Anyone use the Tyrell method anymore?

[hbcrandy]

I even play the Arban quarter/half note exercises most every day.

Always review your basic skills when practising. I, also, play that section of the Arban book regularly to insure that my sound production and note attacks are working well.

[hbcrandy]

In my 4th year of college I was very busy playing - orchestra, wind ensemble, two bands, graduate brass quintet, etc. We got a new tuba teacher who put the Arban book in front of me and told me to play the quarter note exercises. Long story short, that is all I played for my lessons for probably a month, until he was satisfied. He taught me to REALLY practice and accept nothing short of perfection in every note.

Bravo, to your tuba teacher. As you now know, reinforcing the fundamentals of your playing, regularly, is EXTREMELY important.

[Jay Bertolet]

I can't speak for other pros but I can say that for me, the fundamentals do not come easily nor stay in place without constant attention. I try and sublimate as much of the process as I reasonably can but I still work plenty hard on basic fundamentals. For me, The Bell Scales is my preferred method. Those who know me well know that I'm really big on efficient practice, like not wasting time while working on a lot of things. The Bell routine covers a ton of ground and in really short order. I've been playing these studies since college and still play them daily.

[iiipopes]

Tyrell's OK...but (like many old-school brass etudes) they're nothing but "flats."

So is the majority of community band literature and repertoire. If I ever decide out of the clear blue I want a CC tuba and want to play with orchestras and the "wire choir," then the Kopprasch it is.

The Rubank Advanced Method gets into almost all keys, especially sharps, in Volume II. I like it for an all-round method book that touches on all aspects of playing, understanding that it won't get too deep in any one aspect. I would go so far as to say that if a player can play everything in the Rubank Advanced Method, both volumes, that there is nothing, and I mean nothing, that a community band would ever play that would be out of reach of a player who mastered the Method.

[tubaplyer]

Tyrell and Blazevich everyday

[Lee Stofer]

The Tyrell method is a great book, and one of the stables of my repertoire. No, it doesn't cover everything, which is why we have more than one book, but it remains a very useful book.

[Jay Bertolet]

The Tyrell method is a great book, and one of the stables of my repertoire. No, it doesn't cover everything, which is why we have more than one book, but it remains a very useful book.

^^^^ What he said!!!^^^^

It's true that the Tyrell doesn't cover much in the way of "sharp" keys. That's okay, the majority of the etudes in that book work on really fundamental aspects of playing and keeping them in "flat" keys, which most players are more comfortable with, allows you to focus on the real lesson material instead of fumbling with an unfamiliar key. Not to disparage anyone, but in my progression of etude books for tuba students, the Tyrell is "Book #1". I myself was studying this book in junior high school. When my students finish Tyrell, we move onto the Walter Sear Etudes book (plenty of sharp keys there) and then, ultimately, the Top Tones for the Trumpeter by Walter Smith (written in treble clef and played such that written C is the open note on the student's horn). These three books comprise my technical studies progression for tuba and, in combination with the Rochut etudes (used for concentrated musicality study), provide more material than any of my students have ever been able to complete.

[PaulMaybery]

Love the Tyrell. Very tonal and great for centering on a certain tonality or what some might call a pitch center. I like to take things slowly, a little intermittent solfege, and make sure intervals are in tune and rhythmic patterns are precise. I practice these with a tuner so as to stay close to the pitch center. I have two favorites that get me on track every day. While I pretty much know them by heart, they afford a chance to center and focus and get all the little bugs out of my chops. Then I am ready to tackle more harmonically and rhythmically diverse works, solo literature, and those exercises that stretch us. On some days I will take an hour or so and play down the entire book. Great workout. I also find a day on the Pares Scales a great refresher. I also want to emphasize mouthpiece solfege.
I also enjoy the Blazevich on the CC tuba, Kopprasch and Vasiliev on the FF. Bordogni on either and my fav on the F tuba are the Uber "Solo Etudes." Snedekor of course is great on the CC. A good 15 or 20 minutes "hammering" the low end and pedals works wonders. (Chris Olka's presentations are very disciplining and helpful) Multiphonics and altissimo routines bring a certain vibrancy or color to the sound. I try to get a clear double high C - but I would be kidding if I let you think it was a nice clean sound, but just getting close makes the rest of the high register speak so nicely. I'm not a kid anymore and at 67 I find a lot of would-be problems trying to raise their heads. "Old Man Quiver" (that nasty shake in the sound) is my demon and I need to work hard on support on long tones and holding onto the pitch center. The casual and cavalier approach of "youth" does not make it in old age. Either one plays efficiently and correctly or no one wants to listen to you.
Playing as a "Geezer" is indeed a challenge, but I encourage all my "mature" tuba friends to stay in the game and "play smart." We have so much experience to offer and we need to be in shape so we "can pull it off" and "set the mark."

[PaulMaybery]

Each of us is much different from the other, not just in physical characteristics, but also in neuro/psycho/motor/etc areas. I discovered later in life that I have an eye muscle issue that keeps my eye movement in reading from moving smoothly across the line of music or for that mater whatever I am reading.

I am also dealing with an attention/concentration/distraction issue. I suppose I could say I have ADD disabilities, but to me that would be a cop out. There are a few other issues, but my point is that if we want to play well, it helps when we can target our weaknesses and work to improve the situation.

I doubt that anything I do will ever totally "cure" the eye muscle/dyslexia issue. However, exercising by directing the eye motion to follow a left to right route on a line and then smoothly move to the next, has become part of my warm-up. It is as necessary for me as anything where the horn is on the face.

The attention/concentration issue takes another warm-up based on fixed concentration. I developed this trick about 30 years ago when preparing a solo appearance with the VW Concerto. The concerto, if I remember, is over 15 minutes. My attention span, before being distracted was much less than a minute. It may seem silly and not a great use of time, but my solution was to stare at the sweep hand on a wall clock and try to follow it for the 15 minute time of the piece on which I needed to focus. Actually that time made for a great break between heavy exercising on the chops. I worked on this pretty much daily for several months and finally I could stay completely focused, without the slightest distraction, for the 15 minute sesson. I've talked to some professionals about it, and I've heard it referred to as "hyperfocus."

These days, whatever I am practicing, I need to stay in my "hyperfocus" mode. So many elements of performance are constantly involved and competing for my attention. For me, solfege, while playing is the first thing to slip away, then the issues of breathing and tongue placement begin to lose their acuity.

There are other, more subjective and subtle elements of interpretive style that begin to blur away when too much attention is required on one specific issue. So the most difficult exercises, while they are important to stretch and strengthen us, it is the simpler ones that allow us to keep the various elements in balance.

Okay, even for me, this is all somewhat idealistic, and one might say "sure, all on a good day and in a perfect world." But when I do warm up carefully and include the neuro/psycho issues, I find myself much more able to play, what in I believe, is a very artistic mode.

I am very interested in collecting information and experiences from others about these and similar issues.
I've mentioned in other posts that I am 67 (a geezer of sorts) and I just do not want to give up, especially now that my musicianship is at its peak. Many of us are in this boat. While I am not a serious threat to any young aspiring young player, I am not anywhere near "ready to pack it in." There are issues that "the more mature" tuba/brass players are dealing with and like elders in daily living, there are routines that we need to follow, like eating that "damn banana" every day.

Cheers.

Paul (who is "usually always" thinking too much) Maybery