Something I've never seen before

[Mark]

I would enjoy seeing a demonstration, by anyone who can do this on a brass instrument.

I'm a little confused by this statement. Are you saying you don't think this is possible? I know a lot of tuba players, including me, that can do this. Many can do four and some can do five octaves.

[Todd S. Malicoate]

and suggest that he must be a "woodwind player." Sheesh.

Gettin a little hateful there? For high school students, 2 octaves for brass makes sense. 3 does not. 3 makes sense for clarinets and possibly flutes.

Yeah, sure. I'm the one being hateful.

2 octaves is a nice, comfortable goal for brass players. 3 octaves is going for excellence.

[Jay Bertolet]

All I know how to do in threads such as this is to relate to my own experiences. Please don't misinterpret as any sort of "brags". One of us actually was an extraordinary tuba player (not I), but the rest of us were...I suppose..."adequate".

-----------------------------------------------------------

As early as the 8th and ninth grade (armed with Conn 36K sousaphones and beat-to-$h!t school-owned mouthpieces) we were screwing around playing the tuba pitches at the bottom of the piano keyboard, as well as pitches an octave above middle c. No, our band director didn't mandate any of that, but had he done so, perhaps we would have taken "sousaphone playing" a bit more seriously.

Folks, time marches on. Everyone is relating this thread to their own experiences. The simple truth is that those experiences are decades old. New players are not thinking in those antiquated terms. True, there are some absolutes in all this. Centered pitches, good intonation, what constitutes clean playing, etc. But the idea that 3 octave chromatic scales are an anomaly? Perhaps watching Chris Olka's postings on YouTube will change your mind. My teachers all told me that players are constantly improving over the previous generation(s). In simpler terms, that means that what I considered difficult 40 years ago ain't so difficult anymore. As players (who depend on their current skills to get work) and as teachers (who strive to do the best for their students) we would all do well to remember that fact.

[bigbob]

Chromatic scales are garbage scales anyway. :roll:What is a Cromatic scale??..I really don't know..I play advanced studies for BBb bass..Hal lenards advanced method..and studies in legato for bass trombone

...Have I been playing Cromatic scales??..I do the fingering chart from the tips page I can get all the way through but for the last two high notes..(without top teeth).Is the Cromatic scale there??I know I sound dumb...I am... I have never played with anyone..just go in and play what the teacher asigns me...Hell I'm still' trying to tune my new horn.I got this Korg Cromatic tuner and don't know how to use or set it!!..I now want to learn instead of just looking at the horns for sale and dreaming now that I have one!!Please treat me like a beginner thats played alone for 25 years... Please?/.............................BB

[bigbob]

I would enjoy seeing a demonstration, by anyone who can do this on a brass instrument.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkjKrOP515s

WOW!! I really liked that!!Do you have to move the slides like that with every instrument?? Sure a lot to learn.....BB

[swillafew]

Thanks for thinking of me. The OP was about triplets @ 90bpm, I was hoping somebody commending the teacher would do it for us. Mr. Olka plays great though, I wish this site had more of videos like that.

[termite]

G'day Big Bob.

A chromatic scale is where you play every possible note - C C# D D# E F F# G G# etc.
Chromatic means coloured - when a melody has a lot of notes in it from outside the normal scale, eg. something in C major with the odd D#, F# or G# slipping in between the main notes it sounds more colourful than just a plain scale.

There's two schools of thought on slide pulling. Some maintain that a real man will always lip a note where they want it and that slide pulling or even alternative fingerings should never be used. Others don't like lipping notes saying that it changes the sound and prefer to pull slides.

I grew up playing British 3 valve BBb tubas where slide pulling was nearly impossible and there weren't that many alternative fingerings so lipping was the order of the day.
My current tuba has all five valve slides under my left hand. These days if I feel that a note needs to be flatter to find it's place in the music my left hand instinctively goes for a slide so I must be in the slide pulling camp.

Regards

Gerard