Contrabass Bugle GG Question.

[BigDale]

I think all the previous posts were just about the most confusing things I've ever tried to understand.

Now, I know it's Greek to me because I've never had any music lessons to speak of, but if I take something up only 3 steps, and play it, I'm only part way up the stair case between the first and second floors and why would I want to play my horn there anyway?

They're not minor steps, though, just regular steps and it sounds the same no matter what step I'm on. And forget reading bass or teble clef, the lighting is not so good on the steps.

Think I'll just stick to my bugle and trumpet.

Wow. I think I have seen only one actual tuba person respond to this post.

If you play CC tuba, the note C is open on the bass clef staff. B is 2nd valve, Bb is 1st valve, A is 1/2, Ab is 2/3, etc.

If you play BBb tuba, the note Bb is open on the bass clef staff. A is 2nd valve, Ab is 1st valve, etc.

If you read treble clef contra parts, C is open, etc.

Most corps that offered bass parts wrote CC tuba parts so that everyone in the hornline played C with no valves.

Some corps wrote BBb parts to accomodate the less experienced HS players who had never played on a CC horn.

As said before, all tuba parts are written in concert pitch. You changed fingerings depending on which horn you played the music on--CC, BBb, EEb, F.

With the transition to BBb/F horns, this problem is gone. You just use regular band notation.

[sonofjabba]

Wow. I think I have seen only one actual tuba person respond to this post.

If you play CC tuba, the note C is open on the bass clef staff. B is 2nd valve, Bb is 1st valve, A is 1/2, Ab is 2/3, etc.

If you play BBb tuba, the note Bb is open on the bass clef staff. A is 2nd valve, Ab is 1st valve, etc.

If you read treble clef contra parts, C is open, etc.

Most corps that offered bass parts wrote CC tuba parts so that everyone in the hornline played C with no valves.

Some corps wrote BBb parts to accomodate the less experienced HS players who had never played on a CC horn.

As said before, all tuba parts are written in concert pitch. You changed fingerings depending on which horn you played the music on--CC, BBb, EEb, F.

With the transition to BBb/F horns, this problem is gone. You just use regular band notation.

HEY!!!! What The Heck Do You Think I'm Playing Here!!!!!

This horn is a leaky valve, no soul, no balls... Meh.. I really need a YBB641 Yamaha My Wallet won't let me part with the Money.

[BigDale]

HEY!!!! What The Heck Do You Think I'm Playing Here!!!!!

This horn is a leaky valve, no soul, no balls... Meh.. I really need a YBB641 Yamaha My Wallet won't let me part with the Money.

Banjos??? We Don't Need No Stinkink Banjos!!!!

Uncle Frankie, Roger da Rabbit and Mr. Bigs

The Basses of The Freistadt Alte Kameraden

This little Jupiter 378 can melt butter or come at you like a cement truck. My Cerveny CC 603 only comes out for the symphony gigs.

[Bruckner8]

I said...

That being said, back in the G Bugle days, if you wanted your high school BBb players to come in and have "everything work" for them in the G Bugles in bass clef, you'd have to transpose the parts up a minor 3rd, so that written Bb (played OPEN, back home), would come out sounding like a G.

then Dale said:

Wow. I think I have seen only one actual tuba person respond to this post.

That was Dale's polite way of saying "Bruckner8 is not a tuba player, but I don't have the heart to call him out on this tripe."

I have no explanation for why I said what I said, except the prescription cough medicine I was on at the time. My response above makes no sense at all, from any clef, any horn, except that Bb happens to be a minor third higher than G (which is merely a coincidence, really )

The real answer to "how do I play COntra in G parts on Bb tuba" is to transpose the part down 2 octaves and a 4th, put it in bass clef, and play it! Well, add one sharp to the key too...

(I don't how I expected an open Bb to come out G on a Bb tuba...lol, wow, I haven't been THAT wrong in LOOOONG time, kinda funny. Must have been thinkin about holding down third valve! Yeah, that's it! [not really, I hated that technique..slides are wrong length])

[BigDale]

I said...

then Dale said:

That was Dale's polite way of saying "Bruckner8 is not a tuba player, but I don't have the heart to call him out on this tripe."

Hey there Mr. Sensitive! I actually was counting you in, but did forget you are a bass bone player convert, until you reminded me again. Come on Higgy, you know me better than that, I think???!!!

Maybe it's the lederhosen?

[Leland]

The funny thing is, in the four corps I've marched (so far), I've always played treble clef on G contras. I've seen other transpositions, but those were for massed corps events like the national anthem or the All-Star parade corps that Jim Mason put together for college bowl games and Macy's parades... but they also gave us treble clef parts, too.

We still use treble clef in the entire hornline in the Marines D&B. It's hardly a problem, really.

[Bruckner8]

The funny thing is, in the four corps I've marched (so far), I've always played treble clef on G contras.

Same here; well, 2 corps for me (and one was with you, Leland, 2000 ES )

Always Treble Clef parts for Contras. Never an issue. Although sometimes, my "concert pitch ears" (trombone, euph and tuba player) would start to ponder the treble clef-ness of the part, and I'd play way too high on the partials, but that's when I knew I was tired, lol.

[usmcontra]

My answer to your question would be to ask whoever arranged the music.

Most of you seem to have no idea what you're talking about. Tuba parts are written for all sorts of different keys, mainly Bflat here in the US, but orchestral parts are often written for CC tuba. Some band arrangements have parts for both.

I've always played treble while playing a G bugle. Some guys that came into the Marines were confused because they read bass clef in their corps so we'd have to write in the fingerings for them.

Again, my answer to your question about whether the music is already transposed or not is to ask the arranger.

Edited August 14, 2008 by usmcontra

[Leland]

My answer to your question would be to ask whoever arranged the music.

Yup; best thing to do.

Most of you seem to have no idea what you're talking about. Tuba parts are written for all sorts of different keys, mainly Bflat here in the US, but orchestral parts are often written for CC tuba. Some band arrangements have parts for both.

If the arranger knew what he was doing, and isn't writing for the Eb/BBb section of a brass band, he wouldn't write different parts for different tubas. BBb, CC, Eb, or F, we read from the same sheet of music. It's not like every other wind instrument where, for example, a part written for C trumpet will sound a step off if it's played "as dotted" on a Bb trumpet (third space "C" played with the open fingering).

When we pick up the books for Tubachristmas, the tuba parts are just one book, and aren't marked for any particular key of tuba. Between the guy to my right playing a CC, me on my BBb, and the one to my left on an Eb, we're looking at the same dots, calling them by the same note names, using different fingerings, and still sending the same pitches out of our horns.

For some reason, high brass & woodwind players have a heck of a time understanding this. Every arranging student I've known has asked me, "What do I write for different tubas? Do I transpose them just like I would for, say, a trumpet?" I have to tell them, NO, just write it in concert pitch, and we'll worry about the fingerings to use. I even said one time, "A C is a C is a C is a C is a C." Different tubas finger them differently, but we all still call them 'C', and they all sound the same pitch.

I think that I've seen a part written for CC tuba that, somehow, was a step off if it was played on a BBb without transposition. Operative word being "think"... because I've had a lot of parts in front of me and they tend to blend together..

[Leland]

Same here; well, 2 corps for me (and one was with you, Leland, 2000 ES )

That year taught me how to be FLEXIBLE with drill. Ten contras one night, seven the next, nine the next week, then a different nine, etc etc.

Which one were you?