high range tuba playing

passion4tuba · Post by **passion4tuba** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 9:47 pm

does playing high on a BB flat tuba with a resemblance of tone quailty require any speical talent? air pressure and a proper embrochure and apachure (forgive me if i misspell) are all that is truly needed right? correct me someone[/img]

quinterbourne · Post by **quinterbourne** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 9:54 pm

a lot of practice

J.Harris · Post by **J.Harris** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 10:02 pm

Depends what you mean by high. Every instrument has a limit to its "useable" range. By this, I mean a musically useful sound. There comes a point where the instrument is not going to give you a full resonant sound. My limit on a BBflat is around Eflat or F above the Bass Clef Staff. I can play higher than that (sometimes another octave in fact) but the sound is not something I would want to listen to for any length of time. Individual instruments as well as mouthpiece selection also have a bid influence on your useable range. Some horns just do not play well in the extreme registers - high or low. Hope this was somewhat helpful.

Lew · Post by **Lew** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 10:12 pm

Proper practice will get you there, but practice with the wrong technique will not. Find a teacher locally and he/she can help you achieve your playing goals. You're not going to do it by reading posts on any internet site, no matter how insightful.

Any player hoping to be a professional should be able to comfortably play up to the Bb an octave above the bass clef staff with a good solid sound. As a rank amateur I can play up to the F above the staff with a good sound, while everything above that loses any decent tone quality. I expect that if I were to put a couple of hours a day of practice in, using the appropriate technique as I was taught (if I can remember from the last time I took lessons) the tone quality of those notes would be acceptable.

Roger Lewis · Post by **Roger Lewis** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 7:54 am

This may help but a good teacher will supplement this.

viewtopic.php?t=4051&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

passion4tuba · Post by **passion4tuba** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 12:07 pm

so wait a second....a tuba player that plans to be pro should at least be cable to play a B flat above the bass cleff staff!?? thats super high! is there a point where a highschooler should be...i mean...that's really high..i am in the same boat with Mr Lewin the case i can play up to an E flat or an F above the staff with some control(prolly not as clean as him tho of course), but i mean..if i try ne higher than that ...

circusboy · Post by **circusboy** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 12:31 pm

OK, now I'm confused.

On my bass clef staff, the Bb above the staff (sitting on top of the staff) is lower than the F above the staff. . . .

passion4tuba · Post by **passion4tuba** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 12:35 pm

i'm talking about the b flat above that high F pimpin

windshieldbug · Post by **windshieldbug** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 12:35 pm

circusboy wrote:OK, now I'm confused.

On my bass clef staff, the Bb above the staff (sitting on top of the staff) is lower than the F above the staff. . . .

Lew's original qoute was

Lew wrote:Any player hoping to be a professional should be able to comfortably play up to the Bb an octave above the bass clef staff with a good solid sound.

circusboy · Post by **circusboy** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 12:52 pm

Consider me scolded and ashamed.

circus "who's generally pleased with himself to be playing above the bass clef scale at all" boy

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 12:59 pm

What hasn't been mentioned is the tie-in of high range playing to low range playing. For some odd reason, they seem to be linked.

There's a saying (I don't know who said it) "To play high, learn to play low" or something like that. I submit that the converse is true--that learning to play high with a good tonal quality will also extend the low range technique.

Maybe the clinicians on the BBS can confirm this, but I think it has to do with muscular development of the embouchure. Playing very high at limit of your range is the heavy lifting--the overtones are closer together, so accuracy counts and the adjustments made from note to note in the embouchure are increasingly fine.

It's not difficult to learn to play a scale up to a high Bb, but to me the test is can one nail a high Bb (or A or Ab...) cold? This is really where the ear-embouchure coordination comes in. There's simply no way to play mechanically in the high register.

passion4tuba · Post by **passion4tuba** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 12:50 pm

thanks chuck, i'll look into that

Gorilla Tuba · Post by **Gorilla Tuba** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 7:20 pm

I would be more than satisfied with an incoming freshman that sounded good on a Bb or C right above the Bass clef staff. In fact, if you can make a great sound, I could care less how high you can play. Range is easy to teach after a great tonal concept is established.

tuba114 · Post by **tuba114** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 11:16 am

Thereâ€™s nothing wrong with wanting to improve your hi rage, but just be careful make sure you donâ€™t loss your low and mid rage. I have a tuba player in my band that can really hit those notes up in the hi rage, but thatâ€™s all he can do before he was a really good player with nice tone and now his tone has been destroyed because he plays to much hi stuff and not a lot of low stuff.

TubeNet

high range tuba playing

high range tuba playing

Look here.....

???