Tuba to the rescue

[Alex F]

I attended a community orchestra concert this afternoon. The group played very well and seriously exceeded my expectations.

Unfortunately, this 27 piece ensemble. otherwise well balanced, had no double basses. Enter the tuba - a 3/4 size Miraphone 182. The tubist, aided in part by the bassoon, covered the double bass parts wherever tuba was not required. His playing was very sensitive to the ensemble and provided critical low register support to the group. The tubist was Chris Horsch and the group is the recently formed Ravenswood Community Orchestra.

The program:

Debussy: Three Preludes
Smetana: Die Moldau
Granados: Intermezzo from Goyescas
Prokofieff: Overture on Jewish Themes

I found this to be an interesting use of the tuba. I know that, in the early days of recording, tubas were often substituted for double basses and the "recording bell" tubas emerged for that specific purpose. I'm curious as to often some of you folks are called upon to take this role.

[threedognate]

I did a similar thing with a community orchestra in Colorado in the mid-90s - based out of Montrose/Delta, CO. My first public school teaching job took me to the Western SLope of CO, where performance opportunities on the tuba were hard to find. The ensemble was very good, but no double basses. Most of the repertoire they performed was pre-tuba Classical/Romantic stuff, so I rarely had to cover both parts. I used my Yamaha YCB-621 CC (up for sale on the "FOR SALE" forum), which allowed me to play with a full, yet not overpowering sound. I had an enjoyable experience doing this, as the double bass parts were usually much more involved than typical tuba parts - no 200-measure rests. We even did a 2-weekend run of Strass's "Die Fledermaus."

[Steve Marcus]

So that they don't have to hire a contrabassoon player, one of the orchestras in which I play has me cover the contra part. In preparation for each rehearsal/performance sequence, I literally cut and paste the parts (after photocopying, so the originals are intact) so that the contra parts are juxtaposed (8va) with the tuba part during all tuba tacet bars.

Don't call the union police--I like playing the additional notes and fewer rests to count! Some of the contra parts present a fun challenge to play lightly and quickly in our lowest range.

[ken k]

I have done this on a few occasions in musical pit "orchestras" it sure is a lot more interesting to play a bass part than the usual tuba part or even trombone parts.

ken k

[iiipopes]

The most I've ever done is play the cues on the few concert band pieces that have double bass viol parts as well as tuba parts. Not the best of circumstances, as the parts rarely sound good together to my ears.

[greatk82]

While in high school in Northeastern PA, I was invited to play in a local orchestra. Upon my arrival to the first rehearsal, I was turned away by the director who told me that "orchestras did not have tuba players!" Ironically, he then complained that neither his alto nor tenor sax players had showed up!

[TubaRay]

While in high school in Northeastern PA, I was invited to play in a local orchestra. Upon my arrival to the first rehearsal, I was turned away by the director who told me that "orchestras did not have tuba players!" Ironically, he then complained that neither his alto nor tenor sax players had showed up!

I guess there's always someone who has "superior" knowledge to all the rest.

[Dean E]

In addition to the meager number of tuba notes, I doubled the string bass part of Barber's First Essay for Orchestra recently with the Reston (Virginia) Community Orchestra.

After a schizophrenic first rehearsal, I photocopied the tuba and string bass parts to differently colored sheets, then cut and pasted a single, completely sequenced copy from both parts, which I put in sheet protectors and a 3-ring binder. My only horns at the time were Eb, so I had to play some of the notes higher than the score.

[TexTuba]

I've had to cover parts that had no players for them. One being Strauss's Serenade in E Flat. No contrabassoon player, enter me. VERY fun piece, but very challenging for me in that I didn't want to cover the little woodwinds. I love that kind of playing just because it's a different challenge.

Ralph