Help on (very quickly) improving my high range.

Ames0325 · Post by **Ames0325** » Sat May 21, 2005 11:03 pm

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Other than that I don't know if it is even possible to add almost an octave to your range in 6 weeks.

Amy

Chuck Jackson · Post by **Chuck Jackson** » Sat May 21, 2005 11:04 pm

Discretion being the better part of valor, take the thing down an octave. Most conductors won't notice, but they will if you flail around in the upper register missing everything in sight. Take your time and never, ever force your high register or expect it to work unless there is proper time to develop it. Good advice given in the last post, just weight the results against the angst and play it down.

Chuck

porkchopsisgood · Post by **porkchopsisgood** » Sun May 22, 2005 3:27 am

Yes....take it down an octave.

But wait: you are going to keep seeing music like this as you advance as a tubist and musician. You should endeavor to develop your range, but never at the expense of your low and middle range. To properly develop your high range, it must become an extension of what you can currently play comfortably.

Basically put, add one note at a time to your range. Today you can play fourth-space G comfortably. That is a great place to start. You should be asking yourself: why is it comfortable for you to play that note? What makes it possible to play that particular note with relative ease? What am I doing correctly to facilitate that note's ease? Once you've answered these questions, it is a simple matter to apply this exercise to any note you play that is out of your range. Your single best friend in this whole entire process:

SCALES.

G once again is a great place to start: start a G major scale below the staff and play it two octaves SLOWLY. Listen carefully, working hard to establish G as your tonal center. Once you've become comfortable doing this (you'll find that not only will the ease of the note improve, but your intonation and tone will consistently improve with time), it is now time to move to G#....and so on and so forth.

If you do this there is no reason you couldn't have a solid e-f in a couple of weeks. You must be diligent: no half-stepping here.

BUT....and I stress this....being able to play an e by concert time does not mean you'll be able to play it in a performance setting. Save your newfound e for some other time, when you are more confident as a tubist and musician.

Enjoy!

corbasse · Post by **corbasse** » Sun May 22, 2005 4:43 am

Two, probably stupid suggestions before you start forcing your high notes:

-Where is the part from?

If it's French or Belgian and says tuba it's a euphonium part.

If the part says tuba in Bb or something similar, it's transposed and you have to take everything down a whole tone plus an octave

Kevin Miller · Post by **Kevin Miller** » Sun May 22, 2005 7:59 am

I think if you told us WHAT the piece is, what kind of ensemble you are playing in, and if this is this a volunteer or professional group? These things will give some context on how to handle it.

oldbandnerd · Post by **oldbandnerd** » Sun May 22, 2005 10:43 am

practice ,practice,prcatice........

play a scale going up to those notes and back down again . You have to know what those notes sound like and how your mouth feels in the mouthpiece playing them before you can play them muiscally. When you start to hit the notes
comfortably as part of a scale then try play them as part of the piece you are working on . It will get better and better and easier to play those notes .

Good Luck to you .

punk_tuba · Post by **punk_tuba** » Sun May 22, 2005 9:23 pm

lots of good input from everyone.

i am currently working on improving my sound playing above f in the staff.

joh_tuba · Post by **joh_tuba** » Sun May 22, 2005 11:17 pm

Doc wrote:Buzz the mouthpiece. Glissando up as high as you can with NO pressure. Make sure you hear the clearest buzz possible. Then glissando back down. Go a little higher each day/week/whatever. It will start to improve with diligence. This can be applied to the low range, too. This is similar to scales, but it takes the horn out of the equation. If you can buzz it, you can play it, not the other way around. You should have a clear buzz and no pressure (might leak a little - that's ok at first - it gets better after a few sessions).

This is THE answer in my opinion. Sure as heck works for me. Developing this sort of thing away from the horn in an isolated fashion is a very smart strategy for quick growth. The problem is.. most people get turned off from buzzing very quickly because it feels funny and never learn how to work it into any sort of daily routine. Too bad. Be sure to buzz smart.. keep the mouthpiece balanced on one finger and don't cover the end. NO CHEATING. When doing the glissandos.. listen to your sound.. is it even? Go very very very slowly.. find every note possible.. Are there any bumps? If so take the time to work them out. Use your ears and be picky.. Let them be your greatest teacher. Take the lessons from this back to the horn.

That said.. there are other strategies. Scales are always helpful. I would also encourage the use of Rochut/Bordogni style etudes in atleast three octaves. Perhaps buzz them first with a piano then try to keep the same ease when playing them on the horn. Please be patient with this. Work in small increments and short periods of time.. this is a developmental issue. Forcing and being in a hurry to be good is a sure fire way to guarantee failure. ALSO, make a conscious decision to balance high register work with low register playing. ALSO ALSO, developing your flexibility is a very smart way to build embouchure strength and get more comfortable with how you use your air. Take the lessons from doing Remington style warmups and use them in developing range.

FWIW

Dylan King · Post by **Dylan King** » Mon May 23, 2005 4:11 am

You have to get into a practice room and just go for it!

