Tuba Anyone?

[HC]

I've recently been asked to double (more like triple) on tuba.
The problem is, how do I begin?

[SaxPlayer1004]

have you played any brass instruments before? easiest way to start out is with a tuner, and a fingering chart. start on an open f. find the timbre you want, get it in tune. then start going down. second valve lowers it a half step to e, then open that and press 1st to get Eb, then 1+2 for d. the fingering charts explain it all. tuba is in itself a very easy instrument to play, hard to master, but incredibly easy to play. if you can read bass clef you're pretty much set on the reading music thing. just make sure you always have a tuner with you because of the partial thing. after you go down, go chromatically up to the Bb. if you haven't heard this or learned this already, each one of the valve slides are tunable, so tuning the beast starts with open f and the Bb's below and above it, and average them, then the second valve e and the a above that, etc etc until all of the valves are tuned.
third valve on tuba can be used as an alternate for first and second valve. i.e. if you second valve notes are all in tune and your first ones are too, but when you play a d and g and b natural, they are out of tune, you can use third valve for them.
fourth valves *pinky valve* is a combo of first and third valves. this makes the low c more in tune. the lower you go on a tuba the flatter you get, so the other valves make that easier. if you have more q's you can email me tbnsax@aol.com. i am 4th seat tuba in carolina crown drum and bugle corp, so if i can't help you one of my buddies can. Good luck.

[RS]

As a low reed player (bari sax) I've aways had a soft spot for low brass, particularly tuba. Magnificent instrument. A tuba player I know likes to joke that he doesn't use major or minor scales--he uses the Richter scale.

[Randall]

I doubled on tuba for marching throughout high school and university marching band seasons- even became the section leader of the tubas in univeristy....absolutely the most fun on the field!

We had 24 tubas on the field when I was at WVU!

I highly recommend it!

[bariman]

Wow, 24 Tubas! Most impressive.

Bariman

[Randall]

Bariman, you should have heard it!

Funny thing was, every time we went to an opponents stadium and marched into the stadium in single file for effect (in those days we had almost 400 members), you would always see the home team's band members with index fingers extended toward us, counting, mouths gaping open! :shock:

Reading lips was never easier....

"holy s#%!&%...They have 24 tubas!"


I haven't even mentioned the numbers in the drumline...but hey, this board is for musicians, right?! ;)

[HC]

Thanks for the help. I felt as giddy as I did learning that I was going to play bass clarinet my sophmore year. I just can't wait. My band director is a tuba player, so that would be a very big help. I think I'm going to pick it up after AP tests are over (first week in may), where homework gets somewhat lighter than now. If I have time, hopefully takes some lessons on tuba during the summer. I know people at our school had played bari and doubled on tuba before, so it shouldn't be hard to switch between the two.

Randell, wow, 24 tubas. I remeber I saw University of Illinois' marching band perform before. Right before the "real" show, the sousaphones had their own show with the drumline. It was an amazing sight. I believe they "only" had 19 sousas.

[SaxPlayer1004]

my cousin was senior drum major at UMASS amherst, and they had a 24 person tuba line last year. They had a 325 person band, and the tubas were there crossing guards. they have leather berets and sunglasses that come in the tuba cases every year, kinda the signature thing.

[paulwl]

Illinois uses fewer tubas than UMass? Perhaps the better known the school is as a sports powerhouse, the fewer tubas will appear on the field.

Extrapolating further, Stanford should field a band made up entirely of tubas. (And they're just the ones to do it.)

[Randall]

A lot depends on the music programs (and how unsuccessful the football team is at schools I think....)
I know that was the case at WVU until the early 1980's when the football team got significantly better than it was during the 70's. People literally came out to see the band and not the team. As a freshman in 1980, WVU fielded the largest marching band it has ever had.

I remember that when I was an undergrad, a very small Div. II college called Westchester State (PA) had one of the most ungodly big (and well playing) marching bands you could ever imagine. Seems they had a big music program there and an unusual percentage of the mb memebers were music majors.

