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I am playing this piece this week. it is written for 13 winds with contra bassoon or bass tuba. outside of the horns, i am the only brass player and feel like i stick out, even though i use the Eb tuba and try to play as softly as possible.

has anyone played this before? are there any good recordings with tuba? any tips to blend better with the winds? thanks!

This is really a contrabasson part. Use a mute or socks or play with a mouthpiece that only fits half way in the receiver. That would approximate the sound it needs.....

and...it should be down an octave as the C.Bn. sounds an octave lower than written. Use a big tuba, and play softly.

I played it and it worked well on the F.
Bill

bloke wrote: - Sometimes Eb tubas (as Mr. R. Bobo alludes) sound too "pretty" for the rare "contrabassoon or tuba" or "contrabassoon or serpent" part.....

Indeed. I've played the piece a zillion times on horn, and always with a contra bassoon next to me. Some/most of the low notes are played by the fourth horn as well (I fondly remember the very long and loud sounding Bb below the staff in the big climax) The sound concept of both horn and bassoon in that register are pretty far removed from a British brass band EEb. Try blowing a good raspberry instead

great! thanks! i didn't know about the "down the octave thing". today, i played it where written on Eb and got a lot of dirty looks from the double reeds.

so it's back to the c-tuba with socks, old newspapers & left-over fast-food (no pics) stuffed down the bell.

another colleague suggested that i bring beer so the woodwinds can relax...

You got a lot of dirty looks because they despise a tuba disrupting their "artful" sound.

Because obviously if Strauss had modern players on modern equipment he wouldn't have scored for tuba...

Strauss specified either Contra Bassoon or Bass Tuba - if you are the Tuba player playing the piece, you are there because someone has the good sense to realise that Tuba beats Contra hands down



Andrew M

I've played this piece a couple of times several years ago with a small Miraphone CC (186, I think). It is an excellent excercise in soft playing, something most of us don't practice enough of. You should quite literally see just how soft you can start the tone with reasonable security on this piece.

And watch out for the dotted eighth/sixteenth note moving lines towards the middle - it's difficult to keep the soft playing going in that section - gets pretty exciting there.

Your goal for the performance should be compliments on how well you blend with the ensemble...this piece was one of the biggest ensemble playing challenges that I recall from my undergraduate studies. Good luck!

I played this a few years back and it was a real blast. I performed this on CC when I did it. Yes, you have to be very careful not to overbalance, but if you listen purely to the ensemble sound/blend as a whole, you may find that you can play softly enough without worrying about what you have to do physically to play that softly. You can also experiment with hearing the sound of a contrabassoon in your head. You might be amazed how that can automatically change your sound instantly.

Have fun!

Here is something to try. In all seriousness. Tape a piece of cardboard over the bell, taping only halfway around. But first affix a small wedge to the cardboard, effectively a strut, to alter the angle of the cardboard and the resulting aperture. Doesn't mess with pitch so much, but cuts back on volume and does amazing things to your resonance.

I have played a number of contra bassoon parts a while back. While I hate doing it, sometimes I just had little choice.

I would like to note that even though your playing may not sound very good from where you are, it's really not that bad where the conductor is or in the audience. Often, from where you're sitting, it doesn't even sound close to where it should be.

It's tough, but you really need to make it sound effortless. A contrabass tuba is definitely the best choice for this (you will need to play it down an octave like others have suggested). Sometimes you need to make a judgment call and not take certain notes down an octave - to maintain clarity and a sense of effortlessness.

Be careful that you do not play too softly. If you play too softly, it will sound like you are having troubles with it. Remember, you need to make it sound effortless, even if it means playing a little louder than you think is musically appropriate... and keep in mind that it will blend in the audience and the extra volume will not really be such a bad thing.