And as for your suggestion that we meet up since we’re both in Ohio, I’m going to pass on that. I’ve had quite a few people in the community warn me, very plainly, to keep my distance from you.



Sometimes writing doesn’t communicate messages as fully intended as verbal. Glad to know people ...

JC,

If you actually read my post, you would realize that I was giving my experiences, discussions and research I have had on the topic, mentioning my strong background with buzzing, why I pulled away, and even taught it for a while when I did.

Buzzing is a controversial opinion in the brass ...

JC,

Not sure who you are, but I think you missed the concept of my post and didn’t read to the end, where I specifically said “ It doesn't matter what others do if they are able to produce quality results”.

I also think you didn’t read especially when I mentioned Jan Kagarice, who is the ...

I used to be a HUGE buzzer, and now I don't buzz nor teach it.

My best friend was diagnosed with focal dystonia, and after not getting any better, he went to Jan Kagarice, who is a world renown expert on it and has help top level musicians recover. Some of those names that have been open about it ...

That’s great to hear, and the backstory definitely puts the recording into perspective. I have to admit though, when I first heard it I thought you and the horn sounded pretty rough! Knowing it had a huge dent, cobwebs in the bell, and hadn’t even been gone through yet makes a lot more sense ...

bloke wrote: Mon Sep 07, 2026 1:58 pm Is the 623 supposed to be inspired by the taller 4/4 York?

Could be.

Pay no attention to DP he’s a clown.

Thank you for sharing the covers. Yes that is a 186 on the Hindemith lp. I stand corrected about him not playing on a Miraphone 186.

I’d imagine Charles Villarrubia would know more about this than most people here. I don’t recall Sam ever owning a 186, although he did own a few Bill Bell models over the years and recorded the Russian Empire album on a Rudy Meinl 3/4 CC tuba.

When he was at Tanglewood with Ellis Wean in the early ...

I played the Conn once after a lesson with Deck, when it still had the original valve section and the unusually large leadpipe. My immediate impression was that the tuba felt like it had been built for someone extremely tall with a large chest and a huge air capacity. The amount of sound that ...

That the measurable dimensions could vary some, is no great surprise. But the design spec that I've read the most about is the rim. How rounded, how sharp the bite. Paul Sidey's SSH was as I recall modeled after the flattest rim, which was from fairly early in the era but don't recall exactly ...

I began playing the tuba as a young student in 1952. By that time, Conn had already discontinued its famous Artist Series mouthpieces, which had included the Helleberg models, sometime around the mid-1930s. Fortunately, my father had acquired several of those earlier Conn Helleberg mouthpieces ...

I always stood by the greatest Alexander sound I’ve heard was Dave Kirk in the Houston symphony. Chester Schmitz and I were colleagues and for the longest of time I admired his Alex playing in Boston. I heard a young Dave Kirk in the 80-90s playing a 163 and I still haven’t heard anything like that ...

I thought this could make for an interesting discussion.

What’s a piece of tuba advice, teaching, or conventional wisdom that you believed for years, but eventually changed your mind about?

It could be anything: breathing, mouthpieces, buzzing, equipment, articulation, practice habits, sound ...

Bowling Green State University... The Falcons with be marching 600 this year . Over a 6x increase since 2022

https://www.bgsu.edu/news/online-media-newsroom/2026/08/bgsu-falcon-marching-band-becomes-americas-largest-college-marching-band-at-600-members-for-2026-27-season.html

That seems absurd ...

"Parts" and components are two different things. A tuning slide is a part. A crook and four slide legs are components, until someone assembles them into a part.



Assuming you're joking with this. :eyes:


That’s mostly semantics


Words mean things. Just like your assertion that ...

So, no, the loophole isn’t simply “import the JinBao in pieces and assemble it here.” The actual government document pretty clearly anticipated parts as well as complete instruments.


"Parts" and components are two different things. A tuning slide is a part. A crook and four slide legs are ...

It's my understanding that the proposed tariffs would only affect finished instruments, not parts. If some bright spark wanted to make a fortune, they'd import components from JinBao (or a bunch of other Asian factories; they're happy to sell 'em to you!), and assemble them here. Of course, you'd ...

A lot of the posts going around about this wildly misleading.

August 27 is NOT the date some new 25% “tuba tariff” automatically goes into effect. August 27 is the deadline for public comments on the proposal. That is a huge difference.

The federal notice literally says brass instruments and parts ...

In 1963, my college band director, Robert Reynolds, gave me some incredible advice that helped me finally get a handle on reading music despite dyslexia and several other challenges.

He told me to find an old hymnal, read one hymn a day, and transpose it into a different key. I started in C and ...

I remember this F when Ivan bought it. I think he moved on to another 6V Alexander lacquer F tuba that he used for his entire career. My only concern about this one is the venting of the valves. However the custom work looks pretty good.