If my foggy memory also serves me correct I have seen at least one div 1-A marching band with 30 tubas on the field. I want to say it is an SEC school, but I honestly cannot rememeber which school it was....but I am leaning toward the University of Alabama.

The most WVU ever fielded was 26 in the late 70's.

I dare say the absolute record goes to the L.A. Olympics marching band when they had 50 Sousaphones blatting away all at once.

[Bass Kid]

I am a tuba player mainly and I dabble on bass sax at school to keep my mind occupied. We have a fairly small bass section with 3 tubas, one bass sax (me), and 2 or 3 string basses. I decided to be brave the first time we played 'Entry of the Gladiators' and play bass sax. Imagine my surprise when it came to the tuba/trombone solo and I was expected to play all those notes. Yeah, me who normally plays with 3 fingers trying to get 9 fingers going all at once. Royal fun

[HC]

Just posting an update:
I got a school tuba and the band director told me what to do and threw a book at me.

I got the low Eb, f, and G, allowing me to play mary had a little lamb.

Today, I managed to get the low Bb (one with ledger lines) out with some consistency, but the C above rarely comes out. I also got those three notes learned the previous day to play without skipping partials.

How long do you think it would take to get proficient enough to at least play marching band music?

[Brendan Muse]

Speaking of tuba...

Wow. That's all. Top line Bb scares me. It refuses to come out. I fear it.

Edit: I'm even more afraid. It took me half an hour, a tuner and a fingering chart to go from "Wait, these are KEYS?" to "Hey, I can blart out something that resembles 'Take the "A" Train.'"

[HC]

I could go from the E an octive below :bass: :line0: to high F :bass: :line4: Just thinking about that Bb scares me . I have become familiar to the point that I could play marching music without a problem, which is decent enough for now. I got to put in twice as much effort as the next person in marching band. In addition to knowing the music, I also have to know the instrument. :cry: But so far, it has been fun.

[Brendan Muse]

I can get the Ab here :line5:, but I can't get anything much lower than C# an octave below that :space2:, in tune or not. And my sound is abysmal. But, hey, it works for the most part. It's one of the tubas that served as a roach motel, when they weren't inhabiting the bari I played as a freshman.

[Biff]

i can get three octaves of Bb on a tuba, which means i get low trumpet Bb.

:bass: :space5: < that one
and
:bass: :line2: two octaves below

the way i ended up getting there is starting to play trombone, and using its lip tension as a reference. playing tuba can be a lot of fun, but i like bari best.

[SaxPlayer1004]

My full range now is :bass: :line0: two octaves down, up to :bass: :space5: on octave up, played bass trombone for about a month and build my range and response up, it is a very versatile instrument shall we say.

[HC]

Hmm... so the best way to build up the range on tuba is to actually learn trombone/baritone?

[SaxPlayer1004]

it helps, its a different embouchure. I have found that it is easier for me to hit altissimo on bari after I was playing clarinet and soprano for a few gigs. Tighter embouchure felt more natural to get to. Bass trombone is a nice horn, because it takes more air than a tuba does so it builds your lungs, and is also easier to play very very low. It is pitched the same as a tenor trombone, but feels more like a tuba to play. Bigger mouthpiece, heavier horn etc. WHen you are trying to get lower, think tall embouchure. Like singing, for guys atleast, it is much easier to get lower with a fuller sound if your oral cavity and throat are opened as far as they can get, similar concept with tuba. For high range, simplest thing is to play with alternate fingerings. Say you can't hit that high Bb partial. You can get up to an F but no higher. So you play that high f open, then as 1 3, if you can get the alternate fingering you are actually in the high Bb partial. So then you go to 23 for F#, then 12 or 3 for G 1 for Ab 2 for A and then open for high Bb. It takes practice and patience, more so than single reeds, but its worth it in the long run.

