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Re: Low Tuba Notes

At 16:03 12/07/97 BST, Adrian Drover wrote:
>As an arranger I like to write the occasional super-low notes that were not
>possible on the old 3-valve tubas. Four valves, compensating systems and
wider
>bores have enabled better quality and easier production of these notes.
>However, I am sometimes at a loss to decide which of the instruments, Eb
or Bb,
>should take the lowest note in the score.

Only once has our band been criticised by an adjudicator for playing pedals
which were not in the score. More than once other adjudicators have
commented on the "deep rich" tone of the basses, and this is certainly due
in large part to a sensitive use of pedals by both Bb and Eb, an octave
below the written bass line.  In plating pedals, I guess you need to be
careful to make sure that the effect is one of tone quality rather than
allowing the listener to hear both notes an octave apart.

The Bass line sets up the band's overall tome quality, and playing these
notes well is a real musical thrill.

My plan is this: if the composer writes in pedals, I play those and only
those. If the piece has no pedals, and was written before 4 valve
instruments became commonly available, I add them in where the music seems
to demand them. Never too loud, even in an ff chord, and always aimed at
adding a rich "Organ" tone to the overall chord.

Phil Anderton
Bb Bass
Warringah Concert Brass
Sydney Australia.

http:/www.optom.unsw.edu.au/public/other/wcb.htm


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