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Does anyone have suggestions on the TMEA etudes for tuba this year?
I'm auditioning at the Area phase hoping to advance to state and was wondering if there was any advice.
Also i was told my articulation was not as clear as the two others who are advancing along with me to area and was suggested to try a smaller or different mouthpiece due to my horn size and slight lisp/tongue thrust.
I currently play a MW5450 with a PT-48
All help and advice is greatly appreciated!

Tuba
70 Studies, Vol. I, Blazhevitch, Robert King Music

Performance Guide

Etude 1:
Page 20, No. 21
Tempo: Dotted quarter note 66 - 74
Play: Beginning to end
Errata: "Forte" should be marked at the beginning of m.38

Etude 2:
Page 22, No. 23
Tempo: Quarter note 76 - 88
Play: Beginning to end
Errata: none

Etude 3:
Page 25, No. 26
Tempo: Quarter note 104 - 124
Play: Beginning to end
Errata: m. 10 - the 3rd and 4th eighth notes should be marked staccato;
m. 14 - both quarter notes should be marked accented, just as in m. 13;
m. 21 - the 3rd note should be an 8th note and the 4th note should be a quarter note (i.e., rhythmically identical to m. 2);
m. 23 - the 2nd note of the measure should be marked accented;
m. 29, a slur should be marked under the 3rd, 4th, and 5th notes, just as it is in m. 23; m.37 - an "mf" should appear at the beginning of m. 37 Updated 5-2-11



These are the etudes with the errata taken straight from the TMEA website
Thanks!

Dave Zerkel has videos of himself playing them on YouTube, if you'd like an example. Don't know about the errata, though.

A PT-48 is a pretty good mouthpiece, and it seems to me unlikely that a mouthpiece will provide the solution you seek. You may be making the same mistake I do--the tonguing attack pushes into the teeth, making it less "tu-tu-tu" and more "thu-thu-thu". I keep working on it. I wish I'd had a teacher back when I was in high school who could have pointed this problem out to me before I cemented it into my brain--it's taken me decades to try to replace this bad habit now that I don't have time to practice fundamentals for a couple of hours a day. If you don't have a teacher, book a lesson with a local working pro who teaches, and get him to advise you on that issue and what might be causing it.

Assuming that is not the problem, a mouthpiece with a Geib shape seems to improve clarity for me. I have been playing the Sellmansberger Symphony. The Stofer Geib is even more in that direction, though with a bit smaller throat it's not quite as open in the low register.

The general advice with all etudes is to be musical first, last, and everywhere in the middle. Learn to sing it, and sing it so that it says something. (I cannot sing tolerably so I do this in private.) Of course, missing notes, articulations, and rhythms will undermine musicality, but musicality is the reason you work to get those things right.

Rick "and articulation is always easier and clearer with full lungs" Denney

Thanks for all the advice!
I will definately try the tips