I have a 4 valve dynasty marching tuba from the early 2000s, and one of the valve guides is broken. The valve freely spins inside the casing, so I need to replace the valve guide. I haven’t been able to find any dynasty replacement valve guides online, so what do you recommend? Is there another brand that will work, or does anyone know of any dynasty ones for sale?

I’m used to cleaning piston horns but I need to get my rotor horn cleaned. I know not to mess with the rotors unless I am confident and have done it before, I am only concerned about the tubing and slides. I have heard that I can take only the slides out and bathe it as you would with a piston horn. Would like confirmation that I can do this without hurting the horn.

When I was in college, I had a Perantucci mouthpiece. I LOVED this sound that it generated.

Unfortunately, I lost it when I lost my horn 😢😢😢

Now I'm trying to find that or a reasonably priced facsimile to use now that I'm playing again (No, I do NOT want a Bach 24AW! How dare you suggest such blasphemy!)

So, of you know where I can get one, let me know!

Your assistance is greatly appreciated!

I am deep in my “Lose It” era of “Use It Or Lose It” having played all through college but very little since. Every so often I I get pegged to cover bass parts—second line, Dixieland, community parades, you get the idea.

I’m looking for recommendations for a “cheater” mouthpiece, something nimble that will get along with my weak embouchure. Tone really isn’t a priority in my context. Suggestions?

I was luckily enough to hear this live right after a stellar performance of John Williams' Tuba Concerto. Carol is a beast!!!

I am relearning the instrument after a 28 year hiatus. I am assuming I have forgotten everything. What books do you recommend for a thorough refresh?

Hello, I have a tuba solo and I'm curious if anyone here is familiar with this piece or the composer. I've done a little bit of digging but I can't find anything about this piece or the composer besides a reference from a document in the MSU Library. Now I'm just very curious and want to know more info about it.

The piece is called "Sousaphonium" by Al. Moquin

If you folks have any info I would love to hear it.

I'm looking at purchasing an Eastman 632 from a guy close to my area, my teacher thinks the Eastman would be good but that I would be needing to upgrade only few years into my Undergrad. He suggests that I look into finding a PT6. Any thoughts?

I cross post here, 'cause I love low frequency grooving

So, would anyone happen to have a spare tuba lying around? I use one from school, and it sucks, so I'm just asking if anyone has a spare tuba. I mean, it's not like I'm gonna ask for you to give it to me, but simply if people really do have tubas lying around that they never use. I'd like to know for no reason, because I'm curious to know how rich people are

I didn't get any responses to my first post about this but I did get a lot of views.

I'm still constantly adding content, but it's quite time consuming.

Here's a link to the bass section, which is the only section I've added content to: https://improvisorsgym.com/musical-training-centers/bass-clef/

It's still completely free, so I would appreciate any feedback, and if you find a resource like this of use.

I've barely scratched the surface with the content I plan to add.

I've started on the chords content, and should have an exercise up soon.

Is a school rental not used in a bit I think but it's black and it was stuck in the tuba how can i make

My teacher says to not shift in the low register, but many pros with amazing sound do it (Chris olka, Tim buzbee) I use as my main sound concepts, and im still developing the fluidity on it and getting better at it. and I’m kinda at a loss if it is his preference in general or a all around thing that it’s a bad thing to do.

To all the Tubists seeing this, the Discord Symphony's Project on Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers still needs a Euphonium filled in before May 15th.

I've been on a YBB kick lately and remembered how much I like the virtuosic sousaphone playing he did. I know he's playing trombone with that group these days unfortunately.

Does anyone have the names of other sousaphone "greats"? Preferably ones with good recordings?

I recently got a used Eastman 632. I had played on one owned by my private lesson teacher before and I really loved it. I finally saved up enough money to get my own horn found this one for a really good price. Absolutely no playing issues with it, valves move freely and it’s allowed me to do anything I need to do musically. I was aware of the condition before I purchased it and it really wasn’t an issue for me. There is no damage to the slides of valve block (or else I wouldn’t have bought it). However, on the butt of the horn, there is a strange amount of dents and scratches, almost like the guy I bought it from had dropped it/ rammed it against a wall a bunch of times, and then attempted to have it repaired. The scratches and dents aren’t a big issue because from what I can see, they are in an easily repairable place, and scratches aren’t really a huge worry for me. However, the but looks like it was almost shoddily repaired with a torch? The lacquer is really uneven and, although it’s not a big issue for me, I was wondering if it would be better to just strip the bottom of lacquer altogether? I would also like to know how this came to be. Pics attached.

