Posted by Heter on May 24, 2003 at 21:43:41:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Straps and Marching posted by AW on May 18, 2003 at 17:54:33:
I've seen a lot of guys get into chops problems, and bizarre breath support issues trying to play, on an extended basis, a tuba on the march instead of a sousaphone. The sousaphone offers the advantage of not constricting your diaphramic breath support, balance in holding the horn (fatigue of fighting with an unbalanced tuba while trying to make music at same time is quite real) - the quid pro quo, of course, is most sousaphones are raspy sounding, and the bell-front distorts the sound. The vibes dont curve around through the bell - they bang off the back of the bell curve, hence the distortion. Sequential mouthpiece ("tuning") bits would help a lot. Martin had them years ago, making for a smoother typs of "leadpipe", which mellowed out the sound a lot.
If you march or stroll a lot, get a sousaphone - its what they're for.
MH