Posted by Joseph Felton on March 14, 2000 at 01:31:01:
In Reply to: last minute questions posted by Matt on March 13, 2000 at 15:33:51:
As has already been demonstrated you have entered into a very ambiguous area of tuba pedagogy. First off, I would suggest that you are probably *way* overanalyzing things and would benefit from a reasonably short break to refocus. Once back on the horn set aside any notions of right and wrong and pay attention to what is coming out of your bell. Don't judge.. just observe. Experiment.. have fun. Be spontaneous. Regain a little of what made you want to play tuba in the first place.
If I were your teacher.. once you had relaxed I would give the following advice:
Tongue placement doesn't matter as long as it is consistent. Lots of different pros say lots of different things about articulation and all of them sound great. I firmly believe that as long as you keep the placement consistent and supply a solid thick air stream for your tongue to bounce off of you are bound to sound good. If the air isn't good you have to use too heavy a tongue and things get bogged down and ugly. To get a feel for what I am talking about try blowing a pointed air stream against the back of your hand and 'bouncing' your tongue off of it. Keep things light and relaxed. Not to be a smart**s but it really is pretty simple once you clue in to where to direct your attention. Solid contiuous air collumn(this is almost always where poor articulation stems from). Light tongue.
Having said that, like everyone else, I have my own theories as to what the ideal set up is. But those sort of things change too much from person to person and day to day to feel any real attachment to.
good luck!
joseph