vaughan williams tuba concerto

[theatomizer13]

I am a Sophmore level music major with Tuba emphasis. I plan on auditioning to larger universities this year ( i am at a jr college) And I am thinking that i would like to do the vaughan williams tuba concerto. 1st movement. I am Playing on a Miraphone CC 5 valve Tuba That i believe to be 4/4. Anyway, I would like to playe this first movement, but I cannot seem to make it higher than D4 very well or easily. I can squeek it out, but i need to get a better way to do this if i am going to audition with it.

Anyway i was wondering what ideas anyone has to help me get up there nice and solid, and changing between some different mouthpieces dont change it much. (just generic variety of shapes.) all roughly same size. Should i try for a smaller mouthpiece? Or is it just not a great idea to play that on this tuba anyway? If you think i should give up that pipe dream please submit some ideas for solos for audition. Ideally i want to get a scholarship from this audition. Playable range for me is from around middle c (C4) down to A0.

[TheHatTuba]

Forget about the mouthpiece. This is titled, Tuba Concerto for Bass tuba, so F or Eb would be ideal, but playing on CC isn't that bad. Spend a lot of time down in the basement register and remember to relax and not force the upper register (tension kills sound, body works against itself, and so on).

[peter birch]

The trumpet player, James Watson, said "it is not the top Eb in the Haydn trumpet concerto that will make you look a fool, it is the note after it". So don't just worry about a single note, think about getting it in its context.
This is also a situation in which long tones will not help, the notes are part of some fairly fast moving passage work, so I would work at getting the high notes, and the low notes for that matter, in scales at the tempo you want to play the piece, working up to the D you have the problem with and beyond until you can do it, good luck with playing it and with your auditions

[tuba_dan]

If you can buzz it on the mouthpiece, you can play it on your horn. If you have access to the Stamp Trumpet studies, he has some good mouthpiece exercises, but you can really just make up your own...

I use the first five notes of the major scale, generally starting in the middle octave and buzz these on the mouthpiece. Do it on C major, up five notes and back down, then do C# major (or should I say Db?), and on. Complete an octave and you should have buzzed up to G above the stave.

Bobo also recommends octave glissandi starting on low c below the stave and rising chromatically or diatonically through an octave or more. Try getting a copy of Roger Bobo's book Mastering the Tuba. There are some really great tips and exercises in it.

Also, search for Adams routine online, and ask for advice on the individual exercises or hunt down a forum. It is a major undertaking if done properly, but will advance your tone, range, and dynamics to no end!

Best wishes for the auditions.

[hbcrandy]

There has been a lot of good advice offered in this thread. My method for building high regeister is similar to the method described by Tuba_Dan, but, I will offer it anyway.

This high register exercise only works if you do not have perfect pitch. It is important that you do not know the pitch of the note you are sounding by buzzing your lips.

Begin by buzzing, on your mouthpiece, the lowest note that you can comfortably sound with a mouthpiece buzz. Do not worry about what musical pitch you are sounding. Be sure to deliver a large quantity of air when buzzing you mouthpiece.

Using that low note as the tonic, buzz a major scale up and down, in quarter notes, with the quarter note equaling about 90 beats per minute. Upon Descending to the tonic note of your major scale, continue back up to the second degree of that scale and stop after sounding the second degree pitch. Hear that pitch in your mind and sing it using the syllable " Do", establishing it as the tonic note of your next major scale. Repeat the process in this paragraph with the new tonic and continue until you can absolutely not produce the top note of the scale. During this process, focus on nothing but singing the major scale on your mouth piece and delivering lots of air to create a solid buzzing sound.

You will find that delivering air and singing the scale in your mind as you buzz, you are no longer focused on the physical aspects of playing in the high register, hence making the high register easier. This exercise removes the visual, perceptual cues of written music in which your self-perceived high register limit is embedded due to your seeing the high note and subconsciosly saying, "I cannot play that note." By not knowing what notes you are producing, you are probably playing higher than you think you can.

