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Has anyone had experience playing a tuba solo with band outside, for a park concert?

RSMorgan wrote:Has anyone had experience playing a tuba solo with band outside, for a park concert?

Yup... about 40x's worth of experience. I've done a couple "pops" type solos with our band, at work, on the road. Sometimes it's been with microphone, and others, not. Depends on the venue, I suppose.

I've found that in an outside show like that, the audience wants to hear a "novelty" piece. My go-to is "Variations on Barnacle Bill, the Sailor". In fact, I'm playing it again this weekend in the National Museum of the USAF, in Dayton, OH. (Which might as well be outside... it's a giant airplane hangar)


What are you looking to play?

I've played Art Dedrick's "A Touch of Tuba" in outdoor concerts a couple of times. It works well with no PA. Last summer I did it with my home-town band, with no rehearsal. (They read through it without me the week before.)

(Grrrrr. Last post disappeared into the either... )

What John said.

Solos that have worked for me:

Beelzebub
Tubby (bonus points for doing the narration a la Bill Bell)
Elephant and the Fly (gotta find a pic player)
Largo al factotum

Don't agree on the mandatory microphone: I've played many solos at the Capitol and never been miked, playing in front of a pretty strong band.

Just pick something you like, show the audience how much fun you're having, and they'll love it!

Karl "LOVE playing a solo in front of the band" H.

Tubby
Inro & Dance (Barat)
Concertino (Frackenpohl)
Carnival of Venice
From the Shores of the Mighty Pacific
Vn Wms (SUCKED outside!)
Buglers' Holiday (3 F tubas)
Trumpeter's Lullaby
Tuba Rhapsody (Grundman)

Just did "Yorkshire Ballad" by James Barnes, last summer....great piece!
(The tuba/band version is a rental property, though.)

Solo Pomposo back around 1985; I'd like to do it again this year on the 100th anniversary of its co,position.

Solo Pomposo back around 1985; I'd like to do it again this year on the 100th anniversary of its co,position.
I did Beelzebub 3 or 4 times with Denver Concert Band back in 1980

The perfect piece for outdoor summer park concerts would be Karl King, Octopus and the Mermaid. Get it from the CL Barnhouse Company. It's an early 1920s solo tuba and band piece.

It's got a catchy title the folks will wonder about, it's by Karl King, it's fairly short, and it's not too difficult (cash register playing all the way), and it's designed to be fun. I have only done it once (indoors), but think it would be perfect as can be for an outdoor parks concert.

I would highly doubt anyone in your audience would have ever heard it before. It's not a piece to play if you're hung up on it being a tuba concerto or if you want to demonstrate dazling technique. It isn't like that. But if you want to have fun and play an oddball piece, this is it.

I played the Gregson completely outdoors in concert 2 or 3 times. It was hard to hear the accompaniment and probably hard for the audience to catch the whole thing. It was not amplified at all. I think that the piece was too serious and probably not what I would recommend doing outdoors, but I had the opportunity at the time, so I did it.