# Wagner Tuba



## drpraetorus

Does anyone have any experience playing a Wagner tuba? I play horn but have never had a chance to play a WT. How do the two compare as far as intonation, playing position etc.


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## Lunasong

Try these links for info, but sorry, not a player.

http://www.public.asu.edu/~jqerics/Wagner-tuba.html

http://hornmatters.com/?s="wagner+tuba" Use the Google Custom Search box in the middle of the page (not the one on the upper left). Enter "wagner tuba" for best results.

_About the best description we came up with for the Wagner tuba is that it's what the horn would be if it had been invented by Dr. Seuss. The Wagner tuba is wonderful and strange and quirky, if not downright squirrelly. It's a horn yet not-a-horn, familiar and foreign all at once. Intonation can be an adventure on the Wagner tuba, and sometimes the instrument feels a little out of control. And then there's that crazy up-in-the-air bell, projecting the sound off into space somewhere. And it sounds really cool. Really. Really. Cool._


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## Delicious Manager

I'm not a player, but have witnessed plenty of horn players getting to grips with their first Wagner Tuba experience. The only real problem is intonation, especially in the larger F instrument. Having a wider bore, this greats a problem with horn players not used to this and the resultant difference in back pressure at the mouthpiece. Another problem is working out which of the several non-standardised pitch notations is meant in the music - Wagner alone used three different notations during the course of _The Ring_!


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## Jaws

Delicious Manager said:


> I'm not a player, but have witnessed plenty of horn players getting to grips with their first Wagner Tuba experience. The only real problem is intonation, especially in the larger F instrument. Having a wider bore, this greats a problem with horn players not used to this and the resultant difference in back pressure at the mouthpiece. Another problem is working out which of the several non-standardised pitch notations is meant in the music - Wagner alone used three different notations during the course of _The Ring_!


OK I know I am an oboist, but I used to play the horn. I have played Wager Tubas and the biggest problem I had was getting the notes to centre, this affected the tuning.


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