What is

[Joe Baker]

....but consider, for a moment, if you will, the personalities of the average tubist vs. the average oboist...

You have to HAVE one to COMPARE it!
__________________________
Joe Baker, who is a little loose in the shoelaces to play oboe OR horn

[Steve Marcus]

The tuba is really a bass french horn in many ways and the most gifted of composers tend to use it as such.

I have always known that the tuba is a big french horn.

[corbasse]

Maybe the solution would be for the french horns to sit in front of the rest of the brass. I recently saw this set up in a concert by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in London.

You wouldn't like it. French horns generally don't sound so good from that angle
Also, unless you have a highly disciplined brass section, this setup can end up in a shouting match between trumpets/trombones and french horns because they play right in eachothers ears.

Could there BE two personalities in most bands or orchestras more opposite than a tubist and a french horn player?

I felt a bit schizophrenic lately, but now I know why!

I wonder how MA copes with her multiple personalities

[Mark E. Chachich]

The function of the tuba in my opinion:

whatever is needed musically.

Mark

[Rick Denney]

I found this on a web site page by George Yenetchi called What Band Parents need to know about Tubas. http://www.bandparenting.net/tuba.html

...The modern valved tuba dates from 1842 and was developed by Adolphe Sax in a desperate (and successful) attempt to expiate his guilt for inventing the saxophone two years earlier. It is no accident that most great orchestral music was written after 1842. Modern musicologists can only wonder that 18th century composers such as Bach, Mozart and Haydn were able to write so much (more or less) serviceable music while lacking tubas.

Poor Mssrs. Moritz and Wieprecht. They just don't get no respect.

Rick "thinking the 1836 Moritz F tuba was more like a tuba than Sax's later competition for it" Denney

[Tabor]

I think that we have many roles.

If in an ensemble like the one in which I play right now, the major role is to provide a nice, solid foundation, adding fullness and depth to the overall sound, setting the stage for chordal movement, the foundation and core of the phrase for the ensemble and to pick up and change that variable sound to imitate all of the other bass instrument parts, and appropriately color sound when the players are gone or can't play them. Also, because the sound of the tuba (and the tuba itself is such a variable shaped and sounding instrument) the tuba has an amazing ability to set a mood. Somber, bright, humorous there is a broad palate with which we work. It is so interesting that we have successful tubists and tubas of all shapes and sizes even within the same key. Just look at (and hear) the difference between a CC Mirafone 184 and the CC Chicago Yorks.

If you are a soloist or have frequently exposed parts (no pun intended.. ) one can add to that being producing a beautiful tone and phrase which makes people forget they are listening to a tuba. I heard/spoke with Pat Sheridan on Saturday and Sunday...It is strange to think about, but for him the tuba is primarily (almost exclusively) a solo instrument. That must really change the way one thinks about the role of the instrument and playing music.

Besides being faster he is an amazing musician with phrasing that reminds me of a great operatic singer. Actually, I listened to a bit of the MET opera broadcast on NPR after hearing him and I thought that it was some semi-local college kids screeching away. He was way better live than on his CDs.

So, when I'm playing in an ensemble, I'm thinking differently than when playing a solo. When I'm playing a solo, I'm trying to achieve beautiful phrases and to get around all of the technical problems so that nobody can hear that it could possibly be challenging to play the music I'm playing on the tuba and/or think that the tuba isn't every bit of the " solo instrument " (and more) as the trumpet, or the horn. I'm still working on this and I probably will never achieve it, but I'll be working on it.

[Benjamin]

I think that the Tuba supports the band. Being the bottum of the base pryimid. We kinda set everthing. Plus were kinda used as Tempo keepers.
Benjamin.

[Tubatoad]

I do virtually all my playing in my church micro-orchestra, most often playing the hymnal bass line an octave down. My job is to stand out while blending (yep, it's a challenge!). I need to support the other instruments (blend), while giving the men in the congregation encouragement (stand out) to sing the bass line. According to feedback I get from the congregation, this actually does work. According to the other members of the orchestra, I bury their mistakes but not their sound. And then of course the Tuba is a kid-magnet! What a great horn!

[Glaucon]

Here's a good question for you all:

I play in a wind ensemble, so our "band" around here is much more like an orchestral wind section. As such, I don't really believe that we should worry too much about our differing acoustical roles between the band and orchestra. In my humble opinion, tuba players in bands often get far too heavy and lose the clarity of sound that is very characteristic of the instrument. A big "pipe organ" or ""double bass/woody" sound can be used in all situations. In a band, there are specific instruments that serve well to "fill out" the tuba's sound, like euphonium.

So back to the question: why is band playing viewed SO differently than orchestral playing?

[Z-Tuba Dude]

So back to the question: why is band playing viewed SO differently than orchestral playing?

I think the issue is really out of our hands. The differences are driven by the style of how the tuba parts are written (the range encompassed, amount of rest in the part, the nature of the instruments we are expected to blend with in the orchestration,...etc.)

[jlbreyer]

When I have played in a rank of Sousaphones, swinging down the street in a city canyon between tall buildings, whomping out the trio of National Emblem, I have known that the tuba is for power -- sheer musical power.

[adam0408]

The role of the tubist in an ensemble? everyone has said great things so far, and I won't say them again, but one thing I know that I need to think about when I am playing is the fact that, as a section leader in the band, it is my job to lead. It is my job to give musical and verbal cues to my section and help the band play to its full potential.

It is also my role to make the rehearsal interesting for myself by shocking the conductor every once in a while, "playing for the hand"

... something tells me that professionals wouldnt like this very much though. Heh

[tubatooter1940]

Good idea for a thread,C.J.,you got everybody fired up.
1.Sound:That's why we're in it guys.Great tuba sound lights audiences up.
Players too!
2.Blend:So sweet when it happens.If an ensemble needs a bass line,a sonorous drama or comedy relief,tubists are thrilled to accomodate.
3.Main role:This varies so widely and is a testament to tubist's versitility.
The bottom of the band,of course but also a horn capable of great passion.
4.Anything:Tubists these days enjoy expanded opportunities to do more solos.If the player can get a fine sound,the sky's the limit.I have been honored with the opportunity to write and play any bass line I please in my trio.My first concern is to be true to a good arrangement and not step on the lead vocal or rhythm line.Beyond that I am free to play anything that fleshes out the arrangement and sounds good across my horn.Never had so much fun.
Dennis Gray
www.johnreno.com/

[Dean E]

Bump
". . . . The tuba savvy modern composer will take the trouble to specify the key and size of the tuba in order to insure a performance as close as possible to his/her intentions. . . ."

I found this on a web site page by George Yenetchi called What Band Parents need to know about Tubas. http://www.bandparenting.net/tuba.html

Tubas were the last instruments added to the modern orchestra. This was because the tuba is the most highly advanced acoustical instrument and could be created only after the other traditional orchestra instruments. It was from a knowledge of their faults and limitations that the conception of the far more perfect instrument, the tuba, was developed. This perfection is evident in the make-up of orchestras where several of each of the lesser instruments (up to 30 in the case of violins) are needed but just one tuba is sufficient.

The modern valved tuba dates from 1842 and was developed by Adolphe Sax in a desperate (and successful) attempt to expiate his guilt for inventing the saxophone two years earlier. It is no accident that most great orchestral music was written after 1842. Modern musicologists can only wonder that 18th century composers such as Bach, Mozart and Haydn were able to write so much (more or less) serviceable music while lacking tubas.