TubeNet

Fellow Tubists,

Seeking a little advice: I have a degree in tuba performance and studied much of the solo, chamber, and large-ensemble classical literature, but the last time I did anything with jazz, was in high school. I've always been a fan of jazz from ragtime to bebop to Marty Ericson, but I've never made time for playing jazz.

Which method books (Jamie Abersold, etc.), scales, improvisation exercises, ear training, etc. should a beginning tuba jazzer acquire in order to build skill for improvising?

TIA,

Christopher

Get these two albums:

Kind of Blue--Miles Davis
Go!--Dexter Gordon

Learn the basslines. Learn the solos. And not just the bassists' solos. Hell, if you learn Cannonball's solo on Freddie Freeloader, you will have had a better lesson on blues than any teacher could have ever given you.

The best "method" out there is getting the genuine thing and listening. The above two albums were the beginning of my studies in jazz, and I still revisit them if I want a challenge.

But--here's the big thing: You will learn VERY little on jazz by asking in TubeNet. Get out in your community and find the local jazz gurus. Just like you can't truly understand orchestral playing by staying in the practice room, you can't learn jazz without actually getting involved in it.

While I agree with what BopEuph suggested, I think you should also listen to recordings of the eras where tubas were/are used more often - the early New Orleans, New York and Chicago bands (1917-1932ish,) the 1950s "Trad Revival," the 1980s and onward "Trad Revival Revival," The jazz of New York 1980s to current (look for anything by Howard Johnson, Bob Stewart, Marcus Rojas, etc.) and don't forget the traditional and current New Orleans Brass Bands.

There is a lot to learn, but most of it comes from experience - not a book. Sometimes you will want to sound more like a Double Bass, other times you will just play that funky tuba - a sound that cannot be easily imitated! Learning all scales, all keys, working on extended series of fast quarter and eighth note patterns, high, low, and middle range quality notes are things you can do on your own - but the harder parts are learning the interaction between the other members of the rhythm section, feeling the structure of the piece, vamping for the solos and how to transition between the various parts of the tune. (My personal challenge is in keeping track of how many measures are between chord changes on more modern pieces - I sometimes loose count or don't know the song well enough to be sure.) If you are playing in a group that uses charts, reading Double Bass notation (which is written 8va) is important, as is learning how to create a walking line using just chord symbols (and knowing how to instantly transpose those chords to another key.)

Get familiar with the secret hand signals - typically down pointing fingers for calling or modulating to flat keys, up for sharps, pat the head to return to the top, "V" for vocals - there are others but much less common. Get used to playing just about EVERY DAMNED MEASURE for multiple hour long sets.

There are many other tips and tricks to learn - I am sure there are others on TubeNet who will add to my suggestions.

Agree that listening and emulating are the best tools, but...

...as far as practicing jazz methods, I recommend the Jazz Conception books by Jim Snidero and/or Key Jazz Rhythms by Fred Lipsius. These are sequential etudes, each designed to get you to practice a specific concept. Most of the tunes are written to emphasize a specific rhythmic figure and can help you learn to recognize various rhythmic cells, develop correct, diverse, and specific articulations, and feel comfortable reading jazz notation. Plus, you can always practice soloing over the changes.

I imagine you're looking to get away (rightfully so) from the printed page, but these books are good way to prepare for the moment when you get a big band chart put in front of you.

David Richoux wrote:While I agree with what BopEuph suggested, I think you should also listen to recordings of the eras where tubas were/are used more often - the early New Orleans, New York and Chicago bands (1917-1932ish,) the 1950s "Trad Revival," the 1980s and onward "Trad Revival Revival," The jazz of New York 1980s to current (look for anything by Howard Johnson, Bob Stewart, Marcus Rojas, etc.) and don't forget the traditional and current New Orleans Brass Bands.

Very much agreed. I suggested those two albums as a starting point, because they are typical of a musician's first step in jazz when such a question is asked. My improvisation classes began with either Freddie Freeloader or So What, both from Kind of Blue, and my first lesson was from Second Balcony Jump from Go! The albums are a good starting point, because they are harmonically simple for the beginner, yet super deep for the able player. Perfection at their finest. But, in conjunction with David, this is a much larger world you're stepping into.

I don't know about other places, but I would find it rare to get the opportunity to do trad outside of a few pocket places, though. I'm lucky enough to have some here and there because I live so close to Disney, and their influence brought over some of the finest NOLA musicians a few decades ago. Bill Allred jokes about "the Orlando sound" being a trio of horn, banjo, and tuba.

Every tubist's library should include anything you can find with Rich Matteson playing helicon, along with the other jazz tuba guys we all hear so much about all over this board. But getting the essence of everything from Slam Stewart to Victor Wooten should also be a part of a good rhythm tubist.

And if you REALLY want to work, learn bass, too! Most productions have issues finding doublers for Chicago. I've got a monopoly on that, now!

Check out "Developing Musicianship Through Improvisation"
It is a great place for a classical musician to start because it teaches you a systematic way to get to improvisation through developing your ears and theory chops together. The way of approaching tunes they present in the book can then be applied to any tune you want to learn...

http://www.giamusic.com/products/P-6819.cfm" target="_blank

-T. J.

1. Practice scales and arpeggios in every key, every day, so you can do them without thinking and without reading them.

2. Learn the bass lines to all the tunes that you can, in two-beat style, 4-beat style, and any other style you can think of by playing along with recordings. When you hear something you like, imitate it.

3. Learn the melodies, and practice them in every key, every day. (If that's not easy then go back to #1.)

4. When you have mastered all of the above, start improving and personalizing those melodies so that they are still recognizable but just more clever and rhythmic than the composer intended. Avoid confusing the melody with the bass line.

I don't know how much you really know, so my advice might not be much good. If you are just a reader, you might start with my videos. The production values are crude, but these videos have helped a lot of people.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... UDbmJA4Wun" target="_blank