First Brass Band Experience. Advice??

[cwarren]

Hello all,

So, beginning next week I will start playing regularly with a Brass Band. I am playing the Bb Bass part. Anyone who has any experience with Brass Band Genre that would be willing to share any advice would be awesome.

As a player, I've never had to read a treble clef part as part of my studies or rehearsals. Will this be hard to get used to? Are there any tricks involved with transposing the parts on the spot? Obviously, I know I will have to take the music out of the folder and actually practice, but our first rehearsal next week will be the first time I see any of the music. Do I just try and jump in??

Thanks for any information!


Cameron "who is nervous about his first time playing in a Brass Band without a clue how he is going to read fluently in Bb treble clef" Warren

[swillafew]

Get your hands on a trumpet method and play out of it. If it has a Bb fingering chart, so much the better for you. A well used one with a lot of pencil marks might be just the ticket.

[wrongtrousers]

Time and patience

[iiipopes]

Get a well-rounded book like the Rubank Advanced Method for trumpet, which has all sorts of different exercises in progessing difficulty: scales, melodic studies, articulation studies, duets (to practice with your section mate) flexibility exercises, solo pieces, and has not only a fingering chart, but an interval chart so you can start seeing the relationships and patterns to help you learn the fingerings more quickly.

[imperialbari]

Nobody likes ledger lines. Being cross-eyed I hate them. In that context the British Brass band BBb bass notation is one of my two favourite ways of reading for BBb tuba. The other one is string bass notation, where one has to read one octave down.

The two orchestral instruments with their working ranges closest to that of contrabass tubas are string bass and contra-bassoon. Both read the bass clef one octave down.

Klaus

[termite]

The first ten years are the hardest......heh heh heh!

What everyone else said - just learn standard trumpet treble clef fingerings. It will open up a whole new world - you can grab any solo, study etc. written for trumpet, euphonium, horn etc. and just play it. It also gives you a better idea of what the players around you are trying to do - you will know when the trumpet player next to you is playing a fifth or sixth partial and therefore why they're flat or sharp and what to do about it.

What sort of music are you playing? Standard entertainment music or full on test pieces?

A lot of the older brass band music has the tubas written in octaves often with the EEb part going way too high. ( Not too high to play - just too high to sound like a bass register). In the old days these parts were played on a fairly small instrument, more like a big euphonium than a tuba so there wasn't too much weight on these high bass lines. Now days the EEb part in Britain and Australia is played on the Besson Sovereign EEb which is a large and powerful instrument and in the US it is just as likely to be played on something like a 186CC giving this upper "fill in" octave way too much weight turning the whole thing upside down.

The EEb part cutting through the middle of the band like some great bloated solo tenor line while the BBb fumbles around underneath is not my favourite sound.

You want as much weight as possible on the BBb part - it shouldn't cut through but rather should envelope and swallow the rest of the band.

Some of the older orchestral transcriptions done in the early 1900's are really good writing for brass band. These guys really understood how the instruments worked, both individually and together and captured the sound of the original work very well. It's very layered, interwoven writing - nothing like brass ensemble or brass section writing.

The BBb part in test pieces usually makes enormous demands sound wise, especially in the low register. All the interesting bits are ALWAYS in the damn EEb part.

You don't spend much time in brass band playing actual brass parts - most of the time you are playing lines normally played by the strings and woodwind. This is why it's such good training.

Generally brass band playing requires a lot more endurance and technique than concert band or wind ensemble. A lot of brass band guys in Australia and the UK have worked through the Arban from cover to cover. The Arban's is very much a part of brass band culture.
A BBb player playing test pieces needs to be able to play the octave down to pedal Bb (pedal C in brass band language) as easily as their midrange "money" register.

Regards

Gerard

[MaryAnn]

Don't be surprised if you end up sitting there just looking at the music instead of playing it.

You will have to memorize the clef; it generally takes me 2-3 months to get good at a clef (I read a bunch of them;) it may take you more or less time. The sooner you get started, the better. If you have some familiarity with tenor clef, that can help a lot, but the key signature will be confusing.

MA

[Lew]

I played Eb tuba in brass band and I have to agree I prefer the Eb parts to the BBb parts. In addition, because C in treble clef is in the same position as Eb in bass clef, you can cheat when playing Eb by just adding 3 flats and playing as if it were in bass clef. You just have to get used to accidentals. After a while of doing this I got comfortable enough in my mind to just think of it as treble clef.

When asked to play the Bb parts it is a different story. I really just buckled down and learned to think in treble clef. Any transposition tips just got me more confused. Using the Arban trumpet book is a good idea, but I just got the music ahead of time and practiced treble clef until I was comfortable with each piece. After a while I got more comfortable with the BBb parts in general, but it is still not as easy to switch back and forth on BBb as it is on Eb.

