boston_crusaders135 Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 I play tuba in my school band, but wish I was playing contra. It just looks a lot more fun, and a lot more like the trumpet, which I previously played before switching. Anyway, i wanted to know in your opinion which you think is best and why, just out of curiosity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 None is "best." It's simply the right tool for the job. If I'm sitting down in band or orchestra or a quintet I'm certainly not going to play a contra, and if I'm laying down basslines all night with my band I sure as hell won't do it on an upright tuba. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G_Bass Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 I'm just not a fan of Sousaphones anymore. If I had my way with a high school band, they'd be playing Contra-style tubas. But in a perfect world, I'd form that group into a corps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow_7 Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 Each has their place. The Contra is nice in that it sits on your shoulder, so if you're doing a stand up gig, you're not holding it like you're moving some furniture AND playing. But for marching, it's not all that great as you're blind on one side. The Sousaphone can be used in many settings. The Conn 20K is supposedly a nice one. Play Tuba and hold your music with the other hand. Standing up, or sitting down it's fairly easy to handle. Not so much when going through doorways. And it's forward projection tends to over balance many ensembles. The concert horn is good in that it's not too loud. And has good intonation relative to many of the other options. Throw in some bad chairs and poorly planned page turns and it's not so nice. But generally expected for most formal type gigs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosski47 Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 A Suessaphone? You mean this thing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-90 Freak Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 I play all three at some point during the school year. I like playing contra style tubas for marching band, cause it's fun to cloths line people when they're not paying attention while marching. The rule is, move, or the tuba player can and will hit you. You hit the tuba player and leave a dent, you run 2 laps. I have to love my directors sometimes. I play concert tuba for symphonic band, I love playing in there, but sometimes we have really band choice of songs we're playing. I also play sousaphone for pep band. It's fun sometimes, but then you have those idiots that like to touch your horn, lick it, spit on it at games, hit it while you're playing. Lets put it this way, my section wont hesitate to beat the crap out of them. We've did it before. Stuff like that really angers me though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s3si1u Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 i wanna play a contra D= we play sousaphones at our school, they're old, crappy, but a couple still manage to sound somewhat decent our concert tubas are the same, but they still sound okay we're lacking tuba players AND instruments in our band, we could use at least 3 more of each, lol i know i could convince a couple people to switch if we got contras, enough of them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s3si1u Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 A Suessaphone?You mean this thing? HAHAHA, nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidp Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 (edited) A Suessaphone?You mean this thing? Wasn't that called a "Flambadangfloozle" or something? Edited January 22, 2008 by davidp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contreuph Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 I personally love the Contra, but when I'm feeling lazy the Tuba is the best. I hate sousaphones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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