Tuba Solo Range

[Z-Tuba Dude]

The discussion about the Bydlo drifted into a discussion about the range of a tuba, and a question about the suitability of the tuba high range, for musical purposes.

My own feeling is that there is a reason for gravitating toward the higher range of the horn. I think that average listeners relate more easily to melodies that are played in a range, which corresponds more to the range of the human voice. Extreme ranges (ie - piccolo and contrabassoon) are regarded as novelties, and so, are marginalized in most people's minds.

That being said, I do think we have to be a little cautious when pushing the envelope, because the musicality can suffer for other reasons!

Any other thoughts?

[windshieldbug]

... which ignore the fact that Renaissance trumpets and sackbutts, while being in the same range, were actually more expressive in voice than their Baroque counterparts. They were less strident, to be sure.

The English auxillary handled bass-trombone also flies in the face of your suggestion.

[Z-Tuba Dude]

ps. You will probably say that I should be practicing instead of trolling you. BUT my teacher says I already have a world class sound and I am quite possibly the next "Big Thing" so I dont need to practice because im already done rochut book 1 and I can play all 12 major scales in 26 seconds.

Years ago, my teacher told that I had a "World Class" sound, and technique, too!
I decided to stop practicing after that, because I figured that any further practice, could do nothing but mess it up!

[windshieldbug]

The real reason I included the quote in the first place was an oblique link to Z-Tuba Dude's original post, which proposed that the tuba's tessitura has grown higher over the years, because that is the range more suited to melodic playing, and that melodic playing is something audiences view as aesthetically desirable. Hence the second paragraph of my quote

No problem, but just saying it that way would have been cool. I wrote a lot of research papers in music history, too (many using primary sources), but thankfully, I don't quote them here as Doctoral theses...

[Captain Sousie]

Hope you weren't joking about the 3:16 part too.

Nice. Subtle, but not too much so.