First venture into TE quartet

[MaryAnn]

Woo hoo.... last night was the first rehearsal of a just-formed TE quartet here. I'm playing bass tuba in it. We did pretty well considering; we're certainly not pros but we're not terrible either. Three old persons and one college senior, and we stayed together pretty well sight reading, even through some 5/8 stuff.

Question: we were playing mostly arrangements and original compositions of the guy who organized the group, and the bass tuba parts were generally C in the staff up to about D above middle C, with occasional excursions outside that range, and a whole lot of it in the upper half of that range. A lot of my parts could have been easily played on a euphonium. So, is this range "normal" for the bass tuba part in a TE quartet? I don't have problems in that range but my chops did get tired.

MA

PS: Another, unrelated question: I seem to remember reading once about an "elliptical" mouthpiece, one that was wider than it was high, to be used by low brass players who didn't have enough room between their upper lip and their nose to use a standard tuba mouthpiece (without it bonking their nose, if you know what I mean.) Am I remembering something real, or am I dredging up the contents of some weird dream I had once?

[Rick Denney]

Question: we were playing mostly arrangements and original compositions of the guy who organized the group, and the bass tuba parts were generally C in the staff up to about D above middle C, with occasional excursions outside that range, and a whole lot of it in the upper half of that range. A lot of my parts could have been easily played on a euphonium. So, is this range "normal" for the bass tuba part in a TE quartet? I don't have problems in that range but my chops did get tired.

Stuff that "stays in and above the staff" can be pretty taxing on endurance. I have played many arrangements done that way, but frankly I prefer arrangements where the 1st and 2nd tuba parts trade places once in a while. Not only are they less taxing, but they also provide a little more tonal variety in an ensemble that usually suffers from too little of it.

The TubaMeisters repertoire, as I remember the part of it that I knew from years ago, extended from about low Bb to Eb above the staff in the first tuba part. It's possible that the low Bb part was actually in a 2nd-tuba part--we traded parts from time to time when that fit our capabilities better (read: when the 1st tuba part was too technical for me but not for Ray). In most of the arrangements I did, I gave the tubas each their opportunity to play countermelody or melody, which provided much-needed rest for the other guy, who got to play the low oompah parts (these were all polkas and waltzes). I never wrote one that gave the melody only to one instrument, even if it featured that instrument. Moving the tune around spices things up while providing rest for the players. I learned that from playing Ray's excellent arrangements.

Some folks write for practice-room capabilities (and for high-end pros), but when standing in 100-degree weather in a theme park, and when playing for folks unlikely to be impressed by music that takes the players to their limits, simpler is better all around.

Rick "who doesn't have those chops any more" Denney

[MaryAnn]

Do you still have those polka and waltz arrangements? They sound like they would be fun to read, and we're still looking for suitable music.

MA

[Rick Denney]

Do you still have those polka and waltz arrangements? They sound like they would be fun to read, and we're still looking for suitable music.

MA

Go here:

http://www.bvdpress.com/

Enter "Grim" in the search box, and then scroll down the resulting list to "Search results found in category Tuba Quartet". A good sampling of Ray's TubaMeisters arrangements are available there, and certainly enough to fill a polka-based set. They are excellent for a good amateur group and for pros who don't want to be stressed out.

Rick "who played about half of these back in the day" Denney

[MaryAnn]

Thanks. I'll pass on that info to The Man.

MA

PS: It's kind of nice *not* being the organizer for once...I can just sit back and play.

[BVD Press]

Do you still have those polka and waltz arrangements? They sound like they would be fun to read, and we're still looking for suitable music.

MA

Go here:

http://www.bvdpress.com/

Enter "Grim" in the search box, and then scroll down the resulting list to "Search results found in category Tuba Quartet". A good sampling of Ray's TubaMeisters arrangements are available there, and certainly enough to fill a polka-based set. They are excellent for a good amateur group and for pros who don't want to be stressed out.

Rick "who played about half of these back in the day" Denney

Or here and find samples as well:

http://www.cimarronmusic.com

There are also piles of other quartets. If you have time to listen to a few and like them, send me a private message and I will send along the scores so you can see the ranges etc.

