Anyone use the Tyrell method anymore?

[BrassBandBass]

Yes i still use the Tyrell book , well over 40 yrs now . great book !

[MartyNeilan]

I used it a lot when younger. Good stuff; highly underrated. Playing exercise 1 slowly - until absolutely perfect* - will do wonders for your articulation, sound, overall playing.
* Not just "right note at the right time"

[pjdicris]

I use it constantly as an undergraduate music ed/performance major. My professor really got me into it. It's a great book in terms of melody (it's actually musical – wow! ), in terms of harmonic analysis (my professor also turned me on to Schenkerian analysis), and in terms of articulated study. This book coupled with either Fink or Rochut and the Snedecor Low Etudes are my go to books for study on the big horn.

Phil "yes I have, and use consistently, the Arban's book" D.

[Jay Bertolet]

All my tuba students start out on Tyrell and Rochut. Great combo!

[Biggs]

I'm an Arban's every day kind of guy, but I like to alternate between Tyrell and Kopprasch for technical etudes (so as to avoid 'memorizing' either book).

[Paul Scott]

Absolutely! All of my students play through the Tyrell book. These etudes gradually bring less experienced players into the mid and upper ranges. There are excellent etudes for rhythmic subdivision, (IMHO, one of the most important areas of improvement necessary for the developing student) and the sheer repetition built into these etudes make the collection a winner.

[Dan Tuba]

I still use the Tyrell method book. I think it is a wonderful method book for developing and maintaining many of the fundamentals necessary to perform my job as a tubist in the U.S. Army.

[hbcrandy]

All my tuba students start out on Tyrell and Rochut. Great combo!

To Jay's list, I add the Arban trombone method. I use Rochut and the Arban Trombone method because I believe that reading down an octave is a necessary skill for a tuba player. Many times in my free-lance career I have been given doublebass parts to read which are written an octave above where the instrument actually sounds.

Getting back to Tyrell, I find these etudes great for building technique, musicality and sightreading skills.

[ParLawGod]

All my tuba students start out on Tyrell and Rochut. Great combo!

Same on my end!

[Jess Haney]

+1 and my students play out of it as well.

[ScottM]

It was one of the first books I bought for college and I still pull it out as some of the etudes are fun to play.
ScottM

[Jay Bertolet]

Do you still play out of it as well?

Not much. I very rarely play for my students in lessons, so that is usually the only time I play out of this book anymore. I started playing these studies in 8th grade, then used them throughout my time teaching (30+ years). Mostly these days, I work on stuff that I feel needs work in my playing. Still, having weekly exposure with these etudes seems like visiting an old friend, even if I'm not the one doing the actual playing.

[hbcrandy]

I even play the Arban quarter/half note exercises most every day.

Always review your basic skills when practising. I, also, play that section of the Arban book regularly to insure that my sound production and note attacks are working well.

[hbcrandy]

In my 4th year of college I was very busy playing - orchestra, wind ensemble, two bands, graduate brass quintet, etc. We got a new tuba teacher who put the Arban book in front of me and told me to play the quarter note exercises. Long story short, that is all I played for my lessons for probably a month, until he was satisfied. He taught me to REALLY practice and accept nothing short of perfection in every note.

Bravo, to your tuba teacher. As you now know, reinforcing the fundamentals of your playing, regularly, is EXTREMELY important.

[Jay Bertolet]

I can't speak for other pros but I can say that for me, the fundamentals do not come easily nor stay in place without constant attention. I try and sublimate as much of the process as I reasonably can but I still work plenty hard on basic fundamentals. For me, The Bell Scales is my preferred method. Those who know me well know that I'm really big on efficient practice, like not wasting time while working on a lot of things. The Bell routine covers a ton of ground and in really short order. I've been playing these studies since college and still play them daily.

[iiipopes]

Tyrell's OK...but (like many old-school brass etudes) they're nothing but "flats."

So is the majority of community band literature and repertoire. If I ever decide out of the clear blue I want a CC tuba and want to play with orchestras and the "wire choir," then the Kopprasch it is.

The Rubank Advanced Method gets into almost all keys, especially sharps, in Volume II. I like it for an all-round method book that touches on all aspects of playing, understanding that it won't get too deep in any one aspect. I would go so far as to say that if a player can play everything in the Rubank Advanced Method, both volumes, that there is nothing, and I mean nothing, that a community band would ever play that would be out of reach of a player who mastered the Method.

[tubaplyer]

Tyrell and Blazevich everyday

[Lee Stofer]

The Tyrell method is a great book, and one of the stables of my repertoire. No, it doesn't cover everything, which is why we have more than one book, but it remains a very useful book.

[Jay Bertolet]

The Tyrell method is a great book, and one of the stables of my repertoire. No, it doesn't cover everything, which is why we have more than one book, but it remains a very useful book.

^^^^ What he said!!!^^^^

It's true that the Tyrell doesn't cover much in the way of "sharp" keys. That's okay, the majority of the etudes in that book work on really fundamental aspects of playing and keeping them in "flat" keys, which most players are more comfortable with, allows you to focus on the real lesson material instead of fumbling with an unfamiliar key. Not to disparage anyone, but in my progression of etude books for tuba students, the Tyrell is "Book #1". I myself was studying this book in junior high school. When my students finish Tyrell, we move onto the Walter Sear Etudes book (plenty of sharp keys there) and then, ultimately, the Top Tones for the Trumpeter by Walter Smith (written in treble clef and played such that written C is the open note on the student's horn). These three books comprise my technical studies progression for tuba and, in combination with the Rochut etudes (used for concentrated musicality study), provide more material than any of my students have ever been able to complete.

[PaulMaybery]

Love the Tyrell. Very tonal and great for centering on a certain tonality or what some might call a pitch center. I like to take things slowly, a little intermittent solfege, and make sure intervals are in tune and rhythmic patterns are precise. I practice these with a tuner so as to stay close to the pitch center. I have two favorites that get me on track every day. While I pretty much know them by heart, they afford a chance to center and focus and get all the little bugs out of my chops. Then I am ready to tackle more harmonically and rhythmically diverse works, solo literature, and those exercises that stretch us. On some days I will take an hour or so and play down the entire book. Great workout. I also find a day on the Pares Scales a great refresher. I also want to emphasize mouthpiece solfege.
I also enjoy the Blazevich on the CC tuba, Kopprasch and Vasiliev on the FF. Bordogni on either and my fav on the F tuba are the Uber "Solo Etudes." Snedekor of course is great on the CC. A good 15 or 20 minutes "hammering" the low end and pedals works wonders. (Chris Olka's presentations are very disciplining and helpful) Multiphonics and altissimo routines bring a certain vibrancy or color to the sound. I try to get a clear double high C - but I would be kidding if I let you think it was a nice clean sound, but just getting close makes the rest of the high register speak so nicely. I'm not a kid anymore and at 67 I find a lot of would-be problems trying to raise their heads. "Old Man Quiver" (that nasty shake in the sound) is my demon and I need to work hard on support on long tones and holding onto the pitch center. The casual and cavalier approach of "youth" does not make it in old age. Either one plays efficiently and correctly or no one wants to listen to you.
Playing as a "Geezer" is indeed a challenge, but I encourage all my "mature" tuba friends to stay in the game and "play smart." We have so much experience to offer and we need to be in shape so we "can pull it off" and "set the mark."