TubeNet

So i have been looking into solos to do. For example, this year i am playing the Vaughn Williams concerto, the Plog Sonata and Strauss Nocturno for a recital i am giving at my school. On pieces i am performing,or will perform next year, Ex. Vaughn williams and penderecki Capriccio, how do you recommend unlocking your range when i cannot hit the high Ab that i really want to play in the cadenza. Also similarly with the Capriccio, and higher. My limit kindle tops out, on a good day, a G above the staff, and it doesn't sound great. My F sounds great though. Any advice on extending your range past the point that you at the moment cannot physically hit?

Practice. Today's squeal is tomorrow's note

Frankly, the high Ab may speak easier on a good BBb tuba. I love how quickly and cleanly C tubas speak, but I've always had a better high range on BBb for some strange reason. Go figure.

Here is an interview with Dale Clevenger where he discusses what Arnold Jacobs taught him about developing the high register. Clevenger was working on the Schumann Konzertstuck for Four Horns, which has a lot of high playing, and asked Jacobs advice. To sum up, Mr. Jacobs told Clevenger to start where he sounded great, and transfer that quality up a half step using long tones. Play only a few notes, but play them as many as 50 times, always focusing on quality. Over time, the upper notes will sound as good as the lower notes. The lower note teaches the upper note.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKqiltASHdM" target="_blank

+ 1 on focusing on the low register. I never practice my upper register. When my low is good, the high just speaks.

bloke wrote:1/ Set a baritone horn down next to your tuba.
2/ Play that pitch on the baritone.
3/ Pick up your tuba and play the same pitch.
4/ rinse - repeat


<sidebar>

those solos:
Understand that you're mastering those solos for your own satisfaction, to assist you in developing technique/musicality, and/or for school auditions. *There really aren't (even) that many tuba players who enjoy listening to (even well-played) tuba solos, prizes offered at tuba solo competitions never come close to the costs related to competing, and the only celebrity possibly gained would be among those over whom you would have prevailed.
All of that completely understood - GO FOR IT !
________________________________________________
*My classical guitar teacher (when I was making the decision to concentrate less on guitar and more on tuba c. age 17) pointed this out to me - as he had attended some tuba recitals as a college student. I really wasn't able to embrace this reality until a couple of decades later. Tuba recitals are attended by friends of those tuba players, and friends/spouses-of-friends of those tuba players. ex: When a professional symphony orchestra actually features a "tuba concerto" on a concert, it is (as we've all noted) an extraordinarily rare event.

</sidebar>

Something you mentioned struck with me. I know it's the case with a lot of people, but for some odd reason i don't mind listening to tuba solos, and when I'm in class listening to music, i'll a lot put on tuba music. I even enjoy the Kraft Encounters 2, Penderecki Capriccio, and other contemporary pieces. For most it would, but i find the hindemith sonata also to be enjoyable, but not as much. Of course, most people could probably enjoy the Vaughn Williams or Strauss nocturne. From my experiences, most people don't like these avant-garde pieces, but i don't mind them. Have i gone bonkers, or what?

Good advice here on approach. I will add that you also need to avoid some intuitive traps as well. Without other reference (like a good teacher pointing you the right direction) there is sometimes the notion that playing higher means you need to tighten up and really clamp down on your embouchure and restrict the vibration. Problem is that you can get a little bit of range out of this, but it will sound, well... tight and clamped and restricted which is not good. It's a mirage. Be very careful not to jam the mouthpiece harder into your face even if it feels like that is what you are supposed to do. If you are in this habit you will need to spend time each day breaking it. Let the upper register embouchure vibrate with the same freedom as the middle and especially low register. As others have said, let the lower note inform the higher.

I tend to think that the only difference in high register playing should be the speed of the air. My guess is that you can move air in and out of your lungs with speeds faster than you will ever need to play the tuba. If so then (with an unrestricted embouchure and sufficient quantity and speed of air) you will find that there is really no upper limit on your range.

It's a lot easier said than done, but keep it simple and keep the beauty of the sound foremost in your mind. Your ears will tell you when you are sacrificing tone and color for range. Good luck.

From this and your previous posts you need to study with a talented teacher. I would advise you to contact the closest college or university tuba professor. I mean no disrespect but you sound like a good high school player who thinks he knows everything but obviously doesn't. I am a retired university conductor, euphonium specialist and tubist and I don't know everything.

I developed my "high" range in 2 different ways on the BBb as follows:

1) Played an Eb tuba extensively for over 20 years in quintets and trad jazz. I now only use a 1938 BBb 5/4 York and a 1970's York Master which is almost a dead ringer for the York but not as lyrical (slots more like a Miraphone 186 - very fussy thus good for practicing with.)

2) Played the Bach cello suites down an octave and then as written - took the same movement first at 8va and then as written.
Recently acquired the Ralph Sauer transcription for tuba which drops them a 4th and is good for the cash register range. Now I do 8va, down a 4th and then
as written for a given movement. I'm very partial to Suite 4 which is in Eb.
Before the Sauer book came out I would read the cello suites as written on the BBb using Eb fingerings which dropped them a 4th - but confuses the hell out of your ear.

Read my post here:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4051&hilit=hIGH+rANGE" target="_blank

It should explain everything

Roger

Playing open bugles and learning to relax through all of the registers is what opened my range. See brass gym.

To reinforce what has been said already: Emphasis on whatever lowest fundamental helps a bunch in projecting a focused high register. Bugling is great as well as clarifying articulations in the pedal register in order to get a beautiful sound in the very high stuff. I'm sure there are other things that help, but those are what stand out to me the most.