Generally speaking, I treat a Tuba Quartet as three upper parts and a bass part. Basically far a way in terms of range from the upper parts.

[WakinAZ]

...I seem to remember reading once about an "elliptical" mouthpiece, one that was wider than it was high, to be used by low brass players who didn't have enough room between their upper lip and their nose to use a standard tuba mouthpiece (without it bonking their nose, if you know what I mean.) Am I remembering something real, or am I dredging up the contents of some weird dream I had once?

Real enough for the internet, MA. See #19 on Art Hovey's page: http://www.galvanizedjazz.com/tuba.html Good luck with the quartet.

[Bill Troiano]

I don't know how many composer/arrangers actually write tuba/euph quartets having a bass tuba in mind for the 1st tuba part. I know some do, but for the most part, I think people write just write for 2 tubas and 2 euphs. In the Long Island Tuba Quartet (http://www.longislandtubaquartet.com" target="_blank" target="_blank) , Jeff and I play everything on CC tubas. I no longer own an F, but Jeff does. Occaisonally, Jeff brings the F for one or 2 pieces, based on range, not tonal color. If we're playing a full length concert, he'll never bring the F because he doesn't want to lug 2 tubas around.

Jeff and I usually alternate parts when we play through pieces for the first time. Then, that part becomes ours. Yeah, some of the 1st tuba parts get above the staff, but we just learn to play them. On a concert, sometimes it turns out that we're playing a program where one of us happens to be on the 1st part much of the time based on how we assigned it when we read through it for the first time. Then, at a dress rehearsal, we'll switch parts on a tune or two just to give the 1st player a break. That's just how we do it. We're not on the same level as a Sotto Voce or U.S. Marine Mand Tuba Quartet, but we've played together a long time and know each other very well. And, we get work! This might not have anything to do with your original question, MaryAnn.

[Z-Tuba Dude]

I...we've played together a long time and know each other very well. And, we get work!

Hi Bill, Do you have any suggestions as to which rocks to look under, in order to find 2ba 4tet gigs??? We haven't had a lot of luck so far....

[Bill Troiano]

Z, Some of our arrangements are standard published tuba quartets that can be purchased from any store or web site that sells tuba music. More than half of our repertoire consists of arrangements of pieces by others for us. Some are easy arrangements and pure crowd pleasers. Many of those arrangements are actually meant for the Massed Ens. of Howard Hovey Tuba Day each year. Then, LITQ uses them in concerts as quartets. Then, there are the arrangements meant specifically for us that are more challenging. Unfortunately, we've never sold or distributed any of these arrangements due to copyright issues. That's something we might have to deal with, but for the time being, we just perform the pieces. At HHTD, we collect the music after the concert.

You can start out by checking web sites, such as: Solid Brass, http://www.sldbrass.com/" target="_blank" target="_blank, Robert King and others. Also, find brass quartets (2 tpts., 2 tbns.). We use of those type of arrangements where the euphs. play the TC tpt parts and the tubas play the tbn. parts, some down an octave. Get people in the area to write for you, once you get established. Good luck.

Now that i re-read you question, i see that you are asking about gigs and not music. OK, let me start over. It does take a while to establish yourself and have your group's reputation get out there where people actually call you. But, for starters, go online and seacrh for all of the public libraries in your area. Make up a flier and send it to all of them. Long Island has tons of libraries, and at first, for every flier I would send out to these libraries, I might get 1 or 2 gigs. You have to start someplace. Also, search for "chambers of commerces" and email them. They sponsor all kinds of events. Search for carnivals and festivals in your area and contact them.

We were lucky enough to establish ourselves, first, at Howard Hovey Tuba Day, an event that I've chaired for 28 years. So, many music educators got to know us. We played on many school faculty recitals (no $$$) in the beginning.

[Bill Troiano]

Z,
I must have hit a button to post my reply, but I wasn't finished yet. I'm still recovering from the Yankee game I went to yesterday.

To continue, the more you perform, even for free, the more opportunities you will eventually get. Try the online search approach that I suggested. That wasn't available to us several years ago. Good luck