[Euphistuba]

So Im curious..... who will you be playing with? As a former brass bander... I can tell you there is nothing like it! The music is mostly awesome,,,,the sound fantastic....and the men and women who play are by and large really wonderful people..... Ive had my best and most fun musical experiences playing in Brass bands....best of luck.....learn that treble clef....it isnt so bad really......

[TUBAD83]

Get a well-rounded book like the Rubank Advanced Method for trumpet, which has all sorts of different exercises in progessing difficulty: scales, melodic studies, articulation studies, duets (to practice with your section mate) flexibility exercises, solo pieces, and has not only a fingering chart, but an interval chart so you can start seeing the relationships and patterns to help you learn the fingerings more quickly.

Totally agree--I did that very thing before my first rehearsal with the Houston Brass Band (I had NO IDEA that tuba parts were written in treble clef until I talked with a member of the group). After having a few "bass clef" moments I slowly got the hang of it. I suggest you read treble clef music daily--if only for a few minutes but make it a daily routine.

Be aware that you will have some arrangements written only in bass clef--I personally hate "clef mixing" but over time you will get used to it. Don't be surprised if you start preferring treble over bass clef.

I think its great that you are giving brass band a shot--alot of tuba players I know would never attempt it. Best of luck and have fun!

JJ

[DelVento]

I think the best piece of advice I got when I started brass banding in the US is to not take it seriously. Play, have fun, meet friends, and drink beer.

[jr2262euph]

Thanks. Great advice from the undergrad.

[DelVento]

Thanks. Great advice from the undergrad.

Yeah I think it's great advice.....don't take brass banding in the US too seriously. If you just have fun and make friends you'll be fine.

Undergrad or not...that's my opinion based on both competitive and "fun" brass banding in the New England region. I didn't mean to start anything mean so take it easy brother.

[Mark]

I'm am going to disagree with some of the advice here. Don't learn Bb trumpet fingerings. This only works if you are using a Bb tuba and it does not help with valve combinations that use the 4th or 5th valve. You should learn the notes; then you can use the fingering that works for the tuba you are playing, BBb, CC or whatever.

Get the book Introducing the Tenor Clef by Fink. It's for trombone, but is a very easy way to learn Bb treble clef. It even has a section that explains how to read the key signatures and accidentals. As a bonus, you will also learn tenor clef at the same time. (Don't get a trombone book that also teaches alto clef, e.g. Blazevich.)

[termite]

What a lot of CC tuba players around here do if they're dropping by for a reahearsal is read from the EEb part (pretend it's bass clef etc.) but scan the BBb part first for any bits where they need to go down an octave. Actually you can usually feel from listening to the music around you where low notes are needed anyway.

If I'm the only tuba at rehearsal I'll have both books open in front of me so I can fill in any twiddly EEb bits not in my part.

Regards

Gerard

[cwarren]

Wow! Thanks to everyone for the great advice, and sorry for my delayed response.

I will be playing CC tuba in the group, so unfortunately, a Bb Trumpet fingering chart will do me no good. I am playing with the Natural State Brass Band, out of Little Rock, Arkansas. They had some shift in the current membership - I was originally going to play the Eb Bass part but on further conversation with the director, I will be playing the Bb Bass part.

Still nervous, but very anxious to go to my first rehearsal!!

Thanks to all who could give advice. I will gladly take any more advice if anyone has it!

Best to you all,

Cameron

[Tom Holtz]

From above: Learn treble clef. Don't bother with transposing tricks. It will take time and patience. You will frequently sit and watch notes go by in the meantime. They can come at you fast in brass band. Have fun.

[Dean E]

If piano players can sight read and perform from two clefs, with two or more notes per clef, can it really be that difficult for tuba players to learn treble clef?

A word of hope: I believe that some brass band publishers have begun printing tuba parts in concert key.

[termite]

The original poster has told us that he will be playing the BBb part on CC tuba. I think the easiest thing here is to read treble clef and transpose down a tone.

When I played clarinet I was expected to be able to play C clarinet parts on Bb clarinet (and occasionally on A clarinet). I was also expected to be able play Bb parts on the A and vice versa. The higher AMEB grades included "C" and "A" transposition in the sightreading section.

Transposing is a skill that improves rapidly with a little bit of practice especially when you're doing the same jump all the time. Transposing down a tone will very quickly become second nature. I'm assuming that the player can read treble clef in the first place. If not, then that is another job to do.

Regards

Gerard

[imperialbari]

I am fairly experienced in transposing, yet I was surprised by a CC-player in a brass band, where we both were ringers. I knew he was supposed to play piano at the conservatory, so I assumed he read treble clef and transposed. Not so! Rather he considered the BBb treble part being written in bass clef and then applied F-tuba fingerings. Keys and accidentals were adjusted accordingly.

Klaus