Pedal note/ high note playing suggestions

[Ames0325]

Here is some great advice on high register playing especially that of Roger Lewis viewtopic.php?t=4051&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
Another thing that helps me is to warm up properly and do some low playing ( below low C) and get those notes to open up and sound decent ( still can't play them well cold ) and then I play major scales and try to get three octaves. Following Roger's advice on lip vibration and working up in this way I have gotten up to F above the staff easily and will probably soon get higher. I also make sure to not play high too long as it is very tiring and detrimental to my chops and I usually cool down by playing long tones and low note again.

Amy

[tubaribonephone]

The thing that I do is a nice, very low warm up (hitting pedal F and lower) until I get nice and relaxed. Then I don't do scales but rather arpeggios starting on G(in the staff) and work my way up chromatically until I really have to squeeze it out (around high Gb(above the staff)) and then back off and work on getting the lower notes sounding nice and in tune (middle C to high F). One thing though is that you have to realize that it will take some time so don't be to frustrated that it isn't coming out right away. And remember, it doesn't matter how high (or low) you are able to go if it doesn't sound good and if it isn't in tune. And with the lower notes, I just work down chromatically from a low Bb to a pedal Bb and then go down by step, starting on a low Bb, in this sequence: Bb then A, Bb then Ab, Bb then G, Bb then Gb and so on until I go low Bb then pedal Bd. Then with the Pedal notes I do an embouchure shift and sustain a pedal Bb and repeat the same sequence with the pedal notes as I did with the low notes, right now I'm barely able to get out a very, very low pedal Db like 20 leger lines below that staff but I'm working on it!! (this is also the warm up I do before everything as well as when I have been playing a lot of high stuff (and it is my warm down)). But one of the biggest things of all is to just STAY RELAXED!!! If you tense up and get frustrated then nothing will come out and then you will be even more mad.

Hoping that this helps,
Ricky

[adam0408]

this advice came from a french horn player that I took lessons from in high school. Somebody stop me if I am giving wrong advice, but it worked for me.

Play a long tone starting on a lowish to midish note, lets say F just below the staff. The long tone starts as quiet as possible at the beginning, growing rapidly to the loudest sound possible. Then, get steadily quieter until you run out of air. The diminuendo should be longer than the crescendo. Lets say 1/3 crescendo to 2/3s dim. of the long tone. Repeat this an octave up. Continue chromatically up the scale using the same method. if you ever screw up an attack, start over and play it until you can do it clean. Ideally, you should do this over your entire range. This takes quite a while though, and will annoy everyone. The payoffs are really really good after a while though. The idea of this excersize is to get control over the extremes of your instrument. This should be done at the end of your practice session before you warm down.

This is what got me my high range. Be sure you dont use pressure because when you are going for stuff in the stratosphere, pressure is really the enemy and you can hurt yourself if you get too carried away. Also, talk to trumpet players and see what they do. They are constantly searching for higher and higher notes and some of what they do can be transferred to what you do.

And like iibagod said, a lot of it is psychological. We have been put into shoeboxes that say tuba players cannot play high and fast. Show all those shoebox makers that they are wrong.

[chevy68chv]

I was curious on where a player should be able to go on his/her range. Right now on my C tuba I can hit a G sharp above the bass cleff (second line treble cleff), g consistantly, and two A flats below the staff. How much higher/lower should I be looking to expand this range?

[Anterux]

When I try my very high range I try to blow so much air fast that I get an headache. That, I dont think is good...

[corbasse]

this advice came from a french horn player that I took lessons from in high school. Somebody stop me if I am giving wrong advice, but it worked for me.

Play a long tone starting on a lowish to midish note, lets say F just below the staff. The long tone starts as quiet as possible at the beginning, growing rapidly to the loudest sound possible. Then, get steadily quieter until you run out of air. The diminuendo should be longer than the crescendo. Lets say 1/3 crescendo to 2/3s dim. of the long tone. Repeat this an octave up. Continue chromatically up the scale using the same method. if you ever screw up an attack, start over and play it until you can do it clean. Ideally, you should do this over your entire range. This takes quite a while though, and will annoy everyone.....

Be sure you dont use pressure because when you are going for stuff in the stratosphere, pressure is really the enemy and you can hurt yourself if you get too carried away.....

And like iibagod said, a lot of it is psychological. We have been put into shoeboxes that say tuba players cannot play high and fast. Show all those shoebox makers that they are wrong.

