Audition Suggestion

[mTaUrBkA]

Here's a question for those of you who may be college professors...or anyone else who has an opinion for that matter...
I have just started playing C tuba in preparation for college next year. I have been performing my auditions on my BBb horn because I am far from proficient on my new CC horn. I have two conservatory auditions (NEC and Manhattan School of Music) left at the end of february and the beginning of march, which both require orchestral excerpts. I am fine with playing one of them on BBb, however on Wagner's Die Meistersinger I can not get up to the E a few bars before K, however on my CC tuba I can reach it. Do you think I am better off playing both of the excerpts on CC and playing my solo and etudes on BBb? Or should I play everything on BBb and in Die Meistersinger play either K to L or K to the end?

I don't want to come off like I am cutting corners by playing it on C tuba, but at the same time it allows me to play the music, as well as show that I have begun to learn C. Also, I wouldn't want to get stuck sight reading anything on C yet though...

Any Thoughts?

[Chuck Jackson]

I don't want to come off like I am cutting corners by playing it on C tuba,

Ha Ha, you're not. I think that the piece is suicide on BBb, on CC it lays great, but is easiest on F. Play your audition on what you sound best on and let them ask you if you have the intention of playing CC, then you have a ready made answer. Most schools, except Curtis it seems, couldn't care if you played a fiberglass sousaphone, they just want to hear it good. That's why they are in business, to make you better.

More important than the horn is how you present yourself. Answer questions in a confident, full voice while looking everyone you talk to in the eye. Please don't speak like a teenager (I teach them everyday and insist on correct grammar because thats what high paying jobs require) and dress well. Please pull up your pants. All these thigs goes as far as your playing. Trust me on this one. Good Luck, play your best and let fate takes it turn.

Chuck

[J.c. Sherman]

The difference between CC and BBb should be almost nil. Both can play Meistersinger. If you can only "reach the E" on the CC, it's your emboucher that needs work.

A great friend told me once: to practice playing high, practice playing high! Pragmatically, remember FAST AIR! And the most common problem in playing high is squeezing the face 'til air doesn't come out. No air = no high notes.

My $.02. Oh, the trill will be a $%@# on the BBb. If you have a CC with a long whole step fifth, finger the A and trill your 5th. Works great!

J.c.S.

[Chuck Jackson]

Oh, the trill will be a $%@# on the BBb.

I rest my case.

Chuck"who played the piece on BBb twice in high school with a very sharp 1/2 step trill and almost got away with it"Jackson

[windshieldbug]

If you can, try playing the excerpt on a couple of other model BBb's and see if you still have the same issue. Of course you're buzzing the same note on the CC, but it sounds as though with those horns/mouthpiece, you may be finding that your BBb isn't giving you any resonance help on that note.

And don't ask the freak jury®, why not ask the profs themselves and find out!? If you make it, they'll know soon enough what your attitude and capabilities are!

[Todd S. Malicoate]

Oh, the trill will be a $%@# on the BBb.

Why would it be any harder on a Bb? C is open up there on both horns, and the trill (if fingered) would be 1-2 to 2 on either horn.

I prefer lip-trilling this trill, anyhow...a snap on Bb using 2nd valve only.

To the OP...to be perfectly frank (which so few people are in regards to this sort of thing), if you are struggling to learn C fingerings and have a hard time reaching E above the staff, you are way behind if your goal is winning an orchestral audition on tuba (which is, I assume, why you are preparing to audition for conservatories and spend a tremendous amount of money on an education).

Since you did ask for opinions, mine would be to forget the auditions for NEC and Manhattan for now. Instead, choose a good university with a well-rounded program, major in music if you feel you must, and see how it goes...there will be plenty of time for specialty work preparing for the audition circuit after that if you feel that is the way you want to go. You are not ready for a conservatory at this point.

Please take this advice in the spirit it was intended...I wish you well in whatever you decide to do!

[J.c. Sherman]

The difficulty of the trill on 4 valve BBb and 4v CC is that both notes can be played with both fingerings, make the trill, well, challenging to play. The lip trill is a good option, but most highschoolers don't have that technique...

J.c.S.

