Soloing with my community band, advice?

[Kevin Hendrick]

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=60003

[J.c. Sherman]

Lots of great suggestions here!

First, find out from the conductor how much a of a time allotment he/she had in mind. That will narrow down the field considerably!

The first horn concerto by R. Strauss is awesome. If you can read or transcribe it, the Saint-Saens Morcaeu de Concert is great fun as well! Frankly, much of the horn literature works fantastically on tuba! Sadly, while Gregson and Vaughn Williams are "accessible", no one really is engaged by those works (except the second movement, perhaps, of the VW).

Clarke works wonderfully, and while "Shores" is popular with tubists (and I've done it), I'm not fond of it; Debutante and Bride are rockers! "Maid" is delightful as well.

If you've got cast-iron chops, Victor Davies' concerto is both fun and easy to hear. He's supposed to be finishing a band version, and you can email him and beg for it - it rocks!

Anthony Markel's "Tofudobeast" is a fun Concertino. Academic, fun, and mercifully brief. PM me if you need info.

With a few octave flips, Pryor's "Blue Bells" is a crowd-pleaser writ large!

"Beelzebub" and "Emmett's Lullaby" are both easy to play and easy to hear I love the minor section of the Catozzi!

Bottom line... start listening! Find out what YOU enjoy hearing, and play that. That joy will be infectious!

J.c.S.

[TubaZac2012]

Thanks for all the great suggestions thus far, lots of good stuff to consider!

[Bandmaster]

Nobody has mentioned a fun piece called "Forty Fathoms" by Harold Walters. My community band has played it several times featuring either the whole tuba section or one or two players. Here is a recording of it we made in July 2006 with myself and the assistant director playing tuba doing it as a duet.

http://www.pomonaconcertband.org/Audio/ ... athoms.mp3

There is another tune that was fun for our tuba section to play, that was "Puff the Magic Dragon" arranged by Richard Maltby. We performed it with only three rehearsals during one of our 2011 summer concerts. There are mistakes, but remember there are five tubas playing with not much rehearsal. It can easily be played as a solo.

http://www.pomonaconcertband.org/Audio/ ... Dragon.mp3

[Uncle Buck]

Nothing to add to the great advice you've already gotten, but be sure to let us know what you decide on and how it goes!

[timothy42b]

Brummbar (Grouchy Bear) for bassoon would work and be audience friendly. The band parts aren't too bad, either.

[timothy42b]

Er, but be careful pronouncing the composer's name.

[TubaZac2012]

I think I'm gonna push myself and work up the classic, Blue Bells of Scotland, by Pryor. I've got until April, so I think I'm in good shape.

Thanks for all the suggestions. They were very helpful.

Now, to get to practicing!