your suggestions for tuba music

[Lingon]

Check up the works by Swedish composer Christer Danielsson, he made a couple of compositions with tuba as solo instrument. Great pieces and much fun to play.

[opus37]

Blue grace.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

Horn etudes! Learn to read treble clef tuba (I can read Eb, F, Bb, and C treble, but you only really need to be able to read treble in one key), and then go to work. You can get Kopprasch's etudes in bass clef, so no worries there, but you should also check out 335 Selected Melodious Progressive and Technical Studies for French Horn. They build very important skills, and they are so much fun to play. Arban's is good too, and it can be bought in treble or bass clef, but you probably know that all ready. Alternatively, you *can* just read horn music by pretending it's in bass clef and adding three flats to the key signature. That will make you play Eb treble. Happy practicing.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

actually i've been working on my treble clef skills, i was handed a treble part during rehearsal a couple of weeks ago and i was red faced that i couldn't think fast enough to play it. playing horn parts would be good for that. do you play them in the register they're written or transpose them down?

I always take them down. In the right key, but down an octave. There is no way in hell you could ever play that high on a CC tuba (my primary instrument). I mean, you could theoretically play those notes up there on CC, but they sound like trash. If you're playing an F tuba, you could always attempt them at octave, but even that would be...adventurous. It's possible, but you'll frack a lot of notes.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

Well, let me revise that. Playing Kopprasch at octave on an F tuba (or even a CC) is not really a problem. However, some of the ones in the 335 book are very, very difficult at octave. So yes, Kopprasch is doable at horn octave, although the tuba version of the book has them written down for you. Have fun.

[THE TUBA]

i'm looking for something enjoyable to lighten practice sessions up with. what's available that's fun?

The Salotti "Etudes with Style" might fit your bill. They're 25 etudes in different styles with a backing track CD.