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Hello all,

My recital is approaching fairly soon and of course I am getting nervous. My teacher wants me to play Gustav Mahler's - Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen(Song's of a Wayfarer) which is a voice piece. I havn't really wondered far from standard tuba rep until now. Has anyone played this on tuba before? If so which recording did you find more helpful? Any tips that I could find helpful so my audience is amazed would be great!(About 1% of my expected audience has ever heard solo tuba) so this is my chance for them to get a good first impression!

Oh, incase you're curious i'm playing the Gregson Concerto(On CC unfortunately ) And a piece that a doctoral student here at Kent State University is writing for me. That should be interesting.

Thanks in advance for all advice/tips. It's greatly appreciated.
-John

jdicesar wrote: Oh, incase you're curious i'm playing the Gregson Concerto(On CC unfortunately )

Don't sweat it; although it may be written for Fletch's Eb, given a choice between CC and F I would rather hear the Gregson on CC any day. From a playability perspective, the outer movements (and audiences only remember the very beginning and end, right?) seem to sit very well on CC also. Keep up with your high register exercises, and endurance shouldn't be too much of a problem.

jdicesar wrote:
My recital is approaching fairly soon and of course I am getting nervous. My teacher wants me to play Gustav Mahler's - Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen(Song's of a Wayfarer) which is a voice piece. I havn't really wondered far from standard tuba rep until now. Has anyone played this on tuba before? If so which recording did you find more helpful? Any tips that I could find helpful so my audience is amazed would be great!(About 1% of my expected audience has ever heard solo tuba) so this is my chance for them to get a good first impression!

I have played it a few times and would suggest writing in the lyrics. Know the music and the lyrics cold and speak through the horn.

Get as many recordings as you can and listen to not only vocal, but instrumental versions as well. The set is really beautiful when played well.

be sure you get it in an appropriate key for you.

It's a beautiful piece on low brass--but yeah, listen to lots of recordings, pay attention to the hard consonants too. You may or may not want to emulate those as accents or something. Your decision, though.

Say, is "The Rusty Nail" still open in Kent??

Yeah, the Rusty Nail is still open. I have heard it is very good, but I have not been there before. It is rather pricey, and that doesn't lend well to a poor college student heh. I'm going to have to make a trip out there though to see what it is like.

Thanks for all the help thus far, looking forward to performing this piece.

-John