Russian Christmas Music

[Mark]

My question is - what approach(es) do you use when you're really trying to nail that pizzicato sound?

I have played Russian Christmas Music with orchestras several times. It is a very nice work. My suggestiion is hire a string bass player.

[sloan]

All well and good, but please: where do you BREATHE?

I've done it both ways, and I *much* prefer to listen to the string bass play it...

a full page of 6-beat....sheesh!

[sloan]

And...could someone please tell the Russians that Christmas is a HAPPY time?

[MartyNeilan]

I love-love-love this piece. But, too many times I have heard individuals or even whole tuba sections try to do the string bass pizz. cues. And, at least half of them just plain couldn't play it. Only they tried to at concert time. If you consistently miss lots of notes either
a) don't play the part or
b) PRACTICE
swallow your ego!

[Rick Denney]

I'm doing this one this year. We have no string bass player and we won't have one. But I can play these well enough not to be embarrassed doing so, even on the Holton (or perhaps especially on the Holton). Given my limitations as a player, I conclude that it does not require a high-end performer to make music here.

Trick 1: Don't take big breaths except the first one. Take small breaths more often. If you get into deficit, leave a note out to take a big breath. Don't break tempo to breathe.

Trick 2: Play very softly. This helps with the breathing, and with the music. The tuba has no competition here.

Trick 3: Do not attempt a jazz pizzicato sound, which I play using a continuous stream of air articulated by a nearly un-tongued pulse of air at the beginning of the note. In this application, that sort of legato doesn't seem to me necessary. But I do tongue the notes with a soft D sound rather than a T sound so that the gaps I leave don't sound like interruptions.

Trick 4: Don't think of it as six notes in each measure, with six articulations and six places where a breath might need to be inserted. Doing so will rob the part of any direction. Think of it as an unbroken string of six pulses (or 60+ pulses), with frequent small breaths being part of the string. Never break the string. Think through to the end of the phrase, always.

I never play this if a string bass player is available, but when there isn't, I look forward to it. It's a place where the tuba player can show a bit of musicality and finesse rather than his ability to rearrange building structures.

I should never, of course, be played by more than one person. Ever. Two equal players can, however, stagger it, but only if they can do so without breaking the string.

Rick "thinking about this music to train the mind, while in Sao Paulo and unable to practice it" Denney

[TubaRay]

As usual, I believe Rick has covered the playing of the string bass cues very well. When I am asked to play this, I actually use a light "tu" tongue, with gentle puffs of air. This is not to say that I tongue the notes hard, which I don't. And he is absolutely correct about the approach to breathing.

We performed this last Christmas in the San Antonio Wind Symphony. I played the part in all the rehearsals, with a string bass player showing up for the concert. HE butchered it! I was having a fit sitting there, helplessly, listening to him destroy it. Needless to say, this was incredibly frustrating.

[Bandmaster]

OK, I've never had to play it before but a community band a play in read through it a couple weeks ago. The conductor changed their mind on how to conduct this section halfway through the reading and wanted to conduct it in half time, which made the tuba part four notes to the beat. I found this very hard to get comfortable with, it was very hard to react to any use of rubato. So my question is, how "should" it be conducted?

[bort]

I've played this a handful of times, and this section has always been uncomfortably conducted, sometimes to the point of not really watching but just kind of going along with the group. The most interesting variation was my former band's clarinet playing director... he called it the "clarinet choir" section, and would wildly and descriptively sweep his arms around to shape the phrases. Not a "beat" to be found. Lucky(?) for me, he wanted either string bass or nothing at all.

By far, this sound worst when the bass player is trying to hear 6 beats, then 6 more beats, then 6 more... ain't gonna happen.

This is a cool piece of music, and is deceptively difficult for a lot of groups. Lots of white notes in there, so it looks ok on paper. But man, does it have the potential to sound bad!

[iiipopes]

Just a question, why on earth would anyone ever want to make a tuba sound like a string bass? Or vis-a-vis?

It's not "want to," it's "have to." I played this piece in high school. Great piece. We had no double bassists. One of the guys had to do it. (It wasn't me. As I recall, I was still playing trumpet in concert band at the time on my Dad's King Super 20 -- see my signature, and only marching with the souzy).

Trick 4: Don't think of it as six notes in each measure, with six articulations and six places where a breath might need to be inserted. Doing so will rob the part of any direction. Think of it as an unbroken string of six pulses (or 60+ pulses), with frequent small breaths being part of the string. Never break the string. Think through to the end of the phrase, always.

That's how my high school band director conducted it. It works well that way.