Mastering the Tuba / Roger Bobo

Chuck Jackson · Post by **Chuck Jackson** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 11:17 pm

And if you can do everything in there everyday, as I assume he did, you are either going to be dead or a God. It is a great book with many annecdotal things that are priceless gems on how to manipulate the nefarious hunk of brass that is the tuba. Buy it, live it, you won't be sorry.

Chuck

JB · Post by JB » Wed Jan 11, 2006 11:17 pm

montre8 wrote:Worth having in the library, in my opinion.

Absolutely, I agree!

TUBAMUSICIAN87 · Post by **TUBAMUSICIAN87** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 2:19 am

I would guess that I probably wont find this in a small college library. Were would I be able to find this book

adam0408 · Post by **adam0408** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 7:42 am

Kenneth wrote: Also, is this book contain a fingering chart?

A fingering chart probably won't help you all that much. (although you should consult one. There is an excellent one under the "tips" section of this website.) It didnt help me except when I was furiously writing fingerings under notes. Learning tuba in the key of CC is like learning to walk. Backwards. On your hands. Blindfolded. That is what it felt like to me at first. It is a huge battle and can be frustrating at first, but it gets easier and is well worth the trouble.

Z-Tuba Dude · Post by **Z-Tuba Dude** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 8:19 am

Everyone's experience is different, but I think you will find that if you just go cold turkey, working slowly through an elementary book, you will learn your CC tuba fingerings fairly quickly.

With regards to the Bobo book, I think that it is designed more as an advanced course of study, not to focus on fingerings.

corbasse · Post by **corbasse** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 9:04 am

montre8 wrote: The lessons are not geared towards a specific instrument, in fact most of the lessons are in treble clef and you insert your own instrument specific fingerings. Makes me glad I started on cornet.......

Worth having in the library, in my opinion.

I thought Bobo's idea of using this notation is that you use the same fingerings (intonation quirks excepted) regardless of instrument, like most transposing brass instruments. So, if there's a C major scale written, you'll finger 0-4(13)-12(3)-1-0-12(3)-2-0 regardless of whether you have a CC, BBb, Eb, F, or DD tuba. Most exercises follow the same sort of scale and chord patterns you find in a lot of other brass playing books, and using this notation gives the benefit of having the range and fingerings of the excercises lie in the "normal" range whatever your instrument may be.

I agree that you should own this book if you're serious about tuba playing.

Rick F · Post by **Rick F** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 9:43 am

TUBAMUSICIAN87 wrote:I would guess that I probably wont find this in a small college library. Were would I be able to find this book

"Master the Tuba"
http://www.editions-bim.com/proddetail.php?prod=TU5
...25.08 EUR 31.54 USD

Adam C. · Post by **Adam C.** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 11:42 am

I wish more tuba methods would follow the treble clef route - it's great being able to switch horns and still get the same workout.

Charlie Goodman · Post by **Charlie Goodman** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 5:50 pm

Adam C. wrote:I wish more tuba methods would follow the treble clef route - it's great being able to switch horns and still get the same workout.

Well, it's not an issue of "being able"... I read music on BBb using C fingerings fairly frequently (no, I don't really know why, leave me alone). You can read any music this way, and thus you'd be able to get the same workout with any piece on any tuba. I'd always kind of figured most people did this.