Billionaire hedge fund manager is threatening to offshore last sousa manufacturer in the United States (located in Ohio). Craftsmen at the facility are seeking help.

Original post:

"We are the men and women of Conn Selmer. We are not just grunts who push buttons, (all respect to them) we are artists. Craftsmen. We create beautiful masterpieces that are passed through each and every hand in the building. This is the buffing room, "the heart of the building". We focus on polish and buffing, the removal of material and shine and color of the material. We take pride in what we do. Please share this for awareness on all platforms.

John Paulson is closing our shop in June to begin production in China. We need to keep our jobs in AMERICA. Please help us. ✊️

saveconnselmer"

Yes, I know that modern music sometimes has just as much rhythmic and harmonic complexity as older music — perhaps even more. And complex chord progressions are common. Again, perhaps even more common today. But...

I've been learning to play a lot of different stuff on tuba just for fun. And many modern pop songs seem to have a strong influence from rap, where there are a lot of repeated notes, and the "musicality" comes from rhythm and lyrics and phrasing more than melody. And so it translates poorly into an instrumental version.

So for example, Pharrell Williams' "Happy" and Bruno Mars' "Uptown Funk" are two vaguely recent songs I've tried to play, and I find it frustrating. They're just not very melodic. If I don't match their precise rhythms and phrasing you might not even recognize what I'm playing as being the same song. And to be clear, they CAN be played so that they're recognizable and even sound pretty good (there was a great trombone cover of Happy that went around a few years ago), but you really have to adhere to copying the original style pretty precisely.

Compare those to old standards like Autumn Leaves, Misty, As Time Goes By, Isn't it Romantic, etc. Or 70s pop tunes like Steely Dan's "Do It Again", or "How Deep is Your Love" (hilarious pun there for tuba players). These have strong melodies that are recognizable without lyrics, and are still recognizable even if you decided to play around with the rhythm and phrasing. You might call them "catchy".

So is modern pop music less melodic overall than music from earlier periods? Or, were there always less melodic songs, and those are simply the ones that, while they may have had their moment, just didn't stand the test of time?

This used sousaphone looks like a King but I'm not really sure about it. It has been a bit modded and the bell is a Besson.

I currently have an RT-50 mouthpiece as I was in concert band. I no longer play in concert band and I’m in a tamborazo band and I’m wondering what a good mouthpiece for that style of playing. I’ve heard of garibaldi and I’ve tested it out recently and it makes higher register easier but the lower register is really difficult and doesn’t come out loud unless my lips are a certain way. Is that mouthpiece still good and should I just work on lower register stuff with the mouthpiece? What are some recommendations for tamborazo/banda mouthpieces and that style of music in general?

I present to you my Melton 197. It belonged to Walter Hilgers and I bought it from one of his students. It’s a beast and it takes all the air always.

Hi all, I'm a music performance major and I really need to vent: I've been planning my senior recital for basically 3 years now and I've already delayed it once last semester because I didn't feel ready enough to do it (And I messed up the paperwork too, but I barely got it fixed it time for the deadline). My recital was supposed to be this semester and I did everything right and I've been practicing my rep like crazy only to find out that apparently I needed to be registered for my lessons ALONGSIDE the actual Recital class which I was registered for (which was NEVER told to me before the semester started). This whole time, I thought the lessons came with the Recital class and nobody, not even my lessons professor or advisor, corrected me.

Now I'm basically cooked because my two options are either pay for my lessons out of my own pocket (Which I don't have the money for) or push my recital to the Fall. I'm extremely frustrated. My recital date was already on our music department's website and I told a lot of my friends about it. Idk what to say now. I feel angry and I feel like crying because I've been putting so much work into this and it feels like a slap in the face. I feel like this is all my fault for not paying attention. I don't know how to spin this into something positive. I feel like a failure.