Initially, do this exercise once a day. When it becomes familiar, increase it to twice a day. Eventually, add memorized scales on the instrument, only focusing on singing the scales with your instrument. You will find that playing the scales will be much easier and the high register will have increased as a result of the scale buzzing exercise that I described.

At an audition, the committee wants to hear a piece of music that you can play VERY well and shows your musical interpretive ability as well as your technical skills as they exist at the time of the audition. They DO NOT want to hear you try to play a piece that shows your limitations. The Ralph Vaughn-Wiliams Concerto is definitely a piece that you should eventually master in that it is a staple work of the tuba repertoire. This does not mean that you should have it mastered by your sophomore year. If you cannot make the high notes in the VW with the same ease as the middle register notes, do NOT play it for your scholarship audition. Consider something like the Hindemith Sonata for Bass Tuba or the "Suite for Tuba" by Donald Haddad. Get your private teacher's input on this.

Best wishes for a sucessful audition.

[SeanMClancy]

I come from an undergrad program where bass tuba playing is not really an option and I was still required to play "the lit." that is expected of any modern tubist. Like Professor Zerkel, I think that there is something to be said about making music on the big horn before moving to a smaller horn AND just because Vaughan Williams wrote the piece with a smaller horn in mind does not mean it should be daunting to play on a big horn. The goal is to make music, regardless if you play a two valve bugle in g or the best f tuba out there. What I've found when playing higher pieces like the VW is that I just need to relax, hear the "song" in my mind, have plenty of air and just let my musician's brain do the rest. My advice would be to take a deep breath, sing it, buzz it, then play it.

Plenty of world class tubists had to play this solo, among others, on big horns. Let's be musicians about this. Good luck!

[theatomizer13]

Thanks for all the input! All will be considered, and hopefully i will be able to get a good audition in for a scholarship.

Thanks Again.

[Tom]

At an audition, the committee wants to hear a piece of music that you can play VERY well and shows your musical interpretive ability as well as your technical skills as they exist at the time of the audition. They DO NOT want to hear you try to play a piece that shows your limitations. The Ralph Vaughn-Wiliams Concerto is definitely a piece that you should eventually master in that it is a staple work of the tuba repertoire. This does not mean that you should have it mastered by your sophomore year. If you cannot make the high notes in the VW with the same ease as the middle register notes, do NOT play it for your scholarship audition. Consider something [else]... Get your private teacher's input on this.

Best wishes for a sucessful audition.

+1,000,000,000 from me!

(Emphasis: mine)

[Michael Bush]

The only exception I'd take with the advice given is regarding the Hindemith Concerto. The tuba part is playable, but the piano part is a real challenge.

At the risk of hijacking the thread, I've got a story about that.

I undertook to hack out the first movement for the solo and ensemble competition either my junior or senior year of HS. Junior I think, but these things get fuzzy. So 1981, possibly 82.

I suspect that this was the first time the esteemed Caryl Conger accompanied a solo tubist. (Her older step-daughter was my long-time girlfriend.) Once she got into working up the part I think she wondered why she had agreed to do it, but she had a great spirit about it, and we got through it without fatalities.

[Michael Bush]

A trial by fire, for sure. She may never want to accompany a tuba player again.

When I first saw her name, with the distinctive spelling, on the Army Tuba Conference program, I couldn't believe it. I asked her step-daugher/my ex about it, and sure 'nuff, it was her. I think it's great she's so appreciated in this circle.

[theatomizer13]

There are two Absolutely Fantastic accompanists here that I have no doubt can play any accompaniment that I give them. So luckily I have no problem with that, However I will need to work on my ability to play. The big problem I have is that I dont want to invest time into this piece if it is not going to work. It has happened to me before and about a month before my recital I had to pick a piece that was very simple because I couldnt pull off the one i did prior. Thanks again for all the comments. They really are helpful.

