Tuba Section feature with band

Philip Jensen · Post by **Philip Jensen** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 10:20 am

Our community band director wants to do a section features concert and asked me if I knew of any good tuba features. We have "Them Basses" and played it 4 yrs ago when I first joined the band. I like the piece well enough but I'd prefer something we haven't played before. Also, not a solo piece, I played a solo last year so it will be a little while before we do a solo tuba feature again.

And of course, the piece would have to be within the capabilities of a typical community band tuba section - even though half the time at rehearsal the section consists of just me (although hopefully we will be getting another tuba player - the husband of one of our clarinet players who's kids are now just old enough to not need a baby sitter).

AndyL · Post by **AndyL** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 2:05 pm

Well, you could play:

Big Joe, The Tuba by Paul Lavalle and Joe Tarto

It's a safe bet that if you performed Them Basses _4 years ago_, your audience won't remember......unless you did something REALLY memorable at the first performance.

You didn't SET YOUR TUBAS ON FIRE onstage after the piece, did you?

So folks won't be saying, oh yeah....this is the piece where they burn their instruments......

One of the community bands I play in might perform Them Basses 4 times in a summer season, and nobody has complained (yet).

quinterbourne · Post by **quinterbourne** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 3:38 pm

You could always arrange something!

You could try Bugler's Holiday, or something simlar - but play the trumpet/solo parts on tubas instead.

Maybe find an arrangement of the Ride of the Valkeries or something similar (but it won't feature the tuba section all the way through).

Rats, Bats and Spiders, by Mike Hannickel, published by Curnow Music Press, Inc. This is a big goofy piece, but actually featues "low brass" so will include trombones, bass clarinet, bari sax, bassoons, etc.

phoenix · Post by **phoenix** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 3:45 pm

The Stars and Stripes Forever, except the tuba section takes the piccolo solo! We did this my sophomore year in high school. Good Times...

TubaRay · Post by **TubaRay** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 3:52 pm

phoenix wrote:The Stars and Stripes Forever, except the tuba section takes the piccolo solo! We did this my sophomore year in high school. Good Times...

If you play this up tempo and do the trills, you will adequately challenge a typical community band tuba section(and then some). To add additional difficulty, try it on CC tuba. This is certainly not all that easy.

Assuming everyone can learn to play this(certainly possible), then listen for clarity. That is really not so easy. If you pull it off, everyone should be sufficiently impressed. If you do a so so job, the audience will probably still think it was pretty cool.

TexTuba · Post by **TexTuba** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 5:12 pm

TubaRay wrote:If you play this up tempo and do the trills, you will adequately challenge a typical community band tuba section(and then some). To add additional difficulty, try it on CC tuba. This is certainly not all that easy.

Assuming everyone can learn to play this(certainly possible), then listen for clarity. That is really not so easy. If you pull it off, everyone should be sufficiently impressed. If you do a so so job, the audience will probably still think it was pretty cool.

Let's do it!!!

Ralph

NickJones · Post by **NickJones** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 4:00 am

Peter Graham has arranged "The Elephant" from Carnival of the Animals for tuba section and band ( am sure there are wind band parts ).
Check out Gramercy music website.
www.gramercymusic.com

Ames0325 · Post by **Ames0325** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 7:07 am

Some of the tuba players here saied they did Tuba Tiger Rag with band last year and had the entire section play the solo.

Amy

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