TubeNet

I've had alot of good times in the back row....

Lincolnshire Posy is a standard, and a lot of fun.
Russian Christmas Music (when I played the st. bass cues )

but I think the most fun I've ever had for a concert was one last year with visiting conductor Tim Reynish, what a guy, and the program (though alot of it escapes me now) was just a blast!

I loved the tuba part to:

Short Ride in a Fast Machine - Adams
Symphony No.7 - Maslanka

There are several others, but these rank among the best in my opinion!

KevinMadden wrote:I've had alot of good times in the back row....

Lincolnshire Posy is a standard, and a lot of fun.
Russian Christmas Music (when I played the st. bass cues )

but I think the most fun I've ever had for a concert was one last year with visiting conductor Tim Reynish, what a guy, and the program (though alot of it escapes me now) was just a blast!

I will have to agree with the Russian Christmas Music string bass cues, though I only got to play then in some rehearsals. I had such trouble tuning the monotonous D for the rest of the piece.

Bayou Breakdown is certainly a fun tuba solo. I was 2nd chair at the time and only played it for fun later.

My best experience was playing Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla under the baton of William Revelli when he guest conducted at the University of Kansas for a music conference we played at. Frederick Fennell was brought in to not conduct, but just to announce for our band.

No wonder we had pittance for scholarships. They spent it all on that concert.

Hammersmith (Holst)
Symphony in Bb (Hindemith)
Dionysiaques (Schmitt)

BTW, anyone know of a recording of the Schmitt?

Schuetzenliesl, the Happy Wanderer, Rosamunde and In Munchen Steht ein Hofbrauhaus. Oh yeah, I like Red Wing, too.

A while back we put a new piece by Julie Giroux written for the USAF band in DC, among others on disc. It's to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the air force as a seperate service. She called it "An Airman's Symphony"

The DC band just played this at Midwest, dedicated to Col Gabriel. It's got some nice tuba writing, and it's very tasking to even the biggest vital capacities. Not my favorite piece, but it was a treat to play some legit, challenging music.

A link to her site, with a possible recording. http://juliegiroux.www2.50megs.com/whats_new.html

Circus marches are a gas to play.... Rolling Thunder, Barnum and Bailey's Favorite, etc...

We did a fantastic arrangement of Kalinikov's Symphony #1 a few summers ago.

Basically, I enjoy the concerts that are not all John Denver, Disney, Grease Medleys, etc...

We don't get a lot of legit music passed out here, as I'm sure many of my military collegues (with the exception of the DC cats) can relate to.

Holst suites.

Favorite Tuba part:

Donald Grantham - J'ai ete au bal

Loads of fun!!!

-Brett

Philip Sparke - "Year of the Dragon"
Stephen Bulla - "Firestorm"

You didn't say what type of band.....

Even in the concert band arrangements, the parts are still awesome in those, and it's good music. I also really love playing Holst's suites, but it has to be with a good conductor who knows what they are doing.

I don't do concert bands at present because brass bands are where you go to play some really challenging stuff.

The NABBA test piece for this year for Championship level bands:

Dances and Alleluias (Philip Sparke)

and our choice piece is called "Extreme Makeover".....

It takes no prisoners....

I can't limit it to one part, so I'll put my top favorites

All tuba parts to:
Praetorius Variations by Jim Curnow, has the patented Curnow "very hard, exposed lick that no-one else has"
Of Sailors and Whales-W. Francis McBeth, especially the last movement
Mutanza, again by Jim Curnow
I can't think of the composer, but there is a four-part symphony based on the marches of Sousa, and one features a very exposed, lyrical tuba solo
Festival of Light-Stephen Melillo
There's a piece out ther called "Apollo" that's really fun to play. All of the band parts are aleatoric, and is really different.
Symphony no. 5-Alfred Reed

EuphManRob wrote:what's the euphonium/tuba part to a BAND piece that you, personally, have enjoyed playing the most?...Myself, I'll cheat a little bit. I have never performed this piece but I know it like the back of my hand and have practiced the part a lot. It's the first movement from James Barnes's Third Symphony. Super dark music, nothing but awesome euphonium licks from start to finish .

Rob, you're absolutely right. James Barnes' Symphony No. 3 is a wonderful piece. Like you, I would love to perform the first movement in particular, since it begins with a gorgeous tuba solo! There are excellent passages for tuba in other parts of the symphony, too. After all, James Barnes is a tuba player himself! All four movements are extremely effective; the joyous spirit of the fourth movement balances the tragic darkness of the first movement. It is even more poignant when you are familiar with Barnes' inspiration and "program" for the symphony...

I posted an inquiry about this piece in the "Who played tuba on..." category some time ago. I did not receive an answer, so I'll try again now (maybe it's just that nobody knows!). Who played that tuba solo so beautifully on Southern Music's sampler CD?

As for a single piece, like was mentioned, the classic marches are hard to beat, but my favorite single piece is Victory at Sea. Not so much for the music, which I really like, but the emotion of it all. One thing that we do in the pops band that I play in is for the 4th of July, we play the official version of the 5 branches of the armed services marches. When we do that, veterans from the branch will stand during their march. It makes my hair stand on end! My dad was a navy aviator in WWII and when I play it, I can't help but remember him and of course all those who gave everything.

Steve

TubaSteve wrote:As for a single piece, like was mentioned, the classic marches are hard to beat, but my favorite single piece is Victory at Sea. Not so much for the music, which I really like, but the emotion of it all. One thing that we do in the pops band that I play in is for the 4th of July, we play the official version of the 5 branches of the armed services marches. When we do that, veterans from the branch will stand during their march. It makes my hair stand on end! My dad was a navy aviator in WWII and when I play it, I can't help but remember him and of course all those who gave everything.

Steve

I should have mentioned that we play all 5 of them in a string with a 20 measure drum line between them. It is the finale of the program followed by Stars & Stripes. It is a real blow, but worth it.

Euphonium - Holst Suites, There's also an old band transcription of Jupiter that had a great part. There's a march composer (contemporary to sousa or later) that was a euphonium player... I can't think of his name or the piece for the life of me, but it had a blazing euph feature (.. The Lord of the Rings Symphony has some wicked stuff in it too.

Tuba - among other things listed I loved playing Blue Shades - Ticheli. To knock that out with a big section would be killer.

Tuba parts to...Toccata Marziale, English Folk Song Suite, Maslanka Symphony No.4, just about every German march ever written, anything Karl King or Fillmore. Also, I haven't played it but "Deathtree" by Holsinger sounds like an absolute blast to play. I know some of the USMB guys here can attest to that.

thedeep42 wrote:Euphonium - Holst Suites, <snip> There's a march composer (contemporary to sousa or later) that was a euphonium player... I can't think of his name or the piece for the life of me, but it had a blazing euph feature

Could that be Karl King?

http://karlking.us/kkingbio.htm

"The Melody Shop (1 & 2)" has a great euph part in the trio - 2nd time. But I like ver 2 better myself where the euph has a slow melody in the trio the 1st time, then really technical the 2nd time.

We're doing "The Golden Dragon" - overture at our next concert -- which has 3 euph solos in it. Pretty nice piece.

Tuba solo in some christmas arrangement "All I want for Christmas is My 2 Front-Teeth"