Thoughts on F Tuba for Mahler 1?

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Z-Tuba Dude
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Thoughts on F Tuba for Mahler 1?

Post by Z-Tuba Dude »

Aside from the notable solo in the 3rd movement, it occurs to me that the whole symphony might be do-able on F tuba.

It doesn't strike me that there is much gargantuan playing in the symphony.

Any thoughts? Has anyone done the whole symphony on F tuba?
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Re: Thoughts on F Tuba for Mahler 1?

Post by gary »

I'm sure it's do-able on F but I think it's most commonly played on CC except for the solo and that gives you the extra weight that I think is desired for the rest of the piece. That's what I've done and would do again. I wonder what the guy in the Berlin Phil does.
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Re: Thoughts on F Tuba for Mahler 1?

Post by arpthark »

I've seen it played all on F before. It can be done, of course.

I seem to remember Gene switching between F and a contrabass (not the York) when I saw the CSO play it back in 2012 or so.
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Re: Thoughts on F Tuba for Mahler 1?

Post by windshieldbug »

I always just used a CC
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Re: Thoughts on F Tuba for Mahler 1?

Post by jonesbrass »

Anything written for “tuba” can be played on any tuba. The real question is the tone quality you (and the conductor) find desirable/suitable for the music being performed. Personally, from a practical standpoint, I don’t like schlepping multiple horns to/from a venue. The orchestras I play with seem to prefer a less heavy tuba sound, and I perform on F tuba around 90% of the time.
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Re: Thoughts on F Tuba for Mahler 1?

Post by GeoffC_UK »

Playing it in early 2024 with an Eb.
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Re: Thoughts on F Tuba for Mahler 1?

Post by jasoncatchpowle »

I just played this piece last week with a professional orchestra.

I used F tuba for a couple of spots: first long low F in the first movement, Third movement solo and the next ppp low G after that.

Everything else is on the CC. Fourth movement especially gets quite big. I don't think I could keep up on F tuba.
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Re: Thoughts on F Tuba for Mahler 1?

Post by Easy Mac »

It is not a solo. It is a trio in canon. If you play it like a solo you will quickly get into all sorts of trouble.

And if you balance and blend and tune well, you can play it on a BAT. I play this piece on a 4/4 CC and use just one horn. I think the last page would feel pretty weak on an F tuba, no matter how loudly you can play on it. The tone is "thinner" than that of a CC - even one of the same size as an F. The shorter open horn just cannot develop any real weight like a contrabass tuba can.

Now, if you are just looking for an excuse to drag a second horn along with you the trio sounds just fine on a bass tuba. But I would avoid using an F or Eb on the rest of the piece.

The one exception (being totally fair, here) is the first entrance, which is a soft and sustained low F, which can be hard to get to speak after such a long wait to play. Using a 6 valve F where you play low F with all six valves would make that very easy - far easier than on some CC tuba playing it 5 and 4.
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Re: Thoughts on F Tuba for Mahler 1?

Post by Z-Tuba Dude »

Just an update:
I ended up using only 1 horn for the Mahler 1...I opted not to play it on an F tuba. I used an HB2, instead. Just seemed easier to play the solo line on a bigger horn, than to play the bigger stuff in the last movement, on an F.
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Re: Thoughts on F Tuba for Mahler 1?

Post by barry grrr-ero »

I played Mahler 1 several times on Eb tuba only. That worked just fine for me. If you have one of the bigger style F tubas, I can't imagine it would be a big problem. A lot depends on the hall you're playing in, and the strength of your double bass section. There's a lot of talk about how you need a bigger tuba in the finale, but I'm not so sure of that. Nobody wants to hear a lot of tuba through there. Those two big 'smears' towards the end of the finale's opening section lay really well on Eb, and probably would on a bigger F as well. Playing tuba in Mahler 1 isn't like playing tuba in M2, or in the middle period symphonies from Mahler (especially M6). There you need to be a super-bass to the entire orchestra in those works.
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