Posted by Jay Bertolet on June 04, 1999 at 09:59:46:
In Reply to: "German" tubas and mouthpiece issues posted by Jeffrey Chronister on June 04, 1999 at 02:03:34:
I think you're right on the mark with your assessments. Don't try to force a square peg into a round hole! I play on a Rudolf Meinl 4/4 RM-10 CC and it has a very specific sound. When I want those "Rubenesque" sounds you mention, I pick up my Cervany 601 CC. Even though these are both european made instruments, all you have to do is look at them to see that they are constructed with completely different concepts and that they sound nothing alike. I believe (speaking of home grown acoustical theories) that the most noticable design difference between the two types of sounds is the size of the bottom bow of the instrument. The characteristic design associated with the York style of sound is the huge dimensions of the bottom bow. When Hirsbrunner started making their "Yorkbrunner" copy, they had to hammer out the bottom bows by hand because they didn't have a machine to stamp them out that could make them large enough. My experience has been that all the instruments that sound like the typical "Rubenesque" sound have this oversized bottom bow. What I find really interesting is the large variation of bore sizes associated with this style of instrument. Many of these tubas have bores in the mid to upper .700's, usually .750 or .768 but they can range as high as .835, like my Cervany. I guess it shows how little the bore can be an indicator of the sound quality but I'd like to know what people think the change in bore size does mean to the tuba, be it response or intonation or some other consideration. Maybe that would be the next big thing, to make a leadpipe that is adjustable just like an adjustable cup mouthpiece.
In any event, I think trying to make your Meinl-Weston sound like another style of tuba is a bad idea. I always try to teach my students to think "characteristic" when assessing what they sound like. Hopefully this leads to the realization that making the equipment sound like it was designed to sound would help to maximize the benefits of a given tuba. Then you can make an honest determination as to whether or not that particular sound is what you want to sound like. Not to be disrespectful of others who believe differently, I never bought into the idea of carrying around a briefcase full of mouthpiece parts which I would selectively assemble and use on one tuba to get various different tone colors in different situations. I put a much higher priotity on consistency. And I believe that utilizing a given tuba in the manner in which it was designed gives an ease of execution that most players I know are looking for.