Carmina Burana tuba part?

[BVD Press]

Any one have a level of difficulty for this part? I don't have the book yet, but am a little curious since I have not seen or played the part in the past. The gig is in May so there is plenty of time...

[tubashaman2]

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[BVD Press]

This version has strings, 6 woodwinds, 4 brass and percussion so I have idea what to expect. It could be fun!

[pierso20]

Playing this right now actually.

The version I have...can't remember who arranged it...but it's a band arrangment

But I would say it's a medium to difficult part. There's some exposed stuff, lots of low E's and D's, difficulty in immediate tempo changes. Most of the difficulty is in octave leaps that tend to happen all over the place. This is definitely a 2 or 3 tuba's needed part. And bring out the 6/4 beast as well.

OOOOh, and theres a 1 measure 4th space Gb that is tuba and ONLY tuba. The part says sneeringly....kinda fun....and quite frackable.

Your arrangement may not be as much playing, but expect to play some low notes and be excited for that short solo!

That scoring had no tuba part, but was this originally written for full orchestra?

I'm not entirely sure, but in the recording I listened to, there definitely was some instrumentation...including the tuba "solo" I mentioned earlier.

But sure to get back to us and let us know how it is.

Brooke

[tubashaman2]

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[BVD Press]

But sure to get back to us and let us know how it is.

Brooke

Will do. I think I will have the part in my hands next week sometime. Like I said, it could be fun!

[eupher61]

Orff's original orchestration is not particularly difficult in any manner, but it's fun. I've not played any reduced versions, but the band tuba part bears little similarity to the orchestra part.

[Chuck Jackson]

Ok, here goes.

Opening- Loud sustained notes in the cash register.

Then you sit around a fair bit.

End of the "Abbots Song" a VERY loud whole note Gb in the staff that is a solo with little or no tonality prep. When this piece came up in my playing days, I would pick-up the horn, blast the Gb, put it down wait a minute and do it again, about 25 times just to get used to it.

Later on in the Drinking song, you have a syncopated line, kinda of slow that starts on a D below the staff (not the pedal) and moves up thus: D-A-D-A-D to the D above the staff then an immediate tempo change where you have to start on an E in the staff then up an octave, then drop 2, all on E's. This happens twice.

The finale has some nice chorale writing that is a little rangy.

Play it on a big horn, have fun. OPINION COMING- This is not a great piece of music, just boisterous. Bring a book.

Hope this helped.

Chuck"who doesn't miss playing this piece at all"Jackson

[Art Hovey]

The difficult parts are:
-counting rests, staying awake, and knowing when to come in
-the high E above the staff, which can be a struggle for both tuba an 1st horn.

At least you do get to blow and be heard in a couple of spots.
I enjoyed doing it a couple of years ago.

[BVD Press]

Dear Chuck,

riting that is a little rangy.

Play it on a big horn, have fun. OPINION COMING- This is not a great piece of music, just boisterous. Bring a book.

Will do and thanks! My goal (at least right now) is to play less and write/arrange/engrave more, but gigs come in every now and then so....

It pays decently and with just one rehearsal this one is hard to turn down!

[BVD Press]

The difficult parts are:
-counting rests, staying awake, and knowing when to come in
-the high E above the staff, which can be a struggle for both tuba an 1st horn.

At least you do get to blow and be heard in a couple of spots.
I enjoyed doing it a couple of years ago.

Sounds good to me and the E should be fun!

[Bill Troiano]

Hi Bryan! Ditto what Chuck and Art said. I just played it a few weeks ago. It's close to an hour long. Because of the arpeggiated D,A,D,A,D passage, it sets it up so that the E above it isn't difficult to hear and to play - on CC anyway. I played it on my Gnagey CC. Have fun with it!

[windshieldbug]

Once, in rehearsal I came in LOUD on that Gb with pride... and clammed it.

After that, I looked at the score and made sure I had that pitch in my head WELL before I had to play it.

Worked fine after that.
YMMV

[MartyNeilan]

OOOOh, and theres a 1 measure 4th space Gb that is tuba and ONLY tuba. The part says sneeringly....kinda fun....and quite frackable.

Yup.

That is about the only thing I remember clearly about it, besides that it is a loud, low, big-horn kind of work (only played it in a wind ensemble / symphonic band kind of environment.) Funny thing about that note - on some BBb tubas it can be hard to grab, due to using all the small tubing in the mid-upper register, on most CC tubas it should slot nicely.

I'm with Bug on this one - get it in your head before. (Kind of like that High Ab that starts the Dukas Fanfare.) Whatever note comes several measures before (I am pretty sure it is different) hear that note, then hear the interval of the new note. Keep hearing that new note until it is time to come in - then Punch It!

[Rick Denney]

End of the "Abbots Song" a VERY loud whole note Gb in the staff that is a solo with little or no tonality prep. When this piece came up in my playing days, I would pick-up the horn, blast the Gb, put it down wait a minute and do it again, about 25 times just to get used to it.

Later on in the Drinking song, you have a syncopated line, kinda of slow that starts on a D below the staff (not the pedal) and moves up thus: D-A-D-A-D to the D above the staff then an immediate tempo change where you have to start on an E in the staff then up an octave, then drop 2, all on E's. This happens twice.

Both of these licks are identical in both the orchestral and band parts.

The edge on the Gb is critical to the character. That's a note where the Blokepiece might really shine on a BAT. I found the Gb much scarier than the high E.

Rick "'Ego sum bloody abbas, indeed'" Denney

[eupher61]

"'Ego sum bloody abbas, indeed'"

someone tell that Orff guy not to mix Latin and German in a text, will ya?

[Wyvern]

It is a few years since I played Carmina Burana (one of my first orchestral concerts), so don't remember details of the music, but do remember what an exilarating experience it was with large choir behind.

At that time I only had my old Besson 981 Eb and I was hyperventilating in the finale trying to keep up

[pierso20]

It is a few years since I played Carmina Burana with orchestra, so don't remember details of the music, but do remember what an exilarating experience it was with large choir behind. At that time I only had my old Besson 981 Eb and I was hyperventilating in the finale trying to keep up

Actually, the time I did it last was 6 years ago in High school. We did the FULL band arrangement that I'm doing currently AND we had a 100 voice choir behind us...(and these were GREAT high school ensembles).

needless to say...it was fun....it was loud.....AWESOME>

[pierso20]

Dress rehearsal before the concert on Sunday...

Time to play the Gb....

Nailed a B natural....and then jumped to the Gb.......A wonderful V-I.....

However, at the concert I do have to say I nailed that Gb.....unfortunately it's amazing how distracted I was in the whole piece before the note.....all that nervousness for ONE note!!!

Cheers!

[Geotuba]

This thread caught my attention as I am booked to play this on May 30th and the last time I played it was in 1975 or thereabouts. I remembered about the Es (including the solo-ish ones one bar after rehearsal mark 97 that no-one seems to have mentioned) but now the discussion on the Gb has got me thinking and researching. I dug out a couple of recordings - my old DG LP of the German Opera Chorus and Orchestra (with Fischer-Dieskau) conducted by Eugen Jochum and the Eugene Ormandy/Philadelphia Orchestra recording. Boy what a difference in the Gb's between those two performances. The German one is clearly a BAT and is played as written (ff accented with diminuendo) whereas the Philadelphia one doesn't even sound like a tuba (in fact I thought it was a French Horn when I first heard it) and does a short cresc. then dim.

Any comments?

Now, as for getting the pitch, it is easy enough the way the baritone sings it on the DG recording - you can pick it up from him. But I'm not sure what is actually written (or how the soloist in my performance will do it) - any other comments on that?