[Uncle Buck]

I did a couple of auditions during my college years playing the Vaughan Williams, and spent the next few years wishing I could have a do-over playing something I could actually nail, and therefore focus more on musical and expressive elements. There was plenty of good literature I could have used that could have made the outcome much better.

While visiting my undergraduate school for an Octubafest, John Stevens mentioned that for his audition for his job at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he played the Haddad suite. He clearly doesn't regret making that choice. He could have chosen, and nailed, a different selection that might have required more technical virtuosity. He picked a piece that he loved, and he obviously made some great music with it.

Show what you CAN do, not what you can't. I learned that lesson too late. I don't know if it would have made a difference in the direction of my musical career (that ultimately failed, but I'm very happy with how things turned out), but I still wish I had learned the lesson earlier. For an audition piece, you need to be able to concentrate 100% on musical, timing, and expressive issues, with the technical issues having long since become second nature.

[k001k47]

The only exception I'd take with the advice given is regarding the Hindemith Concerto. The tuba part is playable, but the piano part is a real challenge.

At the risk of hijacking the thread, I've got a story about that.

I undertook to hack out the first movement for the solo and ensemble competition either my junior or senior year of HS. Junior I think, but these things get fuzzy. So 1981, possibly 82.

I suspect that this was the first time the esteemed Caryl Conger accompanied a solo tubist. (Her older step-daughter was my long-time girlfriend.) Once she got into working up the part I think she wondered why she had agreed to do it, but she had a great spirit about it, and we got through it without fatalities.

I thought it was the Sonata as a whole that's piano hell. Although, the first movement sounds plenty challenging.

[Michael Bush]

I thought it was the Sonata as a whole that's piano hell. Although, the first movement sounds plenty challenging.

I'm not a piano player, so I couldn't say much about it. What I remember (after 30+ years) was that at times she would cock her head in a perplexed way, and try again on a particular passage. The look I remember suggested "This is crazy." But she is a very good pianist and was quite equal to the part. She certainly never complained. No telling how many times she's played it since the Army discovered her.

[k001k47]

I thought it was the Sonata as a whole that's piano hell. Although, the first movement sounds plenty challenging.

I'm not a piano player, so I couldn't say much about it. What I remember (after 30+ years) was that at times she would cock her head in a perplexed way, and try again on a particular passage. The look I remember suggested "This is crazy." But she is a very good pianist and was quite equal to the part. She certainly never complained. No telling how many times she's played it since the Army discovered her.

I don't know how great painists process so much info from a sheet of music so quickly. It's definitely a superhuman trait: more so with organ players. Although, people pay more attention to superhuman athletic feats, like winning a bunch of olympic medals. Uhhh... back to the Vaughan Williams.

I really think you should play something within or close to your limits. Definitley, challenge yourself, but not to the point of burden and frustration. I'll bet all tuba audition panels are tired of hearing an 'okay Vaughan Williams' anyway. . . Or in my case, a bad one

[sousaphone68]

sidebar:

http://bomaestro.blogspot.com/2012/12/a ... nd-me.html

Nice side bar

[b.williams]

(What follows is one man's opinion) I have listened to many renditions of the Vaughn Williams. Even the best of the best are not that memorable. The concerto is a bitch to play musically. Yet, the results do not justify the effort required. On the other hand, about thirty years ago, I heard Toby Hanks play From the Shores of the Mighty Pacific. Oh my freak'n gawd!!! He played the whole 1st variation (the slurred sixteenth notes) section in one breath!!! My point is play something that they will remember. Think outside the box. The audition committee is made up of musicians who want to hear something awesome!!
Good luck!!

[Uncle Buck]

This is really the only one out there to model:

http://www.amazon.com/Vaughan-Williams- ... B000003F2J

You can download all three movements for $2.97

It is not on youtube.

Thanks for the tip. Best $2.97 I've spent in a long time . . .