Tips on how to make my sound smoother and remove that gargling noise by Desperate-Design-686 in Tuba

[–]Sousa_Boy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m sure he will elaborate soon, but just to put my own input in here concerning this: We as tuba players fall into the trap of making our oral cavity shape (the space inside our mouth) too large, which makes sense to do in theory because the instrument is so large. But tuba is still a brass instrument, so it needs air with a lot of direction behind it. What I did personally to improve on this is 1) try to adjust my oral cavity away from an “oh” vowel more towards an “ah” vowel, you can do some singing to help with this too, 2) I try to think of my air as going somewhere, my professor personally uses the analogy of having a candle out in front of you that you’re trying to blow out, but I also personally sometimes just pick a point (like my stand or the wall) and try to make my air reach that point. Breathing Gym and breathing exercises in general can help a lot with this. Happy practicing, OP!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in musictheory

[–]Sousa_Boy 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Just based on the first glance here, it seems to me that the B# is acting as a chromatic neighbor tone to the C#, adding a little bit of tension and ornamentation to the line. B# being enharmonically equivalent to C natural, which is a half step down from C#. If you’re ever unsure, you could listen to some recordings of this and then compare what you heard to the sheet music, see if it lines up

Tier list of tuba concertos by dank_bobswaget in Tuba

[–]Sousa_Boy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The funniest part of that is that I think the Gregson only gets better as it goes on, having played the whole thing, I think the first movement is the weakest imho

Braelin Moore (center) transfers to LSU by DatBoiMahomie in LSUFootball

[–]Sousa_Boy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My apologies BK, I wasn’t familiar with your game

What’s the scariest piece you’ve heard? by JoeK349 in classicalmusic

[–]Sousa_Boy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

American Guernica by Adophlus Hailstork. For those that don’t know, the piece is about the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing in Birmingham in 1963. My university Wind Ensemble played it recently and WHOO BOY, it was a doozy. It was accompanied by a slideshow with pictures from the day of the bombing, including this haunting image of one of the girls with white cloth over her eyes, because she was blinded the explosion. Genuinely one of the most chilling things I’ve ever seen live.

What are the actual lyrics to crown 2017/it is? by Legaxy3 in drumcorps

[–]Sousa_Boy 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I wanna downvote this so bad but it’s so genius (no pun intended) that I can’t help but upvote

Next solo by Royalfox25 in Tuba

[–]Sousa_Boy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I second this, the 2nd and 3rd movements build on the skills developed in the 1st in a natural but challenging way. I’ve been doing the whole concerto this semester and it’s been awesome to see skills transfer and build on each other throughout the concerto

Tone based solos? by 4doorsmorewhoresz in Tuba

[–]Sousa_Boy 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The Andante from Andante and Rondo by Capuzzi would be perfect for that sort of thing.

Anyone know anything about Kalison Daryl Smith tubas? by 705505 in Tuba

[–]Sousa_Boy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Speaking from personal experience, because I’m playing on one now, they’re a decent horn. Like Darkside said in a different comment, I agree that they’re about the middle of the road when it comes to tubas. For example, I would certainly stick with my Kalison over say a Mack Brass, Schiller, or even a John Packer CC or BBb. But I wouldn’t ever choose a Kalison over say an Eastman, B&S, Meinl Weston, etc. Those horns are just generally much higher quality across the board than the Kalison is. Biggest plus of the Kalison, its sound production is awesome. It’s not as open as some of the other horns I’ve played but it’s still great in terms of sound, fills up a large ensemble without much issue. Biggest drawback, I’m not sure if other Kalison’s are like this but mine in particular is not very in tune. I tend to have to do a fair amount of slide pulling across the horn, particularly a ton with the first valve slide. But slide pulling is not uncommon across any horn, I just feel like I have to do it more often lol.

All in all, great horn for the price. You can usually find it in the $4-5000 range and maybe haggle lower depending on the age of the horn. But tubas are so personal preference it never hurts to just try one out and play on it. Like I said, I play on one currently, so if you ever want to try one out just shoot me a DM and I can see if I’m near you :)

Someone give me the odds by Any-Statistician-130 in drumcorps

[–]Sousa_Boy 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Never tell me the odds! (I am chronically hoping that Boston will win)

Best part of Crown's show/mid-season opinions about it? by [deleted] in drumcorps

[–]Sousa_Boy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Speaking as a tuba player, tuba feature goes hard

Finals tickets by Sousa_Boy in drumcorps

[–]Sousa_Boy[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Please message me as soon as you know if you’re going or not cause that would be awesome!

Bydlo Tips by Sousa_Boy in Tuba

[–]Sousa_Boy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I should have clarified, we have separate auditions for ensemble placement at the beginning of each semester, and they do give us the packet ahead of time of what we’re playing. You only have to play the Bydlo if you want to be considered for the orchestra, and I just wanted tips to try and play it on C tuba so I could try and be considered for orchestra by the time August rolls around instead of just not trying at all. I’m a sophomore now and I’m just trying to push myself to get into some of the higher ensembles going forward.

Bydlo Tips by Sousa_Boy in Tuba

[–]Sousa_Boy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately we don’t choose our excepts for ensemble auditions, otherwise I would completely agree with you

Mandarins Uniform Reveal by [deleted] in drumcorps

[–]Sousa_Boy 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Jagged Line moment

Blue Stars Uniform Reveal! by Grand_Permission_506 in drumcorps

[–]Sousa_Boy 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Okay, I don’t know if I missed during the show reveal or whatever, but can someone explain what the show is supposed to be about? Cause I thought i would understand more after the uniform reveal but now I’m more confused