practicing very low register

[gregsundt]

Slur studies (Total Range, if you can find it)
Descending scales.
Perseverance.
Anything worth having is worth working for. It will require disproportionate amounts of practice time until you break through. Fortunately, you won't ever be paid to play those notes...

[DouglasJB]

I find I'm stuck arouned the Bb and A (on a good day) just below that CC.

[Peach]

You need to VERY gradually move from the known, into the unknown.

If you can't get that B, chances are the C isn't too secure. Keep practising down to that C with good technique so that it becomes solid and something your body 'knows' how to do. Once you're at that point, a semitone below isn't so far away...

Obviously you'll hit a point where you really have found your physical limits using the setup you have but I'd have thought you should get a few more semitones yet.

It's a bit like trumpeters gaining high range security.
Usually takes a lot of time.

[PaulMaybery]

I need to be careful here, as there are probably several approaches to low register playing, so I am probably sticking my neck out. However, what I will describe actually does work, and quite nicely at that.

I think some of the problem of extreme low register comes from the formation of the embouchure. There are several factors, but let's focus on the lips at this point.

I hear phrases such as "open up," or "drop the jaw." These work only to a point.

If the lip opening - aperture - is too wide the lips will likely not vibrate.
Lowering the jaw to an extreme will pull them apart, thus passing the point of diminishing returns. We certainly do not want to clench the teeth, but too much in the opposite direction is non-productive as well.

For an exercise: Begin on a pitch that is comfortable and sounds solid.
Low BBb on a BBb tuba is a good spot.
Ask yourself some questions regarding how you play this note:
1. Are my corners firm?
2. Are my jaws sufficiently, but not too open?
3. As I descend am I pushing out the lower lip a bit or just dropping it to a point where it does not function?
4. There is a portion of the lower lip in the center, that is helpful in complementling the upper lip so that both are actually contributing to the vibration. If you have a clear mouthpiece (preferably on a pipe for resistance), can you see if it is indeed buzzing, or is it non-engaged?
If it is not buzzing, go back to a register where it is, and keep working it in descending patterns. Be patient.
5. When you descend, do you maintain the firmness of the corners and avoid the random "flapping."? In other words, have I maintained the focus of the previous note, (both muscular and pitch buzz) by adjusting the lower lip (not letting go - but a real adjustment of the muscles)?

The other elements are maintaining a constant wind supply, and actually producting the pitch that you are attemping to play on the horn. Keeping the corners firm is also key. Try to avoid readjusting for each note when you go both up and down. If the corners and wind supply are constant you are 2/3rds there. Then, if you actually do buzz the pitch, the note has to come out. If it doesn't, one of those three things is not working.

Once you get the pitch with the corners firm and avoiding the random flapping of the lip, things will begin to improve if you can slow feed the note more air. BUT - keep the corners firm and avoid opening up to far. The solid sound will come when more air is passed over the focuses lips. Random flapping is non what we are after.

It takes time to work on buzzing the note. Move day by day toward your goal, but keep the propper form. Try not to cheat and make a total reset for the low notes. You will eventually be able to pick them right off just by adjusting the buzz and lower lip. I can't emphasise the importance of the lower lip and getting a buzz that responds instantly.

Just like high register playing, there is actually a trick to it and it should not be all that hard. But it does take time and determination.

Chris Olka explains all this very well in this "Drills of the Week." Roger Lewis also has a post on playing in the high register, which in some respects addresses the same issues as in the low register.

As far as exercising, the Low Register Studies by Phil Snedecor are wonderful tools for developing the chops in the low register. But they do presume that your breathing and embouchure fundaments are not too dysfunctional. Those etudes in and of themselves to not make you play better on the low end. They are simply wonderful material to keep you busy doing challenging moves, that have an eventual cumulative effect.

[b.williams]

Spend a lot of time playing in the very low register. Ever since I joined a brass band (one year ago) playing the Bb bass part has been an adventure. My very low range has improved dramatically.

[Ian1]

I would suggest lots of air... As with all playing it's down to the breathing.

[Michael Bush]

- Sometimes, the tongue actually is a nuisance in this range...Some players (some very good players) use "air only" attacks when there are several ledger lines.

On the other hand, for pure entertainment value and taking nothing away from your point, one very good major orchestra player told a very good major studio professor (who told me) that sometimes down there, like the series of Fs in the Prokoviev R&J, he sticks his tongue between his teeth and pulls it back and down to release the air and start the note. I found that pretty amusing. And I started doing it.

[vd8m9]

I've learned to play in the low register rather intuitively, so I haven't really thought about what I've done. But try to have very very very slow lip vibrations. And also, open up your embouchure. Whenever I buzz in the low register, my entire lips and parts of my mouth waves around like a plastic bag being held out a car.

[michael_glenn]

How to get a good low register.... Play in the low register.

Try Bordogni 8VB, Blazhevich down a 4th, snedecors, etc. the more you play down there, the more comfortable you get down there. It's that simple.

[TubaKen]

Lots of good advice here, but I thought I'd pass on something no one has mentioned yet--reverse embouchure. That is, use the lower lip to do the vibrating, instead of the upper. I saw Bobo demo this at a clinic, explaining how this is what he did to play in the extreme pedal register. Like the OP, I was "stuck" at a certain point (pedal G for me), and no matter what couldn't go lower. By using the lower lip, I could almost instantly play the G much easier, and go down four or five notes below that.

[DouglasJB]

Yes, that "shifted" embouchure as Chris Olka mentioned in his (I believe) last drill of the week.

[Patrase]

Spend a lot of time playing in the very low register. Ever since I joined a brass band (one year ago) playing the Bb bass part has been an adventure. My very low range has improved dramatically.

I have a similar experience. Ever since playing the BBb bass part in a top level brass band my low register playing has improved markedly.

[happyroman]

In this interview on TubaPeopleTV, Fritz Kaenzig discusses working on his low register when he was studying with Arnold Jacobs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-9quZq ... P&index=18" target="_blank

[TubaZac2012]

I've always been relatively gifted in the lower range of the instrument. I've been thinking of making a YouTube video about the lower range. If I make one I'll post it on here. Look for it maybe tomorrow sometime.

[imperialbari]

Working through the false notes is helpful in improving ones low range. I posted on that topic here:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=51840&p=444995

Aside from the specific exercises offered in that posting you also will find scale and interval exercises covering the extreme low range within my Yahoo-based project offering free music. You may look them up in the index.

Klaus

[happyroman]

Just remember not to neglect the "cash register" or the two octaves between low Bb and high Bb. Rex Martin told me that a good rule of thumb is to spend 80% of your practice time in those two octaves. He suggested 50% of one's practice time between middle Bb and low Bb, 30% between middle Bb and high Bb, 10% in the octave above high Bb, and the last 10% of your time in the octave below low Bb.

And the best advice on how to practice was provided by Arnold Jacobs. Develop a great sound in the norms (in the middle register at a middle dynamic) and then transfer that excellence to the extremes (both in dynamics and register).