confessions: the most over-the-top tuba playing in your past

[SRanney]

What is the most absurd playing that you recall - decibel-wise - ever having executed as a tuba player?

Either performing "Swing, swing, swing" at Indiana University during football season (indoors on a sousaphone) or playing excerpts from "Fountains" and other goodies in the tuba basement at the IU School of Music so as to have it ring throughout the elevator shaft, stairwell, and the rest of the building.

[jeopardymaster]

Early week, UK Marching Band 1975. We were working one of Gordon Henderson's arrangements with him on the field - it was LeGrand's Theme from "Brian's Song." The trumpets were wimping out on this big climax and he said "you gotta give it all you got there." But he didn't specify "trumpets." So, I gave it all I had. Hugest damn half-note supporting line I ever played.

I had just come off THE pivotal period of my playing career - I'd worked with Sam Green all summer and he had completely remade me as a player.

250 piece band. Left them all in the dust. Got an award too, at the banquet. And the next year I was gone to CCM.

[Toobist]

Some years ago I was playing Carmina Burana. The bassist directly in the crosshairs of my bell was using a Manhasset stand in place of a plexiglass barrier as the hall was fresh outta them (and that is a poor, poor, poor substitute). He told me at break that I'd actually made the stand rattle during those big D's. The first trumpet turned in his seat while we were counting some rests and said, "Wow Al, you're the loudest tuba player I've ever heard!" and then he added, "And I went to Indiana!"

I didn't get brow-beaten by the conductor, but I'm pretty sure it was a little too much...

[Chuck Jackson]

I swear on my mother's grave that this anecdote is the plain, unvarnished truth:

In November of 1984 I was playing with the Colorado Springs Symphony on a one years leave of absence for the late departed Kelly Okamoto (one of those GREAT tuba players no one has probably ever heard of). I was in the pit of the Pikes Peak Great Hall playing the Nutcracker. At climax of the Final Apotheoses where the low brass is playing the big arpeggios I was digging in rather lustily and Charles Ansbacher (great conductor, very musician friendly)stopped the orchestra and said, with a perfectly straight-face:

"Chuck, you are playing so loud you are covering up the dancers"

The bass trombonist at the time, a man aptly named Harry Vulgamore, looked at me and said "now, I have seen it all".

Chuck"truth is often more amusing than fiction"Jackson

[GC]

At a summer music camp in the late '60's, the instructors' orchestra played the Prelude to the Third Act of Lohengrin. The conductor liked strong brass and would occasionally ask featured players to play ludicrously loud. In the final section, the tuba instructor covered up the entire orchestra, including the three trombonists who normally outblew everyone else. At the end, he almost passed out.

And he never lost his tone quality, even at his loudest. It was amazing that anyone could play that loud without blatting.

[bort]

Not sure this counts, but reminded me of this...

I remember a TubaChristmas rehearsal about 10 years ago, where Harvey Phillips was the guest conductor. In the rehearsal, I was sitting directly in front of him, and he was leading us through "Hark the Herald Angels," and explaining when to stop playing and have the ladies sing "Glo-oooria..." Well, I missed the memo, and must have been the only person. We get to that part in the runthrough and when we get there, I loudly play "BUM BUM BUM..."

Harvey cuts off the whole group (200+), looks directly at me and yells "Pay attention, dammit!"

I was embarrassed, but really, that's about my favorite TC memory.

[Dylan King]

I once played (2nd trombone) in a production of "Me and My Girl", and there was a scene in which the leading man got wrapped up in the curtain and used his hand to create an elephant trunk with the material. I was given full artistic liberty to grab my Mirafone 185 and give an elephant sound effect, and I did so with great fffff enthusiasm. It was a lot of fun to be able to rip a hundred notes up and down as loud as I wanted, for as long as the leading man continued in the gag. I think the run was eight shows, and the elephant gag got longer and longer each time we did it. The crowd loved it.

[Bob Kolada]

I was playing my old small Conn Eb in community band years ago in in a gazebo in a park (half of the band was inside, the other half circled around ).
One of the songs had a building chord starting with me (only tuba) and string bass (so, basically only me ), so I pushed my 3rd slide in and cranked a pedal C. After the piece I had people telling me they felt the floor shake. During a rehearsal for that concert, I had a similar moment when I played a regular low C after the conductor told me he wanted more. The whole band was laughing after THAT!

There were also some moments in brass band- pedal C over the whole band, 2 choirs, and an organ that had the tuba player next to me stop playing and start laughing; pedal D at the beginning of Festival Overture; aiming for the bass trombonist during Enigma Variations; being the only Eb next to 2 hosses on Bb;.... Fun!
My current small Eb can really freakin crank on low C and B, but I've not yet been unleashed on it. I think I set off a car alarm 2 blocks away while playing bass trombone last summer. I also heard this girl who was walking by my building scream "what the hell is that?!?!" when I was working on my valve pedal range on the chainsaw!


