French book about the tuba?

[windshieldbug]

You might try The Hector Berlioz Website to find something Berlioz related. I know he used ophecleide, but that's related to tuba. And he's French, and I imagine that there's lots of material en français AND English.

[JB]

Anyone know of an academic-type book, in French, that has anything to do with the tuba and/or euphonium? One of the requirements for my DMA is to translate part of a book in a foreign language that is at least somewhat related to my field of study. It could even be a book about a composer that wrote for tuba or euphonium (Ravel, Wagner, Mahler, etc.). It only has to be loosely related, but it needs to be at least 200 pages long. It would be even better if the book is also published in English. I appreciate any help.

Thanks,
Jamie

Maybe they would go for enough pages of articles from the old Brass Bulletin using the French text. Surely you could find 200+ related to your instrument and field of study. (Plus you also get an English version as well.)

[tubatooter1940]

Any book a Frenchman would write about a tuba would probably be X-rated.

[imperialbari]

Why not translate the brass related sections of Berlioz’s treatise on orchestral instrumentation.

I haven't read these sections from the French original, but only from the German version augmented by Richard Strauss. That reading happened 20+ years ago.

There are other Berlioz texts on practical aspects of being a conductor. I read a Danish translation of them some 35 years ago. As with many such old texts, they are partially outdated in relation to modern days’ musicians, but they still are interesting to read.

The main problem with your assignment may be, that it will be hard to find relevant texts, which haven’t been translated into English already.

If you have read the translations already, then don’t just plagiate them. My experiences with reading translated texts are, that they are full of errors and dubious interpretations. So maybe you could get a high score by translating a relevant text and then add footnotes about why your translation deviates from existing printed translations.

Klaus

PS: As a tuba relevant sample of rotten translation I might tell of the TV subtitles from the feature on a seminar Bobo held in Denmark around 1984 (when I hadn’t yet descended into the depths of conical brasses).

During a masterclass a student played a piece with a series of ninths. "ninth" has at least two semantic contents: an interval and a fraction.

In Danish the interval is “noneâ€

[Chuck(G)]

I wonder if a politely worded request to Mel Culbertson might get you want you're looking for. He'd be the natural choice for this sort of thing, IMOHO.

[Chuck(G)]

I can't find Mel's email, but a message to the Conservatory at cnsmd@cnsmd-lyon.fr might produce one.

[Mark Preece]

I can't find Mel's email, but a message to the Conservatory at cnsmd@cnsmd-lyon.fr might produce one.

I guess I should inform you all that Mel Culbertson has taken over as the new tuba instructor at the Royal Northern Collage Of Music (RNCM) in Manchester. He has replaced Roger Bobo at the college since Roger moved to Japan, and this information comes from James Gourlay in an email I received months ago.

You could search the school's webpage for Mel's inforamtion.

Good luck!