What is your lowest note?

[rodgeman]

I am curious about the lowest note tubists play on a regular basis. I can consistently hit a D below Bb below the staff. A low F (below Bb)I can play in concert.

Thanks.

[taylorbeaty]

I love playing low, but it seems like it gets harder and harder to tune.

[Full Metal Ratchet]

A lot of music is limited to 3 valve instruments, but new stuff goes a little lower.

So FF is very common, EE is common. EEb a little more rare.

Modern compositions are wide open, but still don't go much lower. At a certain point, you can't perceive the fundamental, just pulses of overtones.

[TUbajohn20J]

A double pedal C (octave below pedal C) When I push down the trigger to try to pop out double pedal BBb it jumps up an octave. I will get it one day!

[Dylan King]

Who farted?

[arminhachmer]

I decieded to post this link of me playing some low notes and yacking way too much.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-ZhStGT4lE" target="_blank" target="_blank

Thanks Brian, i enjoyed that. Informative. I wondered about that type of valve lever.
What's the make of that "Kaisertuba" ?
Armin

[jamsav]

rehearsed Schoenberg last week - slurs down to D below Bb , thank God its at "pp" ...I can go lower, and then can produce false tones but I wouldnt call any of it performance quality....

[windshieldbug]

When I play in Death Valley I'm pretty sure it's the lowest I can get in North America, anyway.

[Tubajug]

The band arrangement of Charles Ives' "The Alcotts" calls for a pp pedal C at the end. There's also a nice loud pedal C at the big hit point. It was actually written out with all the ledger lines too, not just 8vb next to the two ledger line C. That was a lot of fun.

There was some other piece I played in college that had the Db above pedal C written in as well. I only have four valves on my C tuba so the guy with give had to take that one.

Gotta love hanging out in the basement!

[finnbogi]

Tonight and tomorrow night, I will play Stabat Mater by Karl Jenkins with a local choir. The part has some low C sharps (pedal in my case since I use my E flat) written forte, but since the bass trombone plays C sharp an octave higher, I don't have to play obnoxiously loud to make them sound forte. Also there are a number of eight note low Ds slurred to D an octave higher, which are fun to play. Otherwise, I find the piece quite dull.

Generally speaking, I can play down to G or G flat two octaves below the staff. Obviously, I have never seen these notes in a written part. The lowest note I remember seeing in a part is the B flat an octave and a half below the staff.

[Mark Horne]

Our band is working up Eric Ewazen's A Hymn for the Lost and the Living this season. Towards the end of the piece it calls for several pedal Bb whole and half notes at a p or pp dynamic. It is written out along with the two ledger line Bb and octave above - the musics states "pedals optional"

This is about the bottom of my musically useful range. I feel like I would probably be able to play the A below that (same as the lowest note on a typical piano) if the music called for it, but that's about it.

[tubeast]

I dunno... dropped it somewhere

In band, we have this piece calling for Bb 1 (3 spaces below staff) and F2 (right below the staff) in parallel. These should fool the listener´s brain into believing, that the Bb0 is being heard as well. (Ear picks up 2nd and 3rd partials to a fundamental the brain itself makes up to go with it).

Even when played at soft dynamics in relation to the whole band, a Bb0 played underneath by, say, one out of four players might stabilize the interval of the others and increase the effect. Which I´d consider the best and most justified use for the subsonic range during tutti passages of a band.

Lowest note I found written in my music: Gb0 (on a BBb tuba: pedal range, 23-fingering).
That´s during the first third of "Painful Felicity" by Thomas Ludescher.

[Virtuoso]

The lowest I can get regularly is the e below the pedal BBb. Now that I know music actually exists for such notes, I will be focusing my entire attentions on pedal notes, to the chagrin of my professors.

[bort]

Pedal Bb in Children's March by Grainger comes to mind. I also played a transcription of Debussy's Engulfed Cathedral that has a descending run from low C to pedal C, and then lots of held pedal C's. To get the sound to mimic an organ, I presume.

[GC]

It's not that uncommon to see a pedal Bb or C in music by local arrangers who know that the local tubaists can handle that range. The lowest note I've encountered written is G below pedal Bb in a piece of brass band music. I can hit that note reasonably solidly on BB, CC, or Eb tuba, but it's pretty much my limit now. Plus to hit it, I have to be playing a horn that's not too free-blowing; I find a bit of resistance helps me hit the low stuff (but not too much).

[Steve Marcus]

This topic appeared previously:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=32054&p=281388&hilit=Hoch#p281388

[TexTuba]

The lowest I've played in a piece of music was in Eternal Father, Strong To Save. The chorale section at the end has "8vb where possible" written. Well, I happened to be able to play the entire section 8vb. During a rehearsal, the BD cut the group off and began to chew me out asking why I was playing so low. He didn't realize that was written, apologized, and asked me to play as written.

If I remember correctly, the lowest note was G below pedal C.

[Dean E]

My personal best is a G (below 3rd ledger line) on a 3-valve, BBb jumbo sousa, and on a 3-valve, Eb horn playing false tones. However, my YFB-822 Yamaha F tuba, for me, reliably goes down to (fifth ledger line) D.

[Steve Marcus]

A few years ago a TubeNeter named "Tuben" offered a challenge that said he would give $20.00 to anybody who could play the CCCC at the beginning of "Encounters" clearly. Although I heard Tony Clements do it, he never posted his tape, so nobody won. I decided to post this link of me playing some low notes...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-ZhStGT4lE

Has anyone else been (or will anyone else be) willing to upload a video of him or her playing their lowest notes, especially those who have already posted in this thread? Video is much more involved to "doctor" the sound than a straight audio MP3, so there should be no audio editing or digital manipulation of the pitch. OTOH, if you have mikes that are superior to the built-in pickups on your camcorder, you can use those so that we can hear your low notes with better fidelity along with the video. In fun and in non-competitive spirit, thanks in advance!

[toobaa]

I don't know exactly, but often my friends and associates ask me to play so low...so low they can't hear me. <cue cymbal crash>