Posted by lucky cat on May 29, 2001 at 10:52:17:
In Reply to: F and CC in brass band posted by GC on May 29, 2001 at 06:46:52:
There was a recent thread on something similar to this...
But in my experience, no, I have never had problems. Most of the intonation / sound issues i've encountered in brass band playing have been relating to people not being able to play in tune, not horn conflicts. I've never known any serious problems to arrive from use of a non-BB-flat or e-flat tuba. Apart from the typical notes all BB-flats versus CC's will have out of tune with each other, nothing should pose that much of a problem.
Also, the sound difference is very minute. The e-flat and f will differ more in terms of tone than the BB-flat and CC... in my opinion.
I suppose there are some brass band sticklers that will insist on use of the proper keyed- horn, but to me a contrabass tuba is a contrabass tuba, and a bass tuba is a bass tuba. The biggest problem i would worry about instrumentation-wise is tenor horn players showing up with French horns!