[MartyNeilan]

Meistersinger on a 190 BBb was one of the pieces I used to get into MSM.
Also Hungarian March on the 190 BBb (per Don Harry)
VW 1st mvt on a Yamaha 621 F.
I may have played The Ride on the 190 as well that day, I can't remember. Looking back I am not satifsed with how I played The Ride back then, in general.

[mTaUrBkA]

Oh, the trill will be a $%@# on the BBb.

Why would it be any harder on a Bb? C is open up there on both horns, and the trill (if fingered) would be 1-2 to 2 on either horn.

I prefer lip-trilling this trill, anyhow...a snap on Bb using 2nd valve only.

To the OP...to be perfectly frank (which so few people are in regards to this sort of thing), if you are struggling to learn C fingerings and have a hard time reaching E above the staff, you are way behind if your goal is winning an orchestral audition on tuba (which is, I assume, why you are preparing to audition for conservatories and spend a tremendous amount of money on an education).

Since you did ask for opinions, mine would be to forget the auditions for NEC and Manhattan for now. Instead, choose a good university with a well-rounded program, major in music if you feel you must, and see how it goes...there will be plenty of time for specialty work preparing for the audition circuit after that if you feel that is the way you want to go. You are not ready for a conservatory at this point.

Please take this advice in the spirit it was intended...I wish you well in whatever you decide to do!

I do appreciate your opinion, as well as everyone elses. I can play it on BBb, however, the E sounds much more full and a tad bit easier for me to play on my newly acquired C horn. My original plan was stay away from the C horn until after I finnished my auditions and then make the switch this spring/summer before I start school in the fall. However, it's hard staying away from a new horn sitting at home, so I have messed around with it a little bit. To me it just sounds better on the C because the higher register sounds a lot fuller and more solid. I don't know if it is the key of the instrument, or the instrument itself, but I wasn't sure if it was appropriate to audition on both horns, or just stick to BBb for it. The BBb horn is a Mirafone 186, and the CC is a Meinl Weston 2155. The trill hasn't seemed to pose an extreme issue for me on either horn (I can definately work on it some more, but it doesn't seem like it can't be done well on BBb).

So far my auditions have been extremely successful, but I haven't played the Wagner excerpt at them. I just have these two conservatory auditions left, as well as Colorado Boulder. I originally planned to major in music ed for undergrad and performance for grad school, however when I played at a clinic for manhattan brass, Dave Taylor convinced me to look at some conservatories (including Manhattan where he teaches). Still haven't made a final decision and I won't until I hear audition results from everywhere, but I think I am heading more towards music ed at a state school, then make some more decisions toward the end of college for my graduate school plans.

[Toad Away]

"... far from proficient on my new CC ..."

What the .... ?
cheezus!
Put the BBb down and pick up the CC.
(Next)
Put a CC fingering chart on your music stand next to
your easiest etudes.
Every day add more difficult etudes and in a week
I guarantee you won't think twice about which horn to
play.
Plenty of time left to polish up those excerpts.

[adam0408]

I don't want to come off like I am cutting corners by playing it on C tuba, but at the same time it allows me to play the music, as well as show that I have begun to learn C. Also, I wouldn't want to get stuck sight reading anything on C yet though...

Any Thoughts?

Here are my thoughts: You are really over-thinking this issue. Use the horn that you sound best on. I would say don't play the CC because you just started on it. Your chops are probably not used to it. I would put it down until after your audition and focus entirely on making what you have to play sound good on BBb. After the audition, let your BBb collect dust and really hammer on the CC over the summer to be ready to play it next year wherever you go.

It all really depends on how much time you have until your audition and how much time you are willing to spend getting potentially VERY frustrated with how things are going on CC.

In short, bring ONE tuba to the audition. Switching between the two may prove to be a nightmare. It is just one more reason to forget fingerings, get confused, or get overly exerted carrying two tubas up a flight of stairs.

No one on here has the ability to really say which tuba you should play, or even if you should take the auditions. Speak with your private teacher and get their opinion. If you don't have a private teacher, find a pro from an orchestra nearby and play for them. They will be able to give you a realistic and objective opinion, considering they won't know you from adam.

I say F conservatories personally, but that is a whole nother ball of wax.

[Biggs]

Principle [sic] Tubist Troy University

There's a telling endorsement for Troy U!