New Tuba Music

[pierso20]

I am a tuba player and also very avid composer.

I have been writing more and more solo music and am just curious as to what it is you all like to see in new tuba music. (or don't like to see ).

I know this is a silly and probably rather opinionated question to have answered, but I've been dabbling in writing tuba solo's, tuba euph pieces, etc. AND anyway, what sort of things tickle your fancies? I know what I like, but I am hardly a representation.

Hopefully I'll have a piece written and finished in the next couple of months that I can share with tubenetters!

[BriceT]

triple tonguing!

[gregsundt]

Don't mean to sound pedantic, but what about real melodies?

[TubaRay]

Don't mean to sound pedantic, but what about real melodies?

What a concept!!!

[pierso20]

triple tounging..always good!

real melodies!!!!! WHAT A CONCEPT, RIGHT???????

real faster interesting stuff in pedal....has it's problems with sonorities, but in the right moment can be amazing!! keep these ideas coming.

[BVD Press]

real faster interesting stuff in pedal....has it's problems with sonorities, but in the right moment can be amazing!! keep these ideas coming.

If you do use pedals, be very picky when you use them. The can easily get buried with whatever accompaniment you choose. They do work quite well in cadenzas and music that just has a downbeat and the tuba the rest of the beat. The concept holds water for triple tonguing as well.

Melodies are great as well! Go to a conference and a nice change of pace from the normal fair will be a melody.

[pierso20]

Brooke,

I think it is funny that you even ask us players what kind of music we (as a community) want to play. I'd think you would write the music that you hear in your head, and then present it to the instrumentalist as you have percieved it. I think there have been some fairly flipant replys in this thread...

The truth is - if you write music, the stuff you hear in your head as music, it is the job of the musician to recreate the from the page as he or she hears it. What it sounds like to me is you are asking others what they might like to commission. I would entice you to write what you desire to write and what you are passionate about. As a performer yourself, you know the limitations of the horn, which ones to push, which ones to break... If you are truely excited about something you have fashioned because it is entirely yours, and nothing else is like it; I think the piece will be sucessful regardless of what people initially think. I initially thought the Hindemith Sonata was a big stinking turd. Now I quite like the work, but it took a lot of time for me to hear the music in it. Uniqueness challenges people, and its quite fun.

I wish you the best of luck in your composition endeavors!

I write under my own inspiration always! I appreciate the post of course. The point of my asking was solely on hearing what other people like to play or see in a solo part. I have things that I like, but I also like to explore musical options of the possible performers as well. People often write music for themselves, but also for others. So I just like to be as open minded as possible to see what things people like, because I know what I like. I am no mind reader!

Thanks for the post though, and I completely agree. I just figured you could hear my reasoning for the question.

[pierso20]

I was actually thinking more of fast eighth note runs in the pedal range (like the Elgar Enigma G.R.S., ESPECIALLY the brass band version). something bouncy, fast, and somewhat staccato.



Triple tonguing stuff in the pedal register (even the thought!) makes my head hurt!

thinking about triple tonguing in the pedal register makes my head hurt!!! haha

All things are subject to opinion. Composers write for themselves, and they also write for others as well. Since there is a large range of likes and dislikes, one can only hope we can overlap....in the hopes that we can make money!!! (which...is partially what having a job is about, right????)

I just wanna know what sorta things tubenetters like to see in new tuba music. Whether or not I want to write things mentioned here, is of course up to the composer...and who is the composer in this case....?? ME!!!!

(personally I like to see more tonal, lyrical tuba music...something that takes advantage of the, what I consider) sweet timbre of a tuba).

[Tom Beck II]

I'm out here in America's Paradise, Kauai, and I don't believe anyone has taken our natural sounds; surf, wind, birds, rain, waterfalls and native Hawaiian drum, coconut shell and stone rhythms, conch shell , bamboo, nose flute & vocal chant pitches and using a brass quintet as a contemporary medium along with possible reality loops, composing a challenging composition. With care, mouthpiece tappings, fingered air, humming partials while playing fundamental low tones on horn & tuba can expand the sounds, mutes and even rhythm devises played by members while not brass playing give added colors of sound.
Remember, Vivaldi put only string instuments to work emulating the sounds of Italy's Seasons. If these thoughts give you any interest, I play tuba and am basic leader of the HOMESTEAD BRASS QUINTET here on Kauai and we'd be happy to give you exposure.
Tom Beck II

[keronarts]

I pretty much agree with what Ben's post earlier. I think that, if you're excited about some type of musical idea or expression and have some genuine appreciation of it, then that's what the composition should become -- regardless of what anyone else might think or imply about that. What people are really interested in hearing and playing are things that YOU are committed to and enthusiastic about. Playing too many second-guessing games about even your own thought and feelings is a good way to kill off the initial inspiration. Even if that inspiration is something you thought about while waiting on line in the grocery store, stopped at a red light in traffic, or that jumped into your head @ 3 am when you rolled out of the sack on your way into the bathroom. .....

