Welcome to my new blog!
I thought I'd begin with a bit of a tuba nerd post. I promise it won't always be so tuba-centric, as there are many much more interesting things going on around me than tubas. But I thought some people might find it interesting to see the instruments on which I do the majority of my performing.
I've never been much of a gear-obsessed person to be honest. I only own two instruments, and 99% of the time use the same model mouthpiece on both. But, having said that, I realise that over the years I've owned quite a few interesting tubas.
I began studying on a small Yamaha Eb tuba, a YEB-321, which would actually have been built just up the road from where I now live. I loved this instrument. It was compact, but with a warm sound, and really sang. I think it got picked on unfairly in ensembles where we were expected to conform unquestioningly to the culture of British tuba playing, i.e. you must play a Besson Sovereign BE982. And so I did. It's interesting that I now play a Yamaha again.
I did love my Besson BE982 though. It was a gift from my grandparents, upon gaining a scholarship to study as a Junior Exhibitioner at The Royal Academy of Music. It was a great instrument on which to study orchestral and chamber repertoire, as the majority of the major repertoire of orchestras and brass ensembles is relatively unproblematic on this instrument. Also, as I began to get interested in playing other types of music, I found that it was really great for playing bass lines. Where I began to have problems with it was in the area of big bands, contemporary jazz orchestras, and basically any ensembles in which I played melodies or improvised. This model of tuba was developed and popularised by the late great John Fletcher, who I feel is unsurpassed in terms of what he achieved musically on the instrument. But I think it really took a genius to be able to play it so incredibly nimbly and with such an astonishing range of tone colour. And alas, I'm certainly not a genius!
I was getting increasingly frustrated by the huge, "woofy" tone the instrument was displaying in the upper register, which was due to what I felt was a hugely over-sized bell. I was finding it hard to focus my sound, and blending with ensembles in anything other than a traditional bass role was really hard work. Luckily for me, just as I was beginning to feel discouraged, Besson began manufacturing the BE983, a front-facing EEb tuba with a much smaller bell. More of which later.
I've also owned a Conn sousaphone, an anonymous early 20th century Bohemian helicon and a 1923 Boosey & Co. F tuba, all of which had their uses and served me well in different ensembles. Upon making the move to Japan, I streamlined my increasingly ridiculous tuba collection, and now I play two tubas.
Besson BE983 EEb Tuba
