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This seems like a nice book of easy ensemble music, but the "Homage to the King" arrangement appears to be an octave too high. It never drops below Bb on the staff but frequently requires forte and pianissimo middle Cs.

I'm afraid I going to have an aneurysm playing this thing as written on my BBb. The other arrangements seem more reasonable and sometimes drop to G below the staff so I don't it was written for Eb horn.

Anyone familiar with this piece? Should I suck more lemons and practice more or take it down an octave?

A little more info. The group is a church ensemble. The fellow ensemble members don't mind if I take it down an octave. The church congregation contains many fine musicians, some of them might notice (but are usually nice enough to not say anything).

As an amateur tuba player with a BBb instrument what do you think my functional range should be? At the moment my warm-ups end at G near the top of the staff. This coincides with the previous music we played and my method books, Rubank's Advanced Method, etc..

For you experienced church ensemble players, how often do you play notes above the staff?

DuckCallDan wrote:I'm afraid I going to have an aneurysm playing this thing as written on my BBb.

Don't hurt yourself! If your fellow musicians are OK with it, I'd take it down the octave. Much better to do that and have it sound good -- trying it where written and not making it would be very distracting to the congregation. If it's a large enough group, you might consider having a euphonium or trombone play your part where written while you play it down the octave (nice effect, *if* it works in the context of the piece).