OffuttTubaGuy wrote:The solo also works very well on a 5-valve CC tuba, if using alternate fingerings. I play (most but not all) Eb & Ab with 5/1 instead on 23. You can then get the Eb to F trill by holding down the 5th valve and trilling with the 1st. Also use 2/3 to 3 on the C-Db trill. The Ken Singleton arrangement for brass quintet has the picc solo as a tuba feature (I took a little liberty at the end):
bloke wrote:The piccolo in a band, probably, is featured less often than is the tuba.
Let them play their solo.
They know how to play it, sound good playing it, everyone likes it, and no one gets the joke (ha-ha ) when some tuba player walks up to the front and plays it.
With respect, as this was conductor's discretion, thankfully not my choice. In our community band, the tuba is not often featured so I'll take what I can get! Practiced my *** off and, in my little world, stood up with an Uncle Sam hat and killed it last night on both strains (second with the piccolo) to a rousing standing ovation at our SRO community band Patriotic Concert. Shout out to BISONTUBA for the 1909 HN White Helicon that projects like crazy and brought the house down. Sousa's collaboration with JW Pepper to develop the Raincatcher for concert application was on point, although this Helicon is an able concert instrument, and delicate if properly handled. The original Equa-Tru 26 which came with the horn seems best matched by far. Get to do it one more time in a couple weeks. I say if you get a chance, as long as you've worked it up properly, why not?
2014 Wisemann 900 with Laskey 30H
~1980 Cerveny 4V CC Piggy
1935 Franz Schediwy BBb
1968 Conn 2J (thinking of selling)
A few years ago, the principal tuba in the Reno Philharmonic, Russ Dickman, posted a tuba version of the S&SF piccolo solo. It is downloadable, but I can't seem to find it in the archives.
Back when I was tuba in one of the local orchestras, I got asked to do this part. Then they asked for two more things equally time-demanding and performance-stressful, and I realized they were not replacing one with the next but wanted me to do all three. That was major EEEK-dom. But Mark Nelson happened to be playing tuba with us that concert, and so I logically asked him to do the piccolo-tuba solo. He of course nailed it and I would have floundered it.
) when some tuba player walks up to the front and plays it.
