Tuba Tuning Slides

Video Transcript

"Okay the next thing I'm going to show you are what's called the "tuning slides". This is how we tune the instrument, and there is a slide here corresponding to each of my valves, there's one here, there's one here, there's one here, and there's another one here. Now when we blow into this instrument this air travels all the way around and then comes out this part, which is called the "bell". So, if I bring out the tuning slide, for example, of this first valve, that is creating more distance for the sound to travel and that will make the sound go, as we call it "flatter" or lower in pitch, than if I were to bring it back down this way and then it rises in pitch and we call that "sharper". Interestingly enough, if I don't press down the valve when I use the tuning slide, I pop air through the instrument. It is recommended for a brass player to always keep your valve down when you're dealing with your tuning slides because the prolonged air overtime just simply isn't very good for the instrument, so that's one nice thing to know when you play brass. Did I forget anything about tuning slides? There's a valve over there, what does that do? There is a valve on this, what's called the fourth valve here, this is another valve called a "water valve". When we play brass instruments, we build up a lot of condensation and spit, yes and spit, out of this instrument. This one builds up an awful lot. So, technically, and one interesting thing about my tuba which I don't think is the same for others, technically if you have spit you just take this valve and shake the tuba and the spit comes out. However, my tuba is more like a French Horn, an instrument we'll talk about later, and with a French Horn you actually need to twirl the instrument around like this, and then the condensation will travel through, and then, if there's any in here, there goes some but I didn't have a lot. But my valve really doesn't function that much as a spit valve. I need to twirl my horn around like a French Horn to get the spit out. If I don't, when I'm playing, I start to get a built in drum, it sounds like a gurgle, like someone gargling a little bit which is what the instrument is doing with the moisture that's built up in it. It's gargling, gargling away, which is not very good sounding. No, it's not. So that's the nature of my tuning slides and my spit valve, which really doesn't function this morning. Spit valve kids!"