Tuba Solo Highschool

[CooperBayliff]

The PML for my area has a bunch of good difficult tuba solos and I figured I should ask which ones would look best on a report card, like which ones just jump out at you guys, I know concerto for bass tuba by Vaughn Williams is on there, but I don't have the money for a bass tuba and theres no way I'm doing that on a BBb tuba.

Here is the list: (i dont know how many there are because tuba players can only count to 4)
Adagio and Allegro by Telemann arr. Friedman
Air & Bourree by Bach, J. S. arr. Bell
Andante by Tcherepnin
Aria by Hartley, W.
Ballad And Presto Dance by Smith, C. T.
Beelzebub by Catozzi, arr. Seredy
Carnival Of Venice (Fantasia) by Holmes
Concertino For Tuba by Frackenpohl, A.
Concertino for Tuba and Band by Bencriscutto, F.
Concerto for Bass Tuba by Vaughn Williams
Concerto In One Movement by Lebedev, A.
Concertpiece by Painpare, arr. Voxman
Concertpiece No. 1 for Tuba and Piano by Vaughan
Diverse Moments #1 by Jager
Emmett's Lullaby by Holmes, G.E.
Fantasia For Tuba and Chamber Orchestra by Hartley
Fantasy For Tuba by Arnold, M.
Four Segments by Barnet
Impromptus by Muczynski, R.
Introduction & Dance by Scarmolin
Introduction And Dance by Barat, edited by Smith
Legend Of The Purple Hills, Op. 137 by Uber
Lento by Holmes, P.
Reflections by Jager, R.
Ricercare by Gabrieli, G.
Romanze And Rondo (Solos for the Tuba Player) by Mozart edited by Wekselblatt
Rondo Alla Scherzo (Solos for the Tuba Player) by Stamitz arr. Wekselblatt
Serenade by Mozart, transcribed by Morris
Serenade No. 12 for Solo Tuba by Persichetti
Siciliano by Bach, J. S.
Sonata by Beversdorf, T.
Sonata For Tuba and Piano by Frackenpohl, A.
Sonata No. 1 by Marcello transcribed by Little & Nelson
Sonata No. 3 In A Minor by Vivaldi transcribed by Morris
Sonata No. 5 in C Major by Marcello arr. Little & Nelson
Sonata No. 6 By Handel, G. F. transcribed by Morris
Sonate by Hindemith, P.
Sonatina by Hartley, W.
Suite For Tuba by Haddad, D.
Suite For Unaccompanied Tuba by Hartley, W.
Suite No. 1 by Wilder, A.
Suite No. 2 by Haspiel
Three Sketches for Tuba and Piano by Cummings
Tuba Concerto by Gregson, E.
Tuba Rhapsody by Grundman, C.
Tuba Suite by Jacob
Variations for Tuba and Piano (The Cobbler's Bench) by Frackenpohl, A.
Variations on the Theme of Judas Maccabeus by Beethoven arr. Bell
Waltz For Mippy III (Solos for the Tuba Player) by Bernstein edited by Wekselblatt

[Tubameister]

It’s hard to recommend something without having heard you play before. But Air & Bouree- Bach, Suite for Tuba-Haddad, and the Gregson Concerto tend to be the Sophomore, Junior, Senior level progression around where I teach HS band.

[15vb]

But Air & Bouree- Bach, Suite for Tuba-Haddad, and the Gregson Concerto tend to be the Sophomore, Junior, Senior level progression around where I teach HS band.

Either y'all are rich and have bass tubas or your highschoolers are actual weapons of mass destruction.

[The Brute Squad]

It isn't that farfetched. Both the Bach and Haddad were in the rotation for honors band auditions back when I was in high school (going back a couple years ago) and I played them both on Bb. My orchestra this year also had a HS tuba player apply for our concerto competition and he was going to play the Gregson (not sure if he had an F or not, but the concerto is definitely doable on a Bb/C).

As an aside, it's a shame we had to reject his application. Being a community orchestra and parts rental being the racket that it is, we have a requirement for the competition that works must be public domain.

[arpthark]

All three of those pieces lay great on contrabass tuba.

[T. J. Ricer]

From that list, I would start a solid, enthusiastic student playing a BBb tuba on the Marcello Sonata 1 in F (probably one fast movement and one slow movement for an audition or solo & ensemble). This would, of course, be alongside working on fundamentals and etudes (Blazhevich, Bordogni, Tyrell, etc).

If that went well, I would then ask them to stretch their range to the top of the staff with the Bach Air & Bouree. It also has several “strange” melodic interval jumps (tritones, sevenths) in the melody, so it is good ear and accuracy training. This sets you up to try the first movement of the Hindemith in the future - the tuba part isn’t the hardest on this one, but it is musically challenging and hard to line up with the piano.

A good capstone to these might be the Lebedev Concerto in One Movement, which is challenging, but accessible on the contrabass tuba.

If there is success on the Lebedev, we might try one movement of the Gregson, but there are side-paths depending on what went well or what was a struggle on the way through. Take it one step at a time!

Also, the Wekselblatt edition of the “Waltz for Mippy” removes all of the high range issues; I assume he edited it specifically for the BBb tuba. It has some interesting counting and reading challenges, but is quite short, so may not be enough for auditions or S&E by itself.

First cup of coffee thoughts from Honolulu!
-T. J.

ps. I would prefer to hear a high school senior sound great on the Marcello Sonata or Air & Bouree on a college entrance audition rather than hear them struggle through a “pinch-press-pray” version of the Gregson/VW/whatever.