Key of a horn and switching

[Gorilla Tuba]

Below is an article by steve fergusen in LA about different key instruments
his website is www.hornguy.com


"How to Learn a New Horn that's Pitched in a New Key
Having surrounded myself with trombone players, some of whom also play tuba, I have for years put up with hearing many of them say, "Oh, it's too hard to learn C tuba, or it's too hard to learn Eb alto trombone, or F contrabass trombone." This list goes on and on. Gather 'round while I attempt to teach you something. Too hard? That's a bunch of Tom Foolery. French horn players have no problem gliding through every transposition known to man. Trumpet players routinely play horns in Bb, C, D, Eb, F, and A, and then they play the wrong horns on the wrong parts and do a new transposition anyway. For trombone players to say they can't figure out C or Eb or F fingerings is a cop out. I will no longer stand for it. As a solution, I will teach you the fast way to learn it.

How did I learn it? In high school I figured out the basics. Started on trombone, added euphonium, then BBb tuba. During my first semester studying trombone and tuba at USC, I played a ratty old school-owned BBb tuba and sucked eggs on it. My teacher Jim Self said if I was serious about playing tuba, I ought to buy a CC tuba right away. He recommended one, and I inked a deal to buy it, but couldn't pick it up right away. At my next lesson, I told Jim of my new purchase, and he said, "Well, why don't you play this lesson on my C tuba." He placed his horn on my lap, and I had to belt out Rochut #1 on it, right away. No time for slinking into the shadows. So I did it. Not without mistakes, but I succeeded.

It can be done. It takes practice, but not nearly as much as one might think.

Here's how to do it.

1) Find the fundamental note of the new horn that corresponds to that of your old axe. Without looking at any music and without worrying about absolute pitch, practice all your scale and warm-up patterns as you would on your old horn. If you play BBb tuba and are moving to CC, everything will sound up one whole step, but don't worry. Just get the fingering patterns going as you would on your old horn. Do all your scales and slurs and Clarke studies.



2) Stop and think about what the new fingerings might be. Knowing how much each valve lowers the pitch from the open horn will help, but if you're considering learning a new horn, you most likely have that figured out already. On CC tuba, the fingerings are not rocket science. Lessee.....Hmmm....C is...uuuhhhh...mmmm....OPEN! Yes! You've got it! Go on. G: open, F: 1st, E: 1 and 2, Eb: 2 and 3, D: 4th, Db: who knows?, Bb: 1st, A: 1 and 2, Ab: 2 and 3. You're almost done.

Another way to think about it is this: Just about all brass instruments have the same fingerings, except for trombone, bass clef euphonium, and BBb tuba. And it goes this way: Written C is played open, and the note that sounds is the key of your horn. Eb alto horn: see a C, play it open, sounds Eb. Bb trumpet: see a C, play it open, sounds Bb. French horn: see a C, play it open, sounds F. Trebel clef baritone and euhponium: see a C, play it open, sounds Bb. CC tuba: see a C, play it open, sounds C. Like, wow.

HISTORY LESSON: Why is this? It goes back to tympani writing, where all notes are written C, G, C, G, C, G, etc. And you just tune the drums to the requested pitches, but the notation still says C, G, C, G, ad nauseum. Same with natural trumpets and natural horns. C, and G are written, put in the correct crook as requested, finger C, G, (open?), and the horn sounds the right pitches.

So, if you can learn CC tuba fingerings, you're also learning trumpet, alto horn, and French horn. It's good knowledge to have.



3) OK, here's the leap of faith to get you over the hump. Get out your Rochut Melodious Etudes Book 1. Don't have one? Buy it here. It is required study for mastering a low brass instrument. A substitute would be the Bel Canto Studies, which is some of the same etudes either down an octave or in another key. So, turn to a familiar etude that is IN THE KEY OF YOUR NEW HORN. For CC tuba, pick any etude that's in the key of C. For Eb tuba, pick an Eb etude. And so on. Then slowly play the etude by interval, thinking all the while, "Bb scale fingerings!" That's because an etude in C on a CC tuba has the same fingerings as the same etude in Bb on a BBb tuba. And you know the Bb scale. right? Here are some tricks to help you: roots and fifths of the scale, and of this etude, are open. Thirds are open (high) or 1-2 (low). Fourths are 1, and the second (D), is 1 (high) or 4 (low). Try Rochut #1 or #5. For CC tuba, F etudes are easy too, as they use your old familiar Eb scale fingering off the BBb tuba. Still with me? For F tuba, start with the F etudes, then the Bb ones. For G contrabass trombone (one of my triumphs) I played al the etudes in the key of G. Keep at it. It'll come faster than you imagine.



4) Here's a special trick for Eb instruments, including Eb alto horn and Eb tuba. Can you read treble clef?

Try this:

Look at a written C in treble clef. If it were an alto horn or transposed treble clef Eb tuba part, you'd look at that C, play it open, and your horn would sound Eb.