Jot it down, develop it, grow it. Wherever it happens, that's YOUR material and a little bit sacred in just that way. It depends on how you develop it, of course, but big trees grow from tiny seeds -- ones that YOU find and choose to nourish.

If you're committed to it, then it's your music and, in the end, it'll develop into something and find an audience of players/ listeners because it's something that you took the time to actively nourish and pour your enthusiasm into. If it's going to become great music and something that other people will enjoy and relish -- and that'll probably be something that the historians would bat around in the future anyway, undoubtedly it first has to be something that you're fired up about. If it doesn't wash on THAT level first, we probably have a flat tire on our hands. Best wishes with this.

[tubatooter1940]

I'm glad to hear a tuba player wanting to write for tuba.
You know what a tuba sounds good doing and you can emphasize it's stong points. You know at what point as you go lower where the "edgy"sound becomes available and can imagine and appreciate fine bass.
I am composing my first tuba tune because I need this tune so badly and no one has written it yet. I am up for something rangy, jazzy-bouncy with a good dose of humor.
pierso20, please keep the forum members posted on what you come up with and I will do so as well.
Dennis Gray
tubatooter1940
http://www.myspace.com/johnrenomusic

[pierso20]

all instruments have huge possibilities, and the tuba is no exception. I will let my creativity...flow? or at least do something




how about I edit the post??? maybe, what kind of things people like to see in music they like???? (not even from a compositional standpoint, but from an enjoyment perspective standpoint????)

I just like to see what other people like, because I KNOW what I like...as crazy as it may be at times.

[pierso20]

Seriously, I haven't heard of a concertina for tuba and beat boxer yet!

now THIS is a suggestion of the sort that i was looking for!!!!

[k001k47]

Tuba choir music would be nice.

[circusboy]

One of my frustrations with much that's composed for tuba is that it spends most of its time in the high range--toward the top of and above the staff. It's as if composers would really rather compose for cello or trombone.

To me, the sweetest range of the tuba is around C in the staff to around A below the staff--with stuff on either end of that being exceptional/occasional.

Melody is grand, but not absolutely crucial.

Innovation is highly prized. You could even allow for alleatoric passages.

Another 'innovation' would be to not cram it up with 16th and 32nd notes. One, because the tuba is generally a sluggish instrument (why not celebrate, rather than hide that fact), and two, because a lot more players could play it if it's not written for virtuosi only.

My 2 cents.

[tubaguy9]

(personally I like to see more tonal, lyrical tuba music...something that takes advantage of the, what I consider) sweet timbre of a tuba).

On the other hand, (although surely they're ALL better than me! ) the big thing I dislike about alot of euphonium playing is that it seems that everything has to be pretty and dark. I want to hear some aggression, or almost anything besides "pretty and dark." I love big sounds, but I'm really not a "dark" guy myself.


I would also not mind if you wrote some cool multiphonics into it (maybe a melody with singing an octave over it, then a minor 9th, and so on.... then BAM finally everything is crystal clear again!).

Yeah...a GOOD solo piece, for tuba with Piano accompaniment. From what I know, there really aren't any out there (at least from what I know, and I've talked to some people who have put out a book about many solos for tuba...)

[Tubaing]

The song needs At LEAST 5 Dog Fights with each one being even equally awesome than the previous one!

[tubafatness]

I'm out here in America's Paradise, Kauai, and I don't believe anyone has taken our natural sounds; surf, wind, birds, rain, waterfalls and native Hawaiian drum, coconut shell and stone rhythms, conch shell , bamboo, nose flute & vocal chant pitches and using a brass quintet as a contemporary medium along with possible reality loops, composing a challenging composition. With care, mouthpiece tappings, fingered air, humming partials while playing fundamental low tones on horn & tuba can expand the sounds, mutes and even rhythm devises played by members while not brass playing give added colors of sound.
Remember, Vivaldi put only string instuments to work emulating the sounds of Italy's Seasons. If these thoughts give you any interest, I play tuba and am basic leader of the HOMESTEAD BRASS QUINTET here on Kauai and we'd be happy to give you exposure.
Tom Beck II

I think the ideas put forth in here could amount to some great music. I've always liked finding new uses for the tuba, and it would be great if there were more pieces out there that really stretched the limits of modern tuba playing.

BBb Dave. If you want to hear some amazing beatboxing - pick up Medula, Bjork's (except for a piano on one song) all vocal record. The sounds that she gathers from her fellow musicians is astouding - From the throat singing all the way through the beatboxing. She has a DVD outlining the making of the album. It is really inspiring.

I heartily second this suggestion. Honestly, what can be better than an album with Bjork, an Icelandic choir, Rahzel, Mike Patton and Dokaka?