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I'm looking for a band piece for a high school that features a pretty good tuba solo. I'm thinking grade 3 or 4. Any help would be great.

Will

Beelzebub
Gregson Tuba Cto.






Ralph

Will wrote:I'm looking for a band piece for a high school that features a pretty good tuba solo. I'm thinking grade 3 or 4. Any help would be great.

Will

Emperata Overture

Sorry, I may need to clarify. I'm not looking for a piece for tuba and band. I'm looking for a band piece that features a tuba solo in it.

Sorry for the possible confusion.

Will wrote:Sorry, I may need to clarify. I'm not looking for a piece for tuba and band. I'm looking for a band piece that features a tuba solo in it.

Sorry for the possible confusion.

Any particular length? Does the Holst Eb Suite for band qualify?

O Mio Babino Caro, by Brian Balmages.

Very beautiful tuba solo, if you have a tuba player that can do it

Will wrote:Sorry, I may need to clarify. I'm not looking for a piece for tuba and band. I'm looking for a band piece that features a tuba solo in it.

Sorry for the possible confusion.

Them Basses
The Saints
Under the Double Eagle
Hall of the Mountain King--Peer Gynt Suite
Ride of the Valkyries
Bydlo

O mio babbino caro, from Gianni Schicchi?

That is kind of funny...scoring that light lyric fach soprano aria for the tuba voice. It makes Lauretta seem like quite a a big girl.

Sean Greene wrote:

Will wrote:I'm looking for a band piece for a high school that features a pretty good tuba solo. I'm thinking grade 3 or 4. Any help would be great.

Will

Emperata Overture

My very first solo with the band...I love this piece for reasons well beyond the tuba solo though.

Because we recently played this, it's fresh on me.

How about "Grand Serenande for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion" by PDQ Bach (Peter Schickele)? You may laugh (pun intended), but one of the movements features a beautiful tuba solo that a good high school tubist should be able to handle. Check it out - wonderful fun piece.

Can't go wrong with "Them Basses" by G.H. Huffine. It will give you the ammo you need to answer the question for tubist's who ask..."Why do I have to learn all these scales?" And it is a perinnial crowd pleaser.

Published by Carl Fischer

O mio babbino caro, from Gianni Schicchi?

Yes, it's gorgeous in the tuba voice, we just played it with my high school wind ensemble

Mendelssohn's "Fingal's Cave" Overture. Although it isn't a tuba solo, it is a very difficult and great line for the tubas

Biggs wrote:

Sean Greene wrote:

Will wrote:I'm looking for a band piece for a high school that features a pretty good tuba solo. I'm thinking grade 3 or 4. Any help would be great.

Will

Emperata Overture

My very first solo with the band...I love this piece for reasons well beyond the tuba solo though.

Amen. One of the greatest. Takes me back to band camp. I still (after 25 years) find myself humming that tune.

Claude Smith: A name we know and trust.

Tom Holtz needs to chime in here.

Jonathantuba wrote:

Sean Greene wrote:

Will wrote:I'm looking for a band piece for a high school that features a pretty good tuba solo. I'm thinking grade 3 or 4. Any help would be great.

Will

Emperata Overture

Who is that by? It sounds worth getting. I don't think I have ever heard it played in the UK

Claude Smith (I hope I spelled CLOD right) wrote it. It is a grade 4 educational piece. Has a really fun tuba part and a nice exposed french horn solo. The fanfare at the beginning has been used by the US Marine Drum and Bugle Corps. This is one of those pieces that if you have played it, you remember it and smile.

Sean Greene wrote:

Will wrote:I'm looking for a band piece for a high school that features a pretty good tuba solo. I'm thinking grade 3 or 4. Any help would be great.

Emperata Overture

Ahhhhh... Emperata Overture, by Claude T. Smith. The 1980 Geneseo Junior High School Symphonic Band, Geneseo, IL. Lorin Meade, conductor. A watershed moment in a young tuba operator's career.

My first solo riff in band.
My first 7/8 bar in band.
My first fugue in band.
My first piece of band music that was more than one page long.

Dudes, this is heavy rep. Arguably one of the most important compositions of the 20th century. That it features our instrument is a mark of honor we shall wear with pride forever. If I ever find the editor who had the gall to cue the solo in the bass clarinet part, I'll kick him in the jewels.

Fountains... Pictures... The Ride... it all starts with Emperata.

Tuba Ninja wrote:It's above a grade 3 or 4, but I love the tuba solo from Barnes Symphony no. 3. Good stuff.

Martin

Great piece...good luck getting your average high school to do it, though.

It's 54 minutes long and not an easy piece. Lots of muted tuba in the middle mvts., btw.

The 3rd mvt., while not tuba heavy, it some of the most beautiful music anywhere...especially if you know the story behind it...

To answer the question about why don't all service bands put up recordings like this, I think it comes down to interpretation of the copyright laws.

Tom Holtz wrote: Dudes, this is heavy rep. Arguably one of the most important compositions of the 20th century. That it features our instrument is a mark of honor we shall wear with pride forever. If I ever find the editor who had the gall to cue the solo in the bass clarinet part, I'll kick him in the jewels.
Fountains... Pictures... The Ride... it all starts with Emperata.

Thank you sir, for that inspiring dissertation. I couldn't agree more.

My college's Wind Ensemble (plus some extra players) played The Barnes Symphony No. 3 at our last concert. Unfortunately, the piece was added at the last minute (the semester before, last minute my butt), and we "didn't have enough time" to play the first movement with the tuba solo at the concert. Luckily, there are some interesting tuba parts throughout the other movements. Our section of 2 had a great time playing the chords and octaves parts, and I even had to multiphonic a chord cuz it was written with 3 notes.
I think this piece has challenging parts for every section and would be great for a good band to try. I think it might be above most high school bands though.