Treble Clef Tuba Transposition

[justinbarleben]

From the drum corps end of things, I know that drum corps tuba music is read as trumpet music (in C if I'm not mistaken). It's really funny to have the high school and college kids reading bass clef and the drum corps vets reading treble, on the same line. I've learned how to speak fluent trumpet because I kept forgetting to bring my music to rehearsal last summer.

[DaTubaKid]

For reading brass band parts, you have to transpose.

If you're playing a BBb part on a CC tuba, then you read it down a whole step. So a written C will sound a Bb.

For playing an Eb part on CC tuba, a written C should sound an Eb, so simply add three flats and pretend like you're in bass clef.

[DaTubaKid]

For playing an Eb part on CC tuba, a written C should sound an Eb, so simply add three flats and pretend like you're in bass clef.

Didn't I say that?

RC

If I pretend like your post didn't happen, then it didn't really happen then, did it?

[DonShirer]

I also know that tuba is a non-transposing insturment, as I learned in conducting.

I imagine there are quite a few things some conductors don't know about musical instruments.

[LoyalTubist]

Back in the old days, you started tuba players on trumpet or cornet. Actually, you didn't know they were going to be tuba players until you realized how badly they played the trumpet or cornet.

Using the knowledge of the cornet/trumpet fingering, when the student starts on the tuba, he starts on an Eb tuba. Middle C in treble clef looks just like an Eb in bass clef. Just remember that, three flats (key of Eb major) is the same as C major (repeating this for the 76th time).

This how they used to start all the musicians in British brass band. Traditionally, all the wind instruments in the brass band read treble clef except for the bass trombone player, who (also traditionally) plays an instrument pitched in G.

[windshieldbug]

I imagine there are quite a few things some conductors don't know about musical instruments.

To be fair, a lot of conductors have guessed that the instruments are somewhere in the big crowd of people that often seem to gather in front of the conductor's music stand...

[KevinMadden]

I also know that tuba is a non-transposing insturment, as I learned in conducting.

I imagine there are quite a few things some conductors don't know about musical instruments.

I've always liked the question that is traditionally on the Tuba Secondary final here :
"Re-write this excerpt for the four main keys of tuba ( F, Eb, C, Bb)"

[peter birch]

I also know that tuba is a non-transposing insturment, as I learned in conducting.

I imagine there are quite a few things some conductors don't know about musical instruments.

Imagine the trouble we would all be in if they did !!

[sinfonian]

For reading brass band parts, you have to transpose.

For playing an Eb part on CC tuba, a written C should sound an Eb, so simply add three flats and pretend like you're in bass clef.

Another alternative not mention if you are a CC player pretend that you are a Trumpet player and go out and buy BBb and Eb tubas and just read the Treble Clef and use the CC fingerings and use the tuba that corresponds to the part.

[KevinMadden]

For reading brass band parts, you have to transpose.

For playing an Eb part on CC tuba, a written C should sound an Eb, so simply add three flats and pretend like you're in bass clef.

Another alternative not mention if you are a CC player pretend that you are a Trumpet player and go out and buy BBb and Eb tubas and just read the Treble Clef and use the CC fingerings and use the tuba that corresponds to the part.

Did that in Brass Choir this year!! Had a couple Bb treble parts I didn't feel like transposing so i just borrowed a friend's BBb for those parts!

(and now that I own an Eb...... )

[ken k]

I know in alot of brass band music and such there are tuba parts in treble clef. I also know that tuba is a non-transposing insturment, as I learned in conducting.

However, is the tuba in Eb kind of like the bari-sax and sound down an Octave plus a major 6th than when written, or are the parts in C?

To simply answer your question, yes, you are correct. The Eb tuba transposition is just like that of a baritone sax, down an octave and a 6th. You read the music as if you were playing trumpet.

The Bb tuba transposition is down two octaves and a second.

The confusion comes from whether you are talking about the instrument or the music. As we all know, the tuba generally reads bass clef music in C, so the music is not transposed (in America anyway). However because we play a "Bb" or an "Eb" tuba people will often think that the music is transposed. I think of it as using a different set of fingerings not as transposing. When I play bass clef I use the Eb fingerings, when I play brass band music in treble clef I use trumpet fingerings. You can use that "looks like bass clef" transposition thing for Eb tuba, but I always screw up the accidentals when I do that, so I just think treble clef trumpet fingerings.

ken "not sure how well I explained that. i hope I didn't make it more confusing" k

[TubaRay]

I've always liked the question that is traditionally on the Tuba Secondary final here :
"Re-write this excerpt for the four main keys of tuba ( F, Eb, C, Bb)"

LOL

[Geotuba]

I imagine there are quite a few things some conductors don't know about musical instruments.

Doesn't matter - the conductor is all powerful - for proof see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzdUiwB-Fj0

[DonShirer]

Geotuba wrote:

Doesn't matter - the conductor is all powerful

A musician once said "a baton
Is a conductors' "sine qua non."
He waves it about
And the music comes out
No matter what drug he is on.

(great clip!)

[Geotuba]

(great clip!)

It seems he learned some of his technique from Leonard Bernstein - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=422-yb8TXj8

[MartyNeilan]

I was the only person to get a perfect score on transpositions in my class.

A little humility goes a long way on this board.
There have been numerous "performance majors" YOUR AGE making a full time living playing the horn.
That carries a little more weight, I would think.
GPA in and of itself means very little in the real world.

You can lurk and learn a lot on this board, or you can continue to be a know-it-all with nothing to back it up. Your choice.

P.S. You could have answered your original question that started this thread with only about five minutes of research if you took the time to look.

[LoyalTubist]

Yup...

I got a near perfect score on my comps for my written comps for my master of music. Before that, I played one of the most popular recitals at the seminary where I was attending grad school...

Add four bucks and I can get the coffee I want at Starbuck's.

And now, I use the music that I learned in order to teach Vietnamese high school and university undergraduates how to pronounce better English.

Yes, music DOES help one to learn English...