novelty piece? ideas?

[thedeep42]

hi there. so, i'm wanting to lighten up a rather academic looking recital with something fun, humourous, maybe even a little bit patronizing. (i'd considered ligeti's symphonic poem for 100 metronomes, but I decided that might be a bit much ) Something fun for the whole family? Got any ideas? I'm up for weird combinations... I heard of this piece called the cricket and the bullfrog for tuba and piccollo? it'd be pretty old. ever heard of/played it? would you admit it? any other ways i can make a fool of myself with a tuba up front would be greatly appreciated. (now that's a dangerous statement) not really looking for standard theme and variations stuff...just goofy.

[Chuck(G)]

Are you sure you're not thinking of "The Boa Constrictor and the Bobolink"?

How about an all-Pinguin Moschner program?

[TubaRay]

Two pieces which I have played which are probably in the category of your cricket and the bullfrog are "The Elephant and the Fly" and "The Elephant and the Flea." These are not any challenge to Beethoven's or Mahler's place in history, but they are a novelty, and they can be fun.

[UTTuba_09]

Look up about anything by Peter Schickele/P.D.Q. Bach. He has some ingenious novelty pieces...
http://www.schickele.com/

[Casey Tucker]

the baby elephant walk. i played it as a humorous encore piece at a recital. i gives you a lot of freedom to play around. and its fun to listen to. i have a copy for solo tuba and piano. it's good.

[Roger Lewis]

I've used the Two Moods for Tuba by Donald Swann on a number of recitals. It is a very challenging piece. The 1st movement has this high haunting melody, muted, and a big B section, then back to the muted solo. The 2nd movement is a humorous battle between the piano and the tuba to find the same key. It's a hoot when you do it as a "stage" piece. You WILL need a good pianist for this one.

On my Senior recital at Mannes I did an encore piece that I announced as one of the hardest pieces ever written for the tuba. I sat down, concentrated fiercly and jumped right into Bill Bell's "The Tubateer Polka". Needless to say, the audience had a great laugh at that. We were asked to do another encore, so, we did it again.

Roger

[Dennis K.]

I see Ben Vokits has already replied.
Anything off th Floozies CD would be great for a recital. The teachers would especially like SPCV - just make it the last thing you do before you leave the school...

[ASTuba]

You could go totally cheezy, and get an arrangement of a rock ballad for a small chamber group and you soloing....

[tubacdk]

there's always the Wilder "Effie" Suite, very fun & listenable. Single movements would work just fine if you don't need much time. there's also a more recent piece, Robert Denham's Four Ragged Fables (available at http://www.tubaeuphoniumpress.com). Very much the same vein as the Effie Suite. If you'd like to hear samples from the Denham piece, lemme know.

-ck

[windshieldbug]

For my Senior, I got the instrumentation together to do a couple of pieces from Scott Joplin's Red Back Book at the end.

That lightened the mood.

[JB]

It must be way too late in the day, 'cause right now "Duelin' Tubas" sounds about right to me... [or rather than another tuba, find a banjo player, or just about any other instrument, for that matter (well, probably excepting bagpipes...)]

Use the Martin Mull recording as a reference...; even better!

[iiipopes]

Not making it up... I used a Barkus Barry pickup (old transducer type) drilled into the mouthpiece. I lost it after the show, but it was terrible feedback if I didn't play. Tons o' fun back in '98 @ Oberlin College. You can ask my friends if you want... Was it a stellar performance? not really, my drummer was a friend who sped up through out the pulling teeth section, but it was still a hoot.

I'll see if I can dig it up.

King marketed something like that in the early 70's, with a little amp/processor of some sort. I can't remember the name of it. It supposedly had ring modulator effects and possibly others.

[MartyNeilan]

Barnicle Bill
Bass trombone solo that goes waaaaay down, so it should work good on tuba.

[windshieldbug]

Doc (now wanting to do an entertainment recital)

Are you implying that ALL your recitals aren't entertaining?

[windshieldbug]

isn't that what you were implying... ?

Hey, I'm just a professional smart-*** now! Do I have to allocute, too?

[patentnonsense]

it becomes necessary for the benefit of the masses.

Geez, lots of us here carry a lot of mass, helps with projection, don't hurt our intellect none!

Susan Nigro has some cute stuff on her contrabassoon recitals - Pink Panther and Beer Barrel Polka, for example.

Different direction: try a rapid trumpet or flute or even violin piece - if you're willing to do something that isn't quite spot on, it might still pass in encore.

Maybe for second encore, Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep, or My Home is in the Cellar Here...

[Brassworks 4]

Is your recital anywhere near Halloween??

Check out "A Morning Fog" by Ken Friedrich. It can be found alphabetically at:

http://brassworks4.com/euphonium_solos_a-d.html


Also - I've played the Wonderland Duet by Wilder - it has narration (Jabberwocky) which is GREAT! You can really have fun with that - it is most certainly entertaining.

But if your recital is close to Halloween, check out "A Morning Fog"