The loudest, not-aimed-at-my-face tuba playing I've seen/heard? The low trombone and tuba of Mnozil Brass during their opening number. I was about 70 feet away and it almost pushed me back! Gigantic sound! It was like one of those movies where you see someone in a trance or hearing "the voice of god". At that moment I could hear absolutely nothing else.

[bort]

A slightly more relevant story:

One of my former community bands always recorded the concerts, with varying degrees of success. For one concert, the mics were set up hastily (and perhaps without sound check), and one of the microphones ended up *directly* above my bell. Of course, I didn't know that until a week later when we listened to the recording at rehearsal. The recording sounded like me (75%), with a quiet band accompaniment (25%).

Director looks at me and said something like "oh come on now, that's WAY too much tuba!" and that I really need to back off. (During the performance itself, I didn't once get the hand, a scowl, or any other disapproving gestures, and I'm convinced that *live* it sounded fine.) Of course I wanted to talk back, but instead just exhaled a bit, said "ok," and got on with life.

But man, what a lousy recording...

[b.williams]

Way back, I was playing The Circus Bee on a sousaphone with a ceremonial band up in the "crows nest" of a US Navy destroyer near 32nd Street in San Diego, CA. It was windy so I thought I had to play extra loud in order to be heard. As it turned out another ceremonial band from our unit was playing a gig on a nearby ship. I later learned that my bass line was heard about a half mile away.

This over the top style was affectionately known to us as "Gun-tubbing".

[windshieldbug]

I was going to mention a performance of Carmena, too, but then I was reminded of playing the Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony at the Kennedy Center years ago. The Bass Trombonist and I agreed that we would NOT be overblown by the organ. Afterward, we agreed that it was a draw...

[jamsav]

wow- how timely is this...in the past two weeks I have played louder outdoors and indoors, then ever before. I was asked to march with a group of pro and semi pro players in NYC St Pats parade. 8 trumpets in a twenty piece brass band playing "pop" music. Michael Jackson , I Want You Back...Mercy Mercy Mercy , Sweet Caroline..etc...well, these trumpet studs ( all pro and or current conservatory students ) played like they were in Maynards band...I think I pushed a lung out of the old King sousy trying to be heard !
Four nights later , the wind ensemble starts working on Meditations on a Scottish Folk Tune ( Jager ) and the two of us were asked to emulate cathedral organ in near pedal tone range . We were asked for more once, and then stronger once , and then we rolled up our sleeves and blew the toupe off of the horn player !! Took my horn to Matt Walters to have the braces checked the next day !!! ...

[J.c. Sherman]

The loudest I've ever played was Bass Trombone on a work called "White Horse" for brass and organ. It literally required us to play as loud as possible to simulate the apocalypse. I was injured.

The loudest on tuba has always been for comic effect, and I work at it. Every Christmas I’m asked to make a “blatty” oom-pah which startles the audience… which I kindly obliged : )

The other time was with the Blossom Band and we played +pop+ “Goes the Weasel” and the whole tuba section sounded like an acoustic armada of death. Got a very good laugh there too (heh, heh).

J.c.S.

[Monstertuba]

I was playing Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet with the Juilliard Orchestra conducted by Kurt Mazur. During one of the rehearsals of the Montagues and the Capulet's the bass trombonist and I were doing our best impression of Warren Deck and Don Harwood (it was at Avery fisher hall after all) on the low e to g's when Mazur stopped us and announced: 'This is not a tuba concerto!' Sheepishly I acknowledged his instruction, backed off and he blew me a kiss to indicate his pleasure with my new level. So in my next lesson with Warren, I walked in and said, 'hey, Mazur blew me a kiss'. He immediately responded, 'What did you do, play softer?'

[caseys186]

When I was deployed on the USS Comte de Grasse (DD 974) for UNITAS 38, (a diplomatic cruise around South America) we (US Navy Showband) were asked to play during an "Unrep" (short for "underway replenishment"), which we were not happy about. During an Unrep, another ship comes along side while underway, and supplies are sent over via a line between the two ships. Manuevering and communication between the ships is tricky, and in order to provide motivation and Esprit De Corps, we were sent to the Missile deck (about three decks up from where they were doing the unrep) to provide inspirational music for the evolution. Our Chief said " make sure this never happens again !", which we were all on board with. We all proceeded to play as loudly as unhumanly possible. I think we may have inverted the cymbals a few times. The best part was while we were playing, our ship sent a message to the supply ship, asking them to turn down their "loud music" to which the supply ship replied, sorry, we can't do that, the music is coming from your ship! Within seconds, the COS (a full Captain) came running up to where we were "guntubbing" (Navy Tubist jargon for playing really loud) and ordered us to stop. Mission accomplished. They never asked us to do that again.

