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[BVD Press]

Pic from Concert:

[Rick Denney]

We need several hundred more of him. As I said, we are making strides. More must be made. I wonder what things will be like in a hundred years or so for the tuba.

Part of what makes it work for Oystein is that he can play so high, and with such core to his sound. Pitch clarity is not as good for the other 99.9999% of tuba players.

One of Baadsvik's usual performance pieces is Vivaldi's Four Seasons. I've heard that work performed by many a violinist. I would say that even Baadsvik can't touch the subtlety applied to the work by your average professional violin soloist. I don't think it's because he lacks musicianship or skill. I just think it's the octave. It is because of that comparison that I agree with your point that tubas will never be accepted as solo instruments, just as contrabassoons and string basses are not accepted as such.

I've heard the great string bass soloists play works for cello, and they always sound like string basses being played too high.

No matter what, we can't alter the octave we play in. And that octave is not where people are used to hearing solos, except maybe Old Man River. However much we think we can transcend that limitation (and I'm not including "me" in "we"), we have to recognize that the great violinists can be just as transcendent and still benefit from a more advantageous starting point.

Personally, I'm more impressed on a musical rather than technical level by an orchestral tuba player doing the right things than by a tuba soloist.

Rick "who enjoys playing and listening to the tuba for its intended musical purpose" Denney

[Wyvern]

NOTHING sounds as good to my ear as a rocking low brass quartet under a big symphony. THAT type of playing is our real strong point, and I have yet to see a great concerto written for us that utilizes this sort of playing.

Completely agree! I personally tend to prefer listening to tuba playing within the orchestra (e.g. part in Prokofiev 5, or Mahler 6), rather than soloists out front. Nearly all concerti for tuba tend to use it far too much in a way and register it is not at its best - like some sort of big euphonium and in that case the piece would really be better played by euphonium. Let a tuba sound like a tuba with the special attributes of the tuba to put a foundation under the group like no other!

I remember going to the UK premier of the John Williams Tuba Concerto in London in concert conducted my Mr.Williams mostly of his film music. I remember even me as a tuba player enjoyed the tuba parts in the film music more than the concerto itself.

[BVD Press]

As Wade said, "we are a novelty" and I see nothing wrong with this as well. Canadian Brass has made a living for decades with this, but they also play great and that is the key. We have to go beyond our normal repertoire before we can expect a general admission audience to have respect for our own repertoire. Many performers record what will sell before they record what they want to record. You have to get your foot in the door and then you can expand.

Our we making inroads: Yes! Tuba Carnival (the CD the VIvaldi mentioned above is on) was elected by ClassicToday as one of the best six recordings worldwide for solo instrument and orchestra. In addition, see the attachment from ClassicToday where there are 4 recommendations of which 3 are string CDs and one is a Tuba CD.

Getting respect for our instrument is a long road, but changing the perception of the tuba really starts with us. If we don't believe we can be a solo instrument, no one outside of our community will either.

On the other hand, if there is a composer out there willing to write a low brass solo piece with orchestra I would love to hear that as well!

Wishing all well,

CToday.png

[bearphonium]

Wandering off tangentially, and possibly way far from the OP, but I really can't remember that far back...

Why is it that most solo performances are done in the extreme upper range of an instrument? I realize that it takes a lot of training and practice to get proficient in those upper registers, no matter the instrument, but FOR ME, the best sounds that an instrument makes are in those basic, fundamental, first pitch learned regions of the register. Rick might have nailed it when he said that Oystein plays in that register with "such core to his sound" but by and large, a trumpet, trombone, euphonium or tuba played in that extreme upper range sounds screechy (I would include violin and clarinet in that mix as well, but I really don't like to encourage them in any ways ) and not melodic. Pitch and core might have a big part to do with that, but I know in some of the Tuba Ensemble stuff we're playing, the 1st Euph part is just plain screetchy and not musical because it is so blasted high.

Ally"just wondering"House

[BVD Press]

Maybe a simple answer is the sound projects and is easier to hear in the upper register.

I know many people on the list want a piece in a lower register, but I am not sure there is a piece that has been written with lots of low notes with band or orchestral accompaniment that has been successful? By successful I mean played often with larger ensembles. Maybe someone knows of some?

Projecting over an ensemble is difficult and the lower register has a tendency to blend better. This is probably why most orchestral music is in the "cash" register.

One could do an experiment: Grab a concerto and play it down an octave. Which range works better as a soloist?

Another experiment: Grab and excerpt and play it up an octave. Which range works better when playing with an ensemble?

Being in the back is much different from being in the front and we must find ways to adapt. Range is one way of doing this.

Aren't pieces for other instruments pushing the limits of the upper registers as well?

I vote against screechy!

[imperialbari]

Bass instruments are kind of unique in the matter of having solos written for them, because the human ear has problems with discerning intervals smaller than a fourth as soon as both notes are below F# (4th line Bass Clef). Some styles still use small-&-low intervals for effect, but not for clarity.

Fourths still can be perceived, but if the lower note is the bass note, the resolution into a third, which older classical music demands, still will come out muddy in the true bass/contrabass range.

This leaves the composers with two options in low classical style bass/contrabass solo passages: let the soloist be the bass line or let the soloist play/sing the fifth or octave above the bass note. There are endless variations possible in form of embellishments and passing notes for the bass/contrabass soloist, yet the soloist still is tied to what the accompanying bass line does.

To free the bass/contrabass soloists their solo lines often are taken up in the range above this said F#, where the soloists may be treated like any other non-bass line. The string bass solo repertory often is written for double basses stringed F#-B natural-E-A to make the high range easier. Normal stringing is E-A-D-G.

If the accompaniment has fast decaying notes like with string pizzicato or with harp, the low bass soloist also is given more freedom.

An amateur tubist, who also was a good pianist, but who had no formal education as a musician, hunted solo rep from wherever in the classical repertory. As he could read clefs, he suggested me a tenor solo from an early bel canto opera. The melodic line sounded well on tuba, but when I heard the transposed score, I became uneasy as it sounded profoundly wrong in all the cadential turns (the temporary and final endings).

Looking at the transposed score told me the nature of the problem. This style has a very formal bass line, not unlike Mozart’s, when approaching endings. When the tenor solo line was transposed down two octaves, it descended below the accompanying bass and contrabass lines. Thereby these bass function were bereft exactly their function of being basses, and the overall result became wrong.

One may say that Bach’s cello suites are the ideal bass solos. From the solo line’s structure the listener’s ear often imagines a full musical structure with bass and chord functions. But as these extras are in the listening imagination, there are no acoustic clashes in the real soundscape.

Klaus