What is the highest note you can play on a BBb tuba?

[Rick Denney]

This was discussed about, oh, ten minutes ago:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=32018

Now, I have a question for you: Do you think that F above the staff represents a good range, or a poor range?

Rick "who can play that high but chooses not to in public" Denney

[Toad Away]

This was discussed about, oh, ten minutes ago

LOL

What's The Shortest Note You Can Play?

(Mine happened at a recording session in Dallas, early 1974, when we found out we were not going to be paid.

Forgot to mention, all my slides were pushed in ....

[Wyvern]

What I wonder is "Why all this interest in highest and lowest notes?" As long as you can cover the range of the music you are required to play, what matters FAR MORE is making a good tone.

[Art Hovey]

What's my highest note?
I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill myself.

[k001k47]

What is the middlest note you can Play on a tuba in D?

[Sharp]

.

[Toad Away]

What is the middlest note you can Play on a tuba in D?

Once, during a performance of Newark Siege for brass
5tet, I actually hit a D in the middle of the
bass clef .........

But I was using a CC...

[Tom Waid]

The countdown has started for someone to ask, "what is the loudest note you can play?"

[termite]

Here's a question - for those who play several different tubas (eg. BBb and EEb or CC and F) on a regular basis, do you get the same range on both instruments or can you go lower on your contrabass tuba and higher on your bass tuba?

Regards

Gerard

[Wyvern]

Here's a question - for those who play several different tubas (eg. BBb and EEb or CC and F) on a regular basis, do you get the same range on both instruments or can you go lower on your contrabass tuba and higher on your bass tuba?

It depends as much on the individual instrument as the key it is pitched. However generally the high register is more secure on the higher pitched tuba, while for low register the tone is fuller on the lower pitched tuba. Having said all that I find the upper and lower range on all my tubas varies little. The MAIN reason I see for having different pitched tubas is tone, rather than range.

[Todd S. Malicoate]

Here's a question - for those who play several different tubas (eg. BBb and EEb or CC and F) on a regular basis, do you get the same range on both instruments or can you go lower on your contrabass tuba and higher on your bass tuba?

My high range is quite similar on all keys of tuba, but...the mouthpiece size used on all of those horns is basically the same (in the same neighborhood, anyway).

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that it's the mouthpiece size (in general) that has more to do with range than the key of horn. I can play quite a bit higher with security on euphonium than I can on any tuba, but the mouthpiece is the next magnitude smaller from a tuba mouthpiece. Same goes for trumpet...another octave or so higher goes along with the next magnitude smaller mouthpiece.

So...if you want to play higher on a tuba...make an adaptor for a euphonium mouthpiece bore to tuba receiver and you'll be all set!

[sloan]

So...if you want to play higher on a tuba...make an adaptor for a euphonium mouthpiece bore to tuba receiver and you'll be all set!

That will help - but you'll be playing higher through a mega-phone, not a tuba.

The mouthpiece is one part of the equation - but the bell end matters, too.

[Todd S. Malicoate]

That will help - but you'll be playing higher through a mega-phone, not a tuba.

The mouthpiece is one part of the equation - but the bell end matters, too.

Sorry...couldn't find the "sarcasm" smiley for the last line of my post! Of course the end result of putting a smaller mouthpiece in a tuba with an adaptor would be unmusical at best.

[Rick Denney]

I am a senior, so I'm technically still in high school, yes. I do realize that there is more to Tuba playing than high notes, otherwise I would be playing Euphonium. But I was simply asking what the highest note you can play on a BBb Tuba is. I never said that only high notes matter..

The problem is that it is not a simple question.

1. Being able to play high and being able to play high dependably and with excellent tone are not the same thing.

2. Nobody has a good definition that works in words only for dependability and excellent tone.

3. Thus, the question is unanswerable.

4. People who ask this question are focusing on skills that are not important to making music, especially in high school.

5. Therefore, answering the question is unhelpful and perhaps detrimental, because it either leads to complacency or attempts at squeaking out higher notes without the corresponding fundamental improvements, which are usually found by working the whole range.

6. Nobody wants to provide an answer that is both vacuous and damaging. The reason is they have your best interests in mind.

7. So, don't be offended.

Rick "suggesting a few lessons with a teacher, where dependability and tone quality can be assessed" Denney

[ztuba]

I personally can legitimately hit lower and higher notes clearly and cleanly on my f tuba... I think it is just right n the sweet spot for the double pedal range sine the fourth valve fake note if an f and you can add valves ...I bet Eb tuba is better for that. But your high range shouldn't change even if you are on a tenor tuba. I can play just as low and high on any tuba it just speaks/feels different.

[CWessel188]

Jacobs played Bydlo on a BBb tuba. End of contest.

I don't play BBb, but my the largest range I can remember for my tuba is the high G in the Barnes concerto and double pedal F.
Once I hit a high Bb on a sousaphone. But I was using an Eb tuba mouthpeice.

More importantly, my USABLE range, the range I would got out in public and play in front of a symphony full of musicians extends from high F to pedal A-ish, depending on the day.

Unfortunately, the usable range does not include C# and D above the staff yet.

And I don't suppose there's a way to get over the huge shift between pedal C# 12345 and pedal C open?

[Alex C]

Arnold Jacobs recorded the Bydlo solo on his CC York tuba in the early 50's CSO recording. To my knowledge he did not play it on a BBb tuba though I believe he played it on a couple of different F tubas. All of which is immaterial to the discussion and misinformation about range in this thread.

Read Rick "suggesting a few lessons with a teacher, ..." Denney's suggestions, about two posts up from here, for a reasonable and thoughtful response to the all of the previous posts on this topic.

[Tuba Guy]

Chris, I'm pretty sure when Jacobs did the Bydlo performance you're talking about, it was on a double tuba, and he was playing it on the BBb side rather than the F side.
But of course, he was Arnold Jacobs, and could do things that make all of us now look like amatures.

Also, since when are you on tubenet?

[Lee Stofer]

When practicing consistently, every day, in the past I have had a few rare days where I could cleanly play the 2nd Eb above the bass clef staff. Not that that really is a measure of anything, as that is not anywhere near the normal daily range of a tuba, or anything I'd ever try to play in public.

Range is dependent upon the training of the individual and condition of equipment. What is most important, is what is done musically with that range. I'd rather play 1 1/2 octaves and sound great than 4 octaves and not sound great.

[Todd S. Malicoate]

http://www.windsongpress.com/jacobs/taylor.htm for more information about Arnold Jacobs' performance of Bydlo on the Bb/F double tuba from someone who knows. The rest of the article is a nice read, as well.

But your high range shouldn't change even if you are on a tenor tuba.

Really? I can play much higher on a tenor tuba with much greater security. As I mentioned before, I suspect it's the smaller mouthpiece that changes the available range quite a bit. Maybe I'm the oddball, though. Do you agree that one should be able to play higher on a trumpet, or are you saying that one's effective range is just a function of their chops and not the instrument/mouthpiece?