TubeNet

Nobody in the audience knows or cares what you perform it on, just that you nail it and it sounds good. You have "Great Gate" coming up real fast, so no matter how you handle it, you better be ready. I've used an F, an euphonium, and let the bass trombone take it, but however you do it, you need to be ready to play "Kiev", too!

I've always wanted to hear Bydlo done on a nose flute.

The Theremin has always been my horn of choice for Bydlo, though the intonation can get iffy if I have too much coffee beforehand.

Might be fun on a didge ...

I once heard the solo in Bydlo played on French Horn in a youth orchestra. Didn't sound half bad, either.
(And NO, I wasn't the tubist in that orchestra )

If I was hired to play it right now, I would probably play it on the middle horn below, although there is a chance I would try it on the big one - it has a pretty good high Ab.

MartyNeilan wrote:I once heard the solo in Bydlo played on French Horn in a youth orchestra. Didn't sound half bad, either. .

To my knowledge, the Ravel orchestration is the only one that gives the solo to the tuba. Horn makes a lot more sense, given the range to be played.

Well, range wise, horn makes the most sense. Bydlo is, I think, a picture of a an oppressive ox carriage, and what is more oppressive than listining to a tuba play in the tenor tuba range ? Actually, I support making all Bydlo solos manditorily played on contrabass tubas instead of bass tubas. Talk about oppressive.

THE TUBA wrote:Well, range wise, horn makes the most sense. Bydlo is, I think, a picture of a an oppressive ox carriage, and what is more oppressive than listining to a tuba play in the tenor tuba range ? Actually, I support making all Bydlo solos manditorily played on contrabass tubas instead of bass tubas. Talk about oppressive.

It'd be pretty opressive on bari sax, too...

Hello,
I don't think the bydlo solo benefits any from a performance on the alto trombone.
Put the music first (and keep it in perspective)
I say bring a real ox onstage at the appropriate moment and see what happens.
Bydlo is the "Bolero" of the tuba repertoire - not really that hard until you have to play it.
Kathott

I performed the Bydlo solo one time, with the UCLA Symphony Orchestra. I borrowed Tommy Johnson's 4 valve Bb Alexander rotary euphonium. He also has an N4 with a euphonium shank that I used on the horn. I think some other guys in town have also borrowed that horn to play with the philharmonic. I seem to remember that Tommy actually called it "The Bydlo Horn". It was a dark, warm sound and can be played in tune.

That performance was the only time I ever had three horns on stage. I had "The Bydlo Horn", my old Rudy F, and the Yorkbrunner. It wasn't a problem switching horns, and it worked so nice for the piece. I'm sure it attracted plenty of attention from the crowd, as we always do when we switch around horns in a performance. One of the cool things about being a tubist.