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I will be playing 3 movements of johan de meij lotr at the end of august with the local wind symphony. The tuba part i have is for c-bass in bass clef. It is very high in many places and after listening to several recordings i have concluded that i will have to read it down an octave.My first question is,why is the part written the way it is? My second question is why i am i finding several cues in the tuba part for e flat and b flat bass? Do these parts exist? I have asked the librarian but to know avail. Can someone direct me to where i can get these parts? i I am more than happy and capable of reading the part down the octave but i as just curious as to why the part is written the way it is.

I played this a long time ago on euphonium. I'm struggling to remember whether my part was marked for "c tuba" or not, but I don't remember the actual tuba parts being at all unusual as you describe. I suspect you have been given the wrong part, possibly for a French "tuba in ut." Is there any way to check with the publisher?

I don't remember the part being very high either.

the three movements that we are playing are gandalf, gollum and hobbits. In all three movements there are several times where the tuba part goes well above the staff.. concert d flat and above. I would have no problem playing this piece on my 981 at the octave written but i think i might be the only tuba there supporting a band of 50+. I would rather play it on my yamaha bb flat neo.

The final movement, Hobbits, has European parts included in the set. I don't have my score handy (it's in transit to Korea) but if I remember correctly there are Eb, BBb, and C parts (all the parts are the same, they are just transposed). These parts are also written in the score. The other four movements only have "American" parts in concert pitch. See if you can spend a moment with the conductor and his/her score to clarify.

TWTuba wrote:The final movement, Hobbits, has European parts included in the set. I don't have my score handy (it's in transit to Korea) but if I remember correctly there are Eb, BBb, and C parts (all the parts are the same, they are just transposed). These parts are also written in the score. The other four movements only have "American" parts in concert pitch. See if you can spend a moment with the conductor and his/her score to clarify.

thank-you. starting to make sense now.

I played this a couple times back in the early 90's. The set of parts contained parts for Eb, CC, and BBb. All the parts were transposed. Both times I used the tuba in C part and had to read it down an octave to sound at the intended pitch. The original scoring was for Dutch Military Band where the parts even though still in bass clef were transposed so that written C was open for whatever key tuba you were playing on, similar to all the parts in a British Brass Band being in treble clef. I'm not sure why they were written an octave above pitch. Probably to avoid the use of ledger lines.

Tubaru wrote:I played this a couple times back in the early 90's. The set of parts contained parts for Eb, CC, and BBb. All the parts were transposed. Both times I used the tuba in C part and had to read it down an octave to sound at the intended pitch. The original scoring was for Dutch Military Band where the parts even though still in bass clef were transposed so that written C was open for whatever key tuba you were playing on, similar to all the parts in a British Brass Band being in treble clef. I'm not sure why they were written an octave above pitch. Probably to avoid the use of ledger lines.

again,thanks.i think i will just read it down an octave and play it on my bb flat.

Tubaru wrote:I played this a couple times back in the early 90's. The set of parts contained parts for Eb, CC, and BBb. All the parts were transposed. Both times I used the tuba in C part and had to read it down an octave to sound at the intended pitch. The original scoring was for Dutch Military Band where the parts even though still in bass clef were transposed so that written C was open for whatever key tuba you were playing on, similar to all the parts in a British Brass Band being in treble clef. I'm not sure why they were written an octave above pitch. Probably to avoid the use of ledger lines.

It's been many years since I played this, but that explanation is consistent with my strained recollection.