[StanStan Trombonerman]

I have to say the one thing I didn't like about tuba was how much my glasses vibrated. I darksided from alto to trombone, and that was ok, over to euphonium, which was ok, down to bass trombone (glasses starting to vibrate) down to tuba, where my glasses are CONSTANTLY vibrating, and my vision swims on the lower stuff.


I love love love bass sounds though. Well. I like the whole spectrum from tenor trombone down, but bass is the best in my opinion. I wish I took lessons more though. I had 5 years of sax lessons under my belt versus the two years when I started tenor bone (I started baritone near the end of when I took lessons and I taught myself from there). That, and i'm tiny, so the tuba we had dwarfed me. I liked my little 3/4th tuba but some middle school kid wanted to play it, so I got stuck with the huge mofo.

[eddaket]

I have been playing a three valve tuba for 3 years now and I think I have a pretty good range. I can go from :line0: octave below, too a :space4: without trouble (:space5: with trouble)

My advice to get higher is play something like a trumpet before hand, gt used to the feel of that mouth peice, and then go to tuba. For low notes, try to just losen your buzz as much as possible (enough where if you do the same buzz outside the mouthepeice, it isnt a buzz)

I wish my school had a 4 valve tuba, that way I could play :line2: down two octaves

[SaxPlayer1004]

with a three valve, there is a false Eb partial just below the e you can hit, that will get you the rest of the way down to the subcontra Bb which is another partial, but you rarely have to go there.

[eddaket]

I rarely would have to go there, you are right. But do you happen to have the fingerings to go that low??

Only thing about playing low is that I cannot do it fast, and Gustav Holst's Second Suite in F for Military Band is a real test of your finger speed (especially in the fourth movement).

[SaxPlayer1004]

ya the Eb is open, D is second, Db first, C first and Second, B natural is second and third and Bb is open. This is assuming your lip flexibility can compensate for the lower partials, the notes get farther apart so the tubing has to get longer. If you are having a problem keeping them in tune. Eb is open, D is First, Db is Third, C is second and Third and B is First and Third.

[HC]

Hate to kind of revive a dead horse, but I figure I should give you an update. Senor year has been extremely busy, but I do check back on this forum once in a while but never post.

I took lessons on tuba starting in the summer time and still continue to do so. I had a blast playing sousaphone during marching band season after my left shoulder got used to the weight of the sousaphone. I ended up playing tuba in the lower band along with my usual gig on EEb contra clarinet on the upper band. I am still working on getting a better tone on tuba, but have come a long way. I could hold my own playing with the "real" tubists. In a nutshell, I went from struggling with marry had a little lamb to playing Gustav Holst's Second Suite in F for Military Band in a year.

As a side benefit, my tone got dramatically better on saxophone as a result of playing tuba.

[rubberducko]

Heh, cool to see sax players double on tuba. I myself have tuba as main instrument, and alt sax as second, at least I want to believe so myself :=)
Im playing a 5 rotor valve B&S 4096/2 CC tuba. Im handling about 4octaves, from lowest C:bass: :space2: (two octaves under that c), with very relaxed embouchure to :bass: :space2: (two octaves over that c) with very tence embouchure.

When It comes to sax Im not really good though :p

[T_J_h90000]

I rarely would have to go there, you are right. But do you happen to have the fingerings to go that low??

Only thing about playing low is that I cannot do it fast, and Gustav Holst's Second Suite in F for Military Band is a real test of your finger speed (especially in the fourth movement).

Funny you say that, We played that this past spring Here at school, but i wasn't playing tuba in concert band last year, but i did do it on the Bari. FUn song! I have been playing TUba for 5 years now, Sax for 11 years, I am working on a Tuba solo for our spring concert and play concert Tuba this semester, I play Tenor / Bari sax / Keyboard in a touring ensemble here at the University. so technically i am quading insturments here at school. LOL