So many brass players have a mentality that they must play a certain way, and I think they cheat themselves in the practice room. To really "feel out" the high register, you can't be afraid of blowing hard, making faces, and sounding terrible. At first. You have to hear that music in your head and do anything it takes to get the high notes to sound the same. Emouchure shifts. Whatever it takes.

Watching Alan Baer play reminded me what it takes to have a "customized emouchure." He made so many faces and shifts and twists and turns in his face you'd think the guy was on acid or something. But no! The music came out so mellow and smooth and full of warmth and melody. All of that Alan was doing in his head. The stuff on his face just happens, because he isn't thinking about it. He's just going for it!

Kevin Miller · Post by **Kevin Miller** » Mon May 23, 2005 7:46 am

Take that E down an octave for now. Keep working that high range but be practical and take it down for now.

Dean E · Post by **Dean E** » Mon May 23, 2005 12:03 pm

Xavier wrote: . . . . my highest (safe) note is the G just above the bass clef's F.

Any help? Tips? Anything? I'm on the verge of insanity here.

What a great collection of tips.

It's been a little over 18 months since I returned to tuba after almost 40 years of not playing. I play Eb horns and work on my upper register with arpeggios and chromatic scales.

Lately, I've been challenging myself by shooting for a top-of-the staff Bb on a cold horn right out of the bag. I focus on what the sound will be like and then just play that Bb.

For practice, I sometimes rehearse my community band pieces up an octave.

windshieldbug · Post by **windshieldbug** » Mon May 23, 2005 1:42 pm

Xavier wrote:Yesterday he gave the paper to me, I was like, wtf!? Were you beaten by a tuba player when you were young or something? he said no, he was just aware of the unexplored potential of the instrument. I just told him I'd try my best.

Like many have already said, I'd say do what feels comfortable. If that's taking it down an octave, so be it. Don't let the person make you rush things. That's a great way to develop bad habits. Work on your range as has been suggested, but don't go faster than feels comfortable. If THAT note in THAT octave is so important, since you've got the composer right there, let him reassign it to the fourth horn or something. Pushing youself is fine, but if it ends up being too far too fast, let it come in its own time. Worry more about your outcome than his. Don't let another's expectations beat you. Push back!

Charlie Goodman · Post by **Charlie Goodman** » Mon May 23, 2005 4:41 pm

MellowSmokeMan wrote: Watching Alan Baer play reminded me what it takes to have a "customized emouchure." He made so many faces and shifts and twists and turns in his face you'd think the guy was on acid or something. But no! The music came out so mellow and smooth and full of warmth and melody. All of that Alan was doing in his head. The stuff on his face just happens, because he isn't thinking about it. He's just going for it!

Yeah... that's one of the things I noticed. I saw him play one of the Bach cello suites, mostly pretty low, and he was frowning and making all kinds of faces. Sounded incredible though, so I won't knock it.

MaryAnn · Post by **MaryAnn** » Mon May 23, 2005 5:01 pm

Well, one thing that has not yet been mentioned... (but I vote 200% for reading Roger Lewis's post on range, that somebody put the url in for early on.)

Can you play that note on a euphonium mouthpiece or a trumpet mouthpiece? If you can, it's a support issue, sort of. I don't use my horn embouchure that I would use for middle C, to play middle C on tuba. Not at all. But I could, if I needed to get that note and there was no other way to do it. Just don't fool yourself into thinking you're doing something right when you have to shift the mouthpiece an inch on your face to get a note, ok? To use my horn embouchure, I have to pin my lower lip down just like it is with a horn mpc rim. I can free-buzz that E you're talking about, but that's about as high as I can go, free-buzzing. Past that I need some mouthpiece rim support.

MA, hoping that made at least a little sense

ThomasDodd · Post by **ThomasDodd** » Tue May 24, 2005 6:40 pm

Xavier wrote: Well, there isn't much of a story, I was handed a piece we have to play on july 1st, which has a couple passages with some really high notes (for me, a 1.5yr old player, anyway).
Highest note in there is the Enatural above the staff, and my highest (safe) note is the G just above the bass clef's F.

and later

But I really don't want to let this beat me, seems no one else in the group ever has trouble with range, rythms, anything, (freaking MIDI players they seem). Then again, I'm sure I've been playing my instrument for less time than anyone in there, but still..

Is tuba your first brass instruments?
For having only played 1 year and a half, I think you upper range is above average.

For that matter, I had played trombone for 4 years, then switched to tuba for 3 years, and my highest comfortable note was F in the staff. Never had any reason to work on range in High school.

You off to a good start. Don't rush it. Discuss the sitatuion with the conductor. Make sure he know's how long you've been playing and that it well outside you range.. Since he's the composer/aranger he can(should?) best decide what changes to make. You cannot just drop random notes down. It's got to fit the context around it. You don't want to make a bad impression reaching for the sky and falling. You also don't want to hurt yourself by going to far too fast. You might make it, but take you time, do it right, and have a good backup plan.

If you could comfortably run 3 miles today, would you feel safe running in a 10 mile race next week? I wouldn't. Maybe 5, but not 10.

TubeNet

Help on (very quickly) improving my high range.

Re: Help on (very quickly) improving my high range.