"The Stars & Stripes Forever Fig. 5 to 13"

[BVD Press]

I know this won't help, but if you go back to what Sousa originally wrote the sixteenth notes are not there!! He writes the figure as dotted quarter followed by an eighth note. Somwhere around here I have have the original part. The part can be found at the University of Illinois:

http://www.library.uiuc.edu/sousa/

Not sure if it is online, but you can o to the library and check it out!

When I was in OH, I worked with Sousa biographer Paul Bierley and he was not sure when the sixteenth notes were added. If he didn't know when they were added, I am pretty sure no one will ever know!

My suggestion: If you cannot play the 16th notes now, I might suggest the dotted quarter followed by and eighth until you can work it up!

Good luck!!

[Normal]

I am no expert, but I can relate to your situation. I returned to playing about five years ago after 30 years off.

My band plays S&S as a standard piece. The things I've learned are 1) Don't over blow. You can articulate much better and keep better control of intonation at lower volume ranges. 2) The tonguing at measure 71 needs to be clean. These notes are usually played by all of the brass. Let them carry you until you work your tonguing up to the point you can play all of the notes cleanly. 3) In a volunteer group you are not getting paid by the note. You can skip some of the notes in the interest of making better music AND 4) Practice your a$$ off while you're still having fun. You will make quick progress in the first six months. After this point the improvement will not come as fast but it will be fun watching yourself improve.

As to the size of your tuba, the tuba you are playing sounds like a dream deal. The bore is a little larger than some, but once you play your way into this tuba you will be pleased with what you are capable of doing musically. A 3/4 tuba with a smaller bore might be a little easier to play right now, but in six months you might think differently. My advice is to use patience for a little while. Give yourself a chance to relearn everything you might have known at one time.

[tubeast]

As to the tongueing of single short notes and runs of 16ths...
I never heard you play, of course, but this is an observation I´ve made with many amateur players, including myself.

In the case of a 16th note run: when clocked by a guy with a stop watch and real quick fingers, the duration of 16 notes should be a full 4/4 long note. More often than not, people try to reduce that duration of a 16th to a single impulse.

This is tried to do pronouncing both the beginning AND the end of a note using the letter "T":
Tott Tott Tott... separating each note by two consecutive "T"-sounds.
It often helps to imagine short notes with an open end instead(as in "To").
Think of EACH note as being a sound with a certain length, and your tongue just giving an extra impulse to mark where a new note starts: "ToToToTo..."
Try it out singing both variants and you´ll know what I mean.

[Rick Denney]

Also, at fig. 71 the staccato eight-notes (cut-time). I want to play them "cleaner". Because of the tempo they sound muddy.

Say, Tuck, you are going to have to give yourself a little time to get back into it. It was a lot more than a month after my 8-year layoff before I was ready to cleanly double-tongue 16th-note passages at march tempo.

Your strategy for the first part is fine. Remember: Do No Harm.

For the dogfight, the 16th notes are little more important. Fortunately, the pitches don't change to often, so it's just a tonguing exercise.

What you'll learn is that if you blow through the phrase and just use the tongue to provide little articulated points on the continuous airstream, it will be much easier. I double-tongue that passage--my single-tonguing is not nearly fast enough to play it at tempo. To blow through it, you need enough air, so fill'erup before it starts.

And remember that light and clean will sound louder and more impressive than heavy and muddy. Heavy and muddy never sounds good. Getting the band to play the quiet parts quietly enough so that the dogfight can be suitably impressive is a hallmark of really good groups and all too rare in community groups. But trying to outblow a band playing too loudly will not improve the situation and will make it too hard to keep up. Stay within yourself. The tounging does not have to be hard, it just needs to provide the 16th-note pulse.

Rick "who thinks this passage playable by those with even marginal double-tonguing skills, which includes..." Denney

[hurricane_harry]

a well controled flutter tounge can do the trick

[iiipopes]

Hang in there! I have a CD remastering of a 1927 recording of the Springfield, Missouri Boy Scout touring band (the largest boy scout band ever assembled, and only one Brunswick 78 of each of 4 cuts known, including S&S, now thankfully digitized for wider distribution) and as good as they are, they have problems with it also!

[tubatooter1940]

Cheat! Play what ever notes (quarters,halves) you can that sound nice, are in tune and for the sake of the whole group stop 'em on time and don't be they only one playing when the whole orchestra stops. If you have a problem anywhere, that's how it goes but be on time for the next phrase and start up when everybody else does. Pat your big toe inside tour shoe on rhythm. Pat your heel on the floor when that gets tired.
Don't forget, this is supposed to be fun. Playing tight music with a good-sounding group is lots-o-fun.
Dennis Gray
tubatooter1940
www.johnreno.com/