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Hello Tubenetters,
Tomorrow evening is our Halloween concert. On the program are "Night on Bald Mountain" and "The Sorcerer's Apprentice. We have put in many rehearsals for this concert and I have practiced diligently as well. Much to my dismay, my playing is still not fast enough in either one of these pieces. Shall I do my best and forget the rest or just let our heavyweight player look after these sections?

My band has some written guidelines; prominent among them is "do no harm." This doesn't mean that you need to lay out enitre pieces or sections of pieces, but does mean that you should determine what you can do and apply it in a musically appropriate manner. For rapid eight or sixteenth note passages, perhaps play the first note of each group, or maybe only the accented notes. If you have another player who can play the full parts, try to reinforce what that player is putting down. Think of yourselves as a tuba section, and what matters is your combined product - not whether or not you can cut an entire piece by yourself.

Good Luck!

Mark Horne wrote:My band has some written guidelines; prominent among them is "do no harm." This doesn't mean that you need to lay out enitre pieces or sections of pieces, but does mean that you should determine what you can do and apply it in a musically appropriate manner. For rapid eight or sixteenth note passages, perhaps play the first note of each group, or maybe only the accented notes. If you have another player who can play the full parts, try to reinforce what that player is putting down. Think of yourselves as a tuba section, and what matters is your combined product - not whether or not you can cut an entire piece by yourself.

Good Luck!

Well put Mark. Thank you from a tuba newbie,
Armin

Mark Horne wrote:My band has some written guidelines;

Good Luck!

Would you be willing to share the rest of them?

I completely agree with Mark. "Do no harm" should be the first rule. If others can play it, and you can't, don't screw it up. Keep practicing. Sometimes amazing things happen when you do.

Our group has something similar..."If you can't play all the notes, play the ones you can". We've played pieces where the other tuba player and I have split runs. I really like the "Do no Harm" mantra.

talleyrand wrote:

Mark Horne wrote:My band has some written guidelines;

Good Luck!

Would you be willing to share the rest of them?

Linked from the band's website - let's see if I get it right. . .

http://www.walnutcreekband.org/data/WCC ... 9-2010.pdf

Thanks for the advice tubenetters! The "do no harm" credo worked well at our final rehearsal this afternoon. I can play 80% of the material so it must be more practice that is needed. Our program for tonight's concert is:
Night On Bald Mountain
Pirates of Penzance
Sorcerer's Apprentice (Dukas)
Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone
Pirates of the Caribbean
Puttin On The Ritz
Encore: Music from "Ghostbusters"
Happy Halloween Everybody!

roughrider wrote:Thanks for the advice tubenetters! The "do no harm" credo worked well at our final rehearsal this afternoon. I can play 80% of the material so it must be more practice that is needed. Our program for tonight's concert is:
Night On Bald Mountain
Pirates of Penzance
Sorcerer's Apprentice (Dukas)
Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone
Pirates of the Caribbean
Puttin On The Ritz
Encore: Music from "Ghostbusters"
Happy Halloween Everybody!

That's a "big blow" of a concert! To quote Harry Callahan "A man has got to know his limitations". You're lucky you have someone to help you cover the more demanding parts. In one of my groups, I am the tuba section...laying out is NOT an option and so I have to resort to simplifying here and there to make it work (and NOT make it obvious to the conductor). Hope you have a great concert!

JJ

Our concert just ended and it was a great one. I played nearly all of the concert and my partner looked after the rest. To the previous poster, I share your pain. The last band I played in was in rural Saskatchewan and had a total of thirty members. I was the only tuba and learned very quickly what my limitations were. It was a very steep learning curve to return to the band I had played in thirty years ago, before leaving to go to the country to start my career in teaching and administration. When I finished grade twelve the leader of the band invited me to come out to a rehearsal and see how I felt about it. My parents thought it was a fabulous idea. I responded with
"Are you crazy? that band is filled with music teachers and band directors! They pushed me and I am glad they did. Finally, Thank You Keemer Wetzel for your King BBb bell facing front tuba! It has been the best money that anyone ever spent on me.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that standard practice in professional orchestras is for the better first violins to play play all the notes and the rest do the first of each group. Can anyone expand on this?

Another aproach used in brass bands in test pieces is for one player to play the four semiquavers (whoops, sorry I meant sixteenth notes), on the first and third beats (plus the first of the next beat - dah dah dah dah, dah --- --- ---, dah dah dah dah, dah --- --- ---), while the other player does two and four.
The other time honoured technique reserved for only the fastest passages but still widely used in lower graded Australian brass bands is to blow hard and wiggle the valves one after the other - one two three, one two three - i.e. fake it till you make it.

Sounds like a terrific concert.
The brass band version of Night on Bare Mountain is interesting - there are no lower strings or woodwind so ALL the low parts find their way into the tuba parts including the lower bits of the harp arpeggios near the end.

Regards

Gerard

When in doubt, leave it out.

The comment about simplifying your part is good advice; you need the confidence to do it, and a little understanding to do it effectively.