Now look at a written Eb in a bass clef part. Hmm....looks like it's written in exactly the same place in the staff as a treble clef C. So, you see this Eb in bass clef, pretend it's a treble clef C, finger C, which is open (remember step #2 above), and it sounds Eb. You can also pretend you're reading tenor clef if you can figure out the key change (I can't).

A positive rant about Eb tubas: When trumpet players go bad, band leaders tend to throw them down into the euphonium section or into the tuba section. Given a treble clef Bb euphonium part, most can get it. Same fingerings, just sounds down an octave. In the tuba section, it's usually not so easy. BBb tuba sounds down two octaves, but they have to learn bass clef, and that's an awfully big tuba too. Who wants to play a tuba that big? Not me. I suck on BBb. So why don't they hand the fallen trumpet players an Eb tuba? Think how much easier it is to make the change. They see a bass clef Eb, which looks like their familiar treble clef C, they play it open, and it sounds Eb. The horn is nimble and light, and I think it's a faster way into tuba and bass clef than is the big BBb tuba. Just food for thought. IMHO, most students should start on Eb tuba. I believe that's the case in British brass bands, but not here in the States. Damn shame, that.



5) Other tips. Don't try to learn alto trombone positions and alto clef at the same time. Also learn to play Eb alto trombone both as a transposing instrument like alto horn (play C open, sounds Eb) and a written pitch instrument (how we usually do it). You'll get a lot more fluid at reading all sorts of parts if you can do it both ways. Remember, half the fingerings of Eb flat instruments are the same as Bb instruments, as the harmonics are Bb, Eb, instead of Bb, F. You know most of the notes already.

Thanks for your kind attention, and good luck!

Steve Ferguson"

[Dan Schultz]

Supposing I fell in love with the way a horn played - everything about it suited me great - except it was in an unfamiliar key (F in my case).

I was strictly an Eb guy until just a couple of years ago when I purchased a BBb horn on a whim. Being 58 years old with over 45 years of Eb fingerings very well engrained into my skull made the idea of switching quite intimidating. Well... in my case, immersion was the best teacher. I bought some 'play along' CD's and just 'did it'. Now, after a relatively short time, I find switching back and forth very easy with just one small glitch.... I tend to think BBb for German music and Eb for Dixieland music since those are the modes I usually play in. I tinkered with a CC horn for a while but THAT caused a good bit of confusion since it is a COMPLETE departure from the Eb and BBb fingerings. I once had a professional tell me that it is just like switching from one side of your brain to the other. After a while, you don't even have to think about it. Now, even with 'new' music, it only takes a couple of bars to make the transition and it's possible to switch modes in the middle of tunes if I want to.

[Gorilla Tuba]

Oops.... Furgussen's website is www.hornguys.com I forgot the S

[Chuck(G)]

Steve Ferguson's on to something., there. I'm always astounded when someone posts a question asking for fingerings for a tuba. A simple knowledge of intervals (and that should come with practicing scales and arpeggios) and a little bit of physics should make any fingering easy to work out.

Maybe one of the problems for some with learning a new ikey is trying to learn from a fingering chart, rather than internalizing the process from the get-go. Scale fingering patterns don't change, they just start on different notes, so if you know your scales, you still know them on the new horn.

But I dare Steve to put his "middle school players should be started on Eb tubas" proposal to any band teacher. He'll get a funny look and maybe a "how quaint" comment. Besides, the fingering won't match what's in the student's book...

[MaryAnn]

Thanks Doc,

I read treble clef also (written C as concert F in this case) so will be playing a bunch of solos and etudes in that clef to familiarize myself with the horn and keep myself happy. But then I'll need to work at getting the reading for bass clef off also at the same time.

I think it'll be fine - only at the moment it seems sooo alien to think fluently in another key of tuba.

Not dissimilar to learning a new language I guess.

With that clef in hand, get a copy of the Reicha horn trios, and read the 3rd horn part on your F tuba. Many of these are spectacular with an F tuba on the 3rd part, which is played "as is" with F horn fingerings.

MA

[jaredsan]

I started on baritone B.C. in elementary school (learned the basic fingerings for tuba in the process)

In middle school I played an interesting 3-valve student tuba from 1970. It was BB from B flat in the staff down to F, but below F and from B flat in the staff up, it was actually pitched in the key of A. [low a flat= open, low B flat = 13, low C = 12, low D = 2, E flat = open, F = 13, (& up to B flat = BB fingerings.) anything above took some figuring out.]

- the reason for the wierd tuning was a huge dent in the bell throat.

In high school I've gone back to BB 4 valve fingerings, and am happily forgetting all the middle school crap in my head.

anyways... The key is to play every day. Shamefully Simple middle school tuba parts played over and over and over and over were able to completely solidify the new odd fingerings in my mind. However, I could just as easily go home and bust out my (also school owned) baritone and go back to my old ingrained fingerings.

Repetition is the only true way to learn a new key. .. frustrating as that may seem.