TubeNet

Ok, My birthday is coming up(as you can tell)

As of the moment im right now in the time where I don't want anything (well physically)

I want to get better on tuba (duh....)

soooo, I was wondering if there are good books on tone building and most importantly, range building

2 books is OK, but three is probably a no (unless all three of them are cheap) (parents "rule").

Ideally, I want a 1 book with instructions, explanations, and all the know-how to improve in keeping sound even and consistent in the high range.

Thanks in advance!
-Raghul

I'm not a professional tubist or musician but I can tell you from experience the things which helped me be a better player. I don't really use a lot of books to practice my tone and range.

1 - Run. Start running every day but not so much that you hurt yourself. Take days off when you need to. You know your limits. Set goals and shoot for them. This will increase your lung capacity. The tuba requires air and the more sustained and controlled air you can give it will make it sing even more.

2 - Strengthen your core. Do pushups, situps, crunches, flutter kicks, basically anything you can to get your abs really strong. This will help you control your breathing in a way that plain old practicing can't.

3 - Practice, practice, practice. Keep the tuba playing as much as you can.

4 - Long tones. They are boring and take lots of air and time but they are needed. The more long tones you play the better your sound and intonation will get. See if you can get someone to play the notes on a piano with you so you can learn to match the notes. Get them in your head and in your soul. To increase your range play long tones in the mid to upper range. I heard this from trumpet player Allen Vizzutti. It works across all brass instruments. This is also a great time to start committing all scales to memory. Use the major/minor scales during long tones and it will be a great benefit later down the road.

5 - Lip slurs. Do them daily and do them often. Do what you can and then push yourself to play what you can't. Same thing goes for lip slurs as it does for exercising. Don't push yourself so hard that you hurt yourself. If you feel large intense pressure on your teeth and gums while playing them you are pushing too hard.

My 11 year old son just recently started playing the trombone. He hates it when I give him lessons because all we do together are long tones until he is tired. It makes a difference though, his intonation and overall sound is much nicer than the other beginning trombonists.

This is just my two cents. I'm sure there are other, more qualified, tubists who can give you some good advice on books and things. I just haven't had the need for them when it comes to intonation and range. Etudes and technical studies are a different story!

Not an answer to your question... but I would ask them for orchestra tickets. Go to a concert and see the local group (and tuba player!) in action.

Nelson - "Also Sprach Arnold Jacobs" available from http://www.windsongpress.com/product-category/books/" target="_blank price $22.95. Covers pretty well the lot and the exercises make for a good daily routine.

The author, Bruce Nelson was doing his Masters at Northwestern in 65-66 when I was a freshman there. As I recall I introduced him to Jake. Quite a good bass trombonist.

Here are the Special Studies for the Tuba by Arnold Jacobs. Download and print the whole thing. Read all the paragraphs. The studies on pg. 5 are great for developing range.

http://www.windsongpress.com/jacobs/wri ... METHOD.pdf" target="_blank

Just play. A lot. Long tones, scales, lip slurs, etc. Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. If you're not a strong player at the core, I don't think books will help much. Start with building good habits. And make all your fundamentals a part of your daily practice routine. (I'm no professional by any means, but this certainly helped me when I first started on a brass instrument when I was a kid)

Arbans
Brass Gym Sheridan Palifian
Lip Slurs Swoboda

Sorry thats 3 books

As we say in double bass and electric bass land:

“learn to play in the Cash Register before you play in the high register!”

elephant, im turning 15 on the 17th

and yes its on saint patricks day! lol

goodgigs, I can reach pedal A. however it sounds wimpy because of the resistance. with a GOOD sound I can reach pedal Bb (which is easy on a BBb tuba)

Thank you for the replies!
-Raghul

Ask for a metronome if you do not have one. It doesn't really need to be anything fancy or expensive, something basic will do and will cost around $20.

Then use it when practicing, be it scales, etudes, band music - whatever you've got going on.

An impeccable sense of rhythm/time is probably the single most important thing for a tuba player but is often one of the biggest and most obvious weaknesses many players have. That skill is far, far more important (and impressive, imho) than making mouse farts in the high register.

If you really want printed music to play and exercises to work on, look around online. A good and often overlooked resource is college/university tuba studio websites. They often have exercises and studies posted that you can download and print out to use on your own for free.

Please give us an update of your tuba related gifts! Not sure about everyone else but I would love to hear what they got you.

Ok, this is a quick update

For my birthday (today) I got a 100 bucks, a chocolate bar, a zoom h1(for recording myself),and the Arbans book for BBb (which is a condensed version of the arbans CC down to 65 pages i believe)

Now, most who see this post may think I'm spoiled, but I personally am disgusted by the amount of money spent on my birthday. I usually wait one year for a needed present. But this year i'm getting what I want (which is so weird).

Thanks for the advice guys!
-Raghul

I'm 77 today - the other end of the TubeNet birthday spectrum. All the advice above is certainly sound and helpful.
Another thing you might try is to learn a few tunes by ear and try playing them in as many different keys and octaves as you can. This really helps one to learn how the horn plays and what one needs to do for proper intonation in different musical circumstances.

TheTuba wrote:Ok, this is a quick update

For my birthday (today) I got a 100 bucks, a chocolate bar, a zoom h1(for recording myself),and the Arbans book for BBb (which is a condensed version of the arbans CC down to 65 pages i believe)

Now, most who see this post may think I'm spoiled, but I personally am disgusted by the amount of money spent on my birthday. I usually wait one year for a needed present. But this year i'm getting what I want (which is so weird).

Nah, you did fine. Two of them are for your long term music goals, one of them is candy for immediate pleasure and the cash can be spent on something you need, want or like. Happy Birthday!

Just saw your post, and it ended up being on your birthday. Happy Birthday and Happy St. Patricks.
You probably already got your book(s), hope they ended up being of use and help and what you wanted.
Responding to your question for future reference: Arnold Jacobs Special studies for Tuba is the best thing that would suit you. You don't even have to buy it either, I think someone put it up above a link to the full thing. Doing a bit of those each day, sure makes a huge difference.