TMEA All State etudes

[vd8m9]

I know that this year, the etudes are selected from Blazhevich 70 Studies for Tuba, but I want to know if it is going to be the same next year. I'm guessing it won't be, so I was wondering which books they are usually chosen from.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

I know that in Illinois, there was a cycle of three years in which two etudes + all scales were selected each year. In other words, you were guaranteed to play the same two etudes your senior year as your freshman year. If this is the case for you, my guess is that the etudes for this year and next year would not be the same.

[brocktorock]

TMEA usually alternates Grigoriev and Blazevich.

[Billy M.]

Same with Florida - sometimes not even playable. When I judge tryouts, I would rather hear something that a kid has a chance of playing well, instead of something you have to select the least bad performance of.

That's odd, when I auditioned years ago for all-state in Florida, the high school books were the same: Rubank Advanced Book II for freshmen and sophomores, Kopprasch for juniors and seniors. Maybe I missed something in the hiatus I took but even this year they're using the same books, just different etudes.

[Billy M.]

And just how many juniors and seniors in the state can play Kopprasch well? I wouldn't think many.

I kinda thought that was the idea. (I didn't make it, I didn't have quality tone... in fact I probably still don't.)

[Stephen Shoop]

I selected the TMEA All-State tuba audition music for 2013. The books to choose from are designated by TMEA-- Blazhevich Vol. 1, Blazhevich Vol. 2, Kopprasch, and Gregoriev. (It is probably time to reconsider these choices. I know there have been occasions when a book is selected that turns out to be out of print and/or not easy to find). I have also adjudicated the All-State tuba auditions every year since 1994. The music definitely needs to be difficult enough to separate out the players. It must also be reasonable enough not to discourage average players to work on it. Picking music that addresses both of these issues... without repeating recent selections... is a challenging task.