Viewing videos requires the latest version of Adobe's Flash Player.
Get the latest Flash player.
Get the latest Flash player.
Summary: Use tuning slides to tune a tuba before playing; learn how with tips from our expert tuba player and teacher in this free tuba music education video.
Views: 555 | Tags: instrument, brass, parts, tuba, tubalessons, tubamusic
About the Expert
Kevin Smith Kevin is 51 years old, and a poet and therapist as well as tubist. Kevin has played a variety of musical styles over the course of his life, as well as a vari... read more
Comments
Questions & AnswersHi everybody Kevin Smith here again, TubaLove, and I'm talking now about the tuning slides on the tuba, and their relation to the pitch of the instrument. Earlier on I when I showed the tuning slides I fairly very much described their function at that time. But I do want to reiterate it now because they're the way in the first place that you help keep the instrument in tune. And more specifically as it pertains to pitch, as you pull the tuning slides out any way like this. And as I said before whenever you pull the tuning slide out just for the betterment of your own instrument. Keep the valve that it pertains to down. As you can see the first tuning slide there. But as you pull it out you're adding tubing to the instrument. And the more tubing that there is in the instrument, the farther area that the air travels through to finally come up the bell and what that does is make the sound lower. So, you might be playing and a lot of times a way to tell if you're in tune in the first place, you can hear these kind of like really fast vibrations if you're not in tune. Take, take, take this valve, this first valve there, and put the thing all the way down. That's something sharp or high pitch and you start to pull. And again I don't, I need some grease on this little sucker so it's not pulling out as well as it should. But, I pull that. That?s about as far as it's going to come out. I could hear it getting lower. It may be subtle to some people, maybe not to others. If you had any kind of an instrument that measures the waves you could definitely tell. In various situations, and tubas are big. Heat changes them. You got to play against with different instrumentalists. You never know how far out or how far in you're really going to need it. It really is all relative. But at any rate, the farther these are out, the lower the sound. The farther in, the sharper.
Email this video to a friend
Ask A Question