Kurt

[J.c. Sherman]

When I was deployed on the USS Comte de Grasse (DD 974) for UNITAS 38, (a diplomatic cruise around South America) we (US Navy Showband) were asked to play during an "Unrep" (short for "underway replenishment"), which we were not happy about. During an Unrep, another ship comes along side while underway, and supplies are sent over via a line between the two ships. Manuevering and communication between the ships is tricky, and in order to provide motivation and Esprit De Corps, we were sent to the Missile deck (about three decks up from where they were doing the unrep) to provide inspirational music for the evolution. Our Chief said " make sure this never happens again !", which we were all on board with. We all proceeded to play as loudly as unhumanly possible. I think we may have inverted the cymbals a few times. The best part was while we were playing, our ship sent a message to the supply ship, asking them to turn down their "loud music" to which the supply ship replied, sorry, we can't do that, the music is coming from your ship! Within seconds, the COS (a full Captain) came running up to where we were "guntubbing" (Navy Tubist jargon for playing really loud) and ordered us to stop. Mission accomplished. They never asked us to do that again.

Kurt

That's hysterical. My Dad was on USS Roanoke (an unrep oiler, AOR-7) and he never mentioned live entertainment... I would think the distraction would be annoying as hell to the bridge!

[Ken Herrick]

While I was with the Australian Army band in Melbourne we did 3 years of "Edinburg" Military Tattoo seasons at the Local 100,000 seat cricket/football ground. At ground level it had a concrete passageway which extended all the way around its 1/4mile or so circumference - a beautiful echo chamber.

The USMC Drum and bugle Corps was one of the guest overseas acts and they thought they could play pretty loud. I was only using a B&H Eb on the march but could match it volume wise with anybody on the field. On the final night I let off one of the infamous Harvey Phillips elephant Farts - a half valve glissando just as I got into that hallway. The Marines, who were still coming off the ground, reckoned it drowned out the 500 pipers still playing on the field as it echoed all the way around the ground.

A better one - for effect was not on tuba but bass drum. Out band had gone interstate to join up with the band in Adelaide for a "mini" tattoo. I had just done a knee in so had a non marching trip and didn't have a tuba with me. (I got to swan around the wine growing districts filling up the staff car with samples from the wineries.)

The finale to the whole trip was a concert with 1812. I got draughted onto bass drum and was to match the cannons. The conductor said to give it everything - not a good idea to give me that sort of freedom!

On the last bass drum note I hit it so hard that the head split. The noise was so much that the percussionist next to me on chimes knocked the whole thing over - sending tubular chimes rattling down the stage, knocking over other drum gear and generally making one hell of a racket.

Surprisingly the conductor thought it all made a rather fitting end to "the war".

[Steve Marcus]

While performing Russian Easter Overture in a regional orchestra with a well-known guest conductor, the gentleman next to me was dead-set to outdo all of the other soloists in the piece. He made sure that his bass trombone was heard by all in and out of the theater, whether or not that instrument had a featured line. I had little choice than to keep up to try to provide some body to the "edge." With the tuba part lying mainly in the middle of the staff, it wasn't difficult. So, I blame the bass trombonist. Yup.

Oh, I didn't mention reveling in a concert AAAb pedal note (written, not interpolated--I'm not THAT guilty--part of the pleasure was in seeing all those ledger lines in my BBb Bass part, albeit in treble clef) at the end of a brass band arrangement of Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring.

[Tubadork]

Well,
I can't say that I had a very good time being a member of the US Army band program and was even more pissed when my recruiter lied (wow big surprise) and I wasn't able to complete my 1st enlistment at my first duty statement and I was sent to the least desirable assignment in the band field, Korea.

We had a concert on Christmas (I think it was day, but it may have been eve) and the arrangements we were playing were really bad and our performance of it was worse. I lost all patience, grabbed the Bayamo and played the rest of the concert down an octave and as loud as I could. You know when bass clarinet players turn around after each tune with their jaw on the floor and or you can see most of shoulders of people in front of you convulsing from laughter that you have crossed that line. The bass trombonist next to me loved it, but this guy must have sat a little to close to artillery fire and somehow yearned for those days.

Can't say I'm real proud of that day, but I was fun to know that I could do that if I wanted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKmQW7JTb6s" target="_blank

Bill




{I would like to point out that I realize that my life could have been much worse. I never dodged a bullet outside of basic, so it could have sucked a whole bunch, but no matter where you are it could always be worse until you're dead.}

[tubadaddy92]

I've got a few of times where I may have crossed the line. The other night the youth symphony I play in did the Saint-Saens Organ Conerto. We only did the fourth movement, but everytime I played when the organ did I thought of it as a clash of the titans. The trombone player next to me loved it. We also did Fanfare for the Common Man. The recording that I have of it was with Warren Deck playing, so I tried to make myself sound like him...which is a little hard to do on a 188. The trumpets told me afterwards that they could only hear me when I played. On the recording, however, both songs sounded fine. My last time was back in January. I was in a honors orchestra and we were playing Greensleeves. Although my part only said piano, the conductor wanted everything I had and then some. By the end of the song I was exhausted. On the CD of that one, my part did seem over the top, but it's what he wanted. Like previously said, it's good to know I've got it in me.