This is a good exercise for endurance and strength for your chops. I have one thing to ad: Don't overdo it!. Only a small % of your practicing time is enough.
I had to do this exercize when I started studying french horn, but my teacher made me do it for 1/3 of my total practicing time. Result: a total loss of flexiblity, and because I had to make each note as long as possible I started to use too little air.

Do not use no pressure
What I mean is: you shouldn't use a lot of pressure, but some pressure is necessary to get those high notes. Too little pressure will result in bad sound and air leaking from the sides of your embouchure.
So it should be Don't use too much pressure.

Further: Don't think too much about high ` or low . notes.
Visualize all the notes right in front of you ---.

[tubeast]

Hey Chris,
many people already advised to seek the ultra low range first. I´d like to add: go beyond that. Many people sound like they´re playing three different horns for lowest, medium and highest range. So first of all try to improve sound quality on those pedals until they sound just as soft and smooth as your medium range:
HUGE amounts of warm air.
HUGE mouth cavity by making the "Ö" (OE) sound (that´s a typical german vowel and seems to work better than the usual "O"). I´m sure You´ll find a German-teacher at school who´ll demostrate that vowel to you.
The reason is: on the "O" vowel your tongue will be like a well stuffed pillow on the ground of your mouth cavity. The "OE" vowel has your tongue spread as thin and flat as possible on the bottom of your mouth, providing an even GREATER cavity.

Once you got those pedals nice, start working on quick scales. I don´t know the english words, in German it´s "Kirchentonarten". (That is: play a scale in, say, Bb major. Then play a scale starting fom C, but still in the key of Bb. Go on playing starting from each note of the Bb scale until you play the Bb major scale again, this time an octave higher. Once you got that, do it all over again, this time in the key of B, then C, then Db and so on.
Start on the lowest notes that you have and do those scales until your face just hasn´t fallen off yet. When you´re up there, switch in reverse and do the same thing all the way back into the basement. (that will relax your chops to go on with your practise). Keep that OE vowel in all registers to open up sound. After that, it´s time for a coffee break. Then go on practising whatever else is on your mind.
I´ve been doing that as a warm up every time I practised for two years now. It takes about half an hour of playing, but to me that´s worth it. I´m a hobbyist, but I "own" 5 different Gs on my CC tuba.
Have fun and good luck escaping annoyed neighbors.

Hans

[TexTuba]

When I warmup, I go chromatically down to my pedal range. I stay around there for about 10min. After that I go up chromatically until I start sounding like mouse farts. Once that's done I just work on scales of 1 then 2 then 3 octaves. I find that this helps the best(for me)on building range and maintaining what I already have.



Ralph

[MaryAnn]

this advice came from a french horn player that I took lessons from in high school. Somebody stop me if I am giving wrong advice, but it worked for me.

Your advice is excellent if the person already has a correctly functioning embouchure, that is, they already have the technique to play the ranges and are not in the dark about how to do it in the first place. (Many people are not natural players, but if told how to do things will end up playing just as well as the natural players.)

For the technique....read the post by Roger Lewis that was referenced. That helped me not only get the full range out of the tuba, but also I have applied it successfully to my French horn playing, altho my horn embouchure is "upside down" from my tuba embouchure.

MA, who is glad no embouchure has turned out sideways, yet

[Uncle Buck]

All the techniques being discussed are good ones. However, I've always needed simpler "concepts" to remember when I am performing. I can break things down and focus on specific techniques in the practice room, but I need broader concepts to incorporate into my "phyche" for when I peform.

For playing in the higher range, the concept I try to remember is to picture a singer. We've all heard singers trying to strain, tighten up, etc. to get to high notes. And we've all heard the good ones, who produce a sound that doesn't feel at all strained or forced - like they're floating DOWN to the pitch instead of straining up to it.

Something like this (I'm sure there are better sound concepts out there) is a good way to put the day-to-day technique into perspective, provide a goal for the technique, and a vehicle for the technique to manifest itself in a performance (when you don't want to be thinking about technique).

[tubafour]

My teacher suggested the same thing Uncle Buck was talking about.

He says to attack the note from the top; to come down on it, not up to it. He also suggested using an "E" syllable--not constrained, but it raises your tongue in the back of your mouth, creating a faster airflow throught the smaller space, resulting in a greater amount of air "energy" that is required to hit a high note. I don't play like this through every register of my instrument, but it is extremely helpful in making jumps (in the practical range of your instrument). Hope this helps.