manipulated by the player's hands during actual playing (valves and slides also have to be manipulated).
So these "water keys" will have to be manipulated electromagnetically via a guitar style pedal rack, or even better, via an organ style pedal keyboard.
Insiders' rumours have it that such a tuba already has been ordered for the recording of the soundtrack for a planned Hollywood sci-fi thriller. The name of that potential block-buster is said to be " The return of the Ophicleides".
K