Contrabass Bugle GG Question.

[Leland]

I should add to what I wrote two posts above --

Often, and especially with solo/featured material, the composer will write for a specific voice of tuba in mind. It's mainly bass tuba vs. contrabass (Eb/F vs. CC/BBb, respectively), meaning that the intent is for the brighter color & clarity of a smaller bass tuba, or the meatier sound of a contrabass.

Although I'll bet that there are some exceptions, you can play a part written for bass tuba (usually optimized for F tuba and its quirks & advantages) on a contrabass tuba without having to do any on-the-fly "transposition".

Another tangent --

The cool thing about knowing treble clef is that it's really easy to pick up an Eb tuba and play in bass clef. Third space