Blazevich, Bordogni and Kopprasch

[dmeacham5]

What is your favorite book and then your favorite etude?

[bwtuba]

While there are a few very nice etudes in the Kopprasch, I never found it to be on par with the value I got from studying the Blazevich and Rochut books. If you are looking to build technique, it's hard to go wrong with Arban. Blazevich provides some really fun "Russian" etudes to play. If you are looking to build your lyrical playing, dig deep into the 3 Rochut books (the third volume is actually more useful than the second IMHO.) And certainly look into David Uber's stuff as well. Very fun stuff to play in there.

If you are looking for some more difficult technical material, go for the Verne Reynolds 48 Horn Etudes or even the Charlier trumpet etudes. Once you learn to read treble clef, the whole world opens up.

[Biggs]

Blazhevich is on a lesser tier compared to the other two, but the first three Blaz-tudes, when memorized, make a pretty efficient warmup.

[PMeuph]

'never been a fan of Blazevich. I always ended up skipping the Alto Clef studies for some reason, so that pretty much eliminated about half the book. (The trombone one that is)

....I really enjoyed Tyrell though.

[Todd S. Malicoate]

I prefer the Bozza Cappricio studies.

Bozza page 2.JPG

Bozza page 3.JPG

[chronolith]

I am a big fan of the Theo Charlier etudes. Number 2 is worthy of the stage imho. They are the ones that allow me to most easily slip out of the mundane mechanics of tooba playing, and start exercising the tuba in my head. The Blaz studies are a good balance of techniques for students. The Bordogni are good warmups (try them on the mouthpiece - don't just buzz twice and plug in). Just can't get into Tyrell.

If any of you know a trumpet alum from Northwestern before about 2000, see if you can get a hold of Vince Cichowicz's "Flow Studies". They are mostly collected from other sources. Excellent collection of trumpet stuff that's good for sanding down some very rough edges.

[PMeuph]

Tyrell

the "auto-pilot" studies

I had an audition for a band this week. Since I haven't been taken lessons regularly for about 5 years now and don't have repertoire "ready" right now, I decided to flip through some old rep and see if I had something that I could get back under my fingers pretty quickly. After looking at Mozart's bassoon concerto, the Horovitz concerto, The David concertino and the Saint-Saens Cavatine, I realized that none of those would be ready in very little time.

I picked up Tyrell, flipped through, picked an etude I played before (#28), read 3 times and then showed up to the audition. I also picked Charlier #2 and read through it twice. The audition went really well. Had I picked a more difficult work, I don't think I would have had the same positive reaction from the committee.

______
*It doesn't make much of difference as the etudes are quite similar in character and nature, but I've only really looked at Charlier's trombone etudes and not the tuba ones.

[MartyNeilan]

A lot of it depends on what needs work. Sloppy articulation? All the Bordogni in the world won't help fix that problem. It is like medicine - Advil won't help much if you have diarrhea.

[UDELBR]

I am a big fan of the Theo Charlier etudes.

+1

[OffuttTubaGuy]

Of the three choices, I find Blazhevich the most valuable, because these etudes resemble the actual band, quintet, orchestral literature that I have to play. Instead of focusing on just one etude, I like to practice several within a key group, and rotate keys weekly. I do the same with the Grigoriev book.