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Hello everyone,

Last year around this time I was suggested some solos on here and I chose one of the suggested solos (beversdorf sonata) and made a superior at district. Now i'm a senior in high school and I want to challenge myself a little more with a harder piece. For the college I want to audition to, and most other colleges, the audition piece must have both lyrical and technical components. I was looking at Sonata for Tuba and Piano by Hindemith and it sounded pretty legit. I play a BBb tuba because it's all that my school has and I can't afford my own tuba so the solo needs to be do-able and sound good on a BBb. Thank you guys for all the help you've given me so far!

The Hindemith Sonata is great! A few others to consider Gregson Concerto, R.V. Williams Concerto for Bass Tuba. Listen to some recordings find something you'd enjoy to work on.

Doug

The Broughton Sonata (Concerto) is a fun, shorter multi-movement work. I think it would be a great challenge.

If you "own" the Beversdorf, play that.

Whatever you play, you should be able to play very well.

You guys know where I could find a good recording of the hindemith?

Don't discount the Thomas Beversdorf sonata that you have already learned. It is a fine composition that is probably a bit under performed if anything. Challenge yourself by making the best music you can out of the piece, which is a little mechanical in nature. Easier said than done, I know.

Like one of the previous posters said, if you own the piece, it may be a good way to go. Not to mention that it is BBb tuba friendly.

Best of luck with your choice and the audition itself.

Check out Dave Zerkel´s website. (You can search him on tubenet, there are numerous posts referring to his page. I´m too lazy to do that for You at this time)
He specifically discusses works to be performed on contrabass tubas, including a thorough commentary on the whereabouts of each piece (that is: level of difficulty, range, general information).
Have fun. Hans

Doc wrote: The Hindemith is a highly recognized piece in the tuba community, but the piano part is extremely challenging. You'll need a hoss on piano to really do a fine job, which is probably a matter of how much money you want to spend on an accompanist.

I've worked up and performed the Hindemith in recital (AFTER I was in college)

Personally, I would never recommend the Hinedmith for an audition that was (or had to be) accompanied because of the accompaniment. The piano work simply steals the spotlight if done well or wrecks the entire thing if done poorly. Unless your pianist is absolutely top notch and you've spent a lot of time working up Hindemith together, I almost guarantee you that you will have "ensemble" issues. Even a great pianist you have spent a lot ot time with can have serious problems when a performance comes around and everyone is nervous. The point is that the absolute last thing you want to have to worry about at an audition is anything other than yourself.

You will probably have to play the Hindemith once you're in a college music program, so it's not like you'll be missing out by waiting until you've passed your audition to have a show at it (under the guidance of a teacher, no less). The Hindemith is a very difficult piece to unlearn if you get in a rush and learn it wrong.

Perhaps you will consider my (simplistic) approach...

I auditioned for 4 different college / university programs. Two big schools (one of them even a known "tuba school" discussed occasionally on tubenet), two smaller (private) colleges. I played Blazevich, Kopprasch, and Bordogni/Rochut (all obviously unaccompanied). Not one committee member at any of the 4 schools said a word about my choices. I was accepted to all 4 schools and received scholarship offers from 3 of the 4 (one being the said "tuba school").

Those are etudes designed to be performed without accompaniment so it doesn't sound like anything is "missing" when you play them alone. I enjoyed knowing that I had sole, exclusive control over my audition and was not dependant upon anyone else for success.

College auditons are no time to play "tuba jock" or to experiement with trying to play something "hard." Play the most demonstrative pieces you can as best you can and leave it at that. My auditions selections weren't picked to look impressive on paper or on Tubenet, but they got the job done. Just food for thought.

Thanks, I think i'm just going to play two contrasting etudes out of the Koprasch (SP) 60 studies book now.

On the other end of the accompaniment spectrum, you can get piano accompaniments for Rochut studies for a few bucks in the voice publications, under the composer Bordogni. Those are far easier for the piano, and have enough difficulty for the purposes of showing technique.

I LOVE Donald Swann's "Two Moods for Tuba." Lyrical, hard, short!

I enjoy the Gregson tuba concerto which i am playing this year for solo and ensemble as a sophomore in high school. It is definitely challenging range wise and also has a fairly hard piano part. As the other people said it needs to show off your skills and your sound. It should not sound like you picked something too hard for you. Good luck at your auditions! sorry about being so late i just went back to look.

Swillafew (My friend John) mentioned piano accomps to the Bordogni. The are available for free on IMSLP. You can match them to your favorites as in the Robert King publication. The originals are in treble clef as you might expect for a singer. Here is a link to 24 of them.

http://hz.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usim ... rdogni.pdf" target="_blank

I did rochut 5 and bordogni 37 for my college audition. For my senior recital I'm doing the Vaughan williams and If there is enough space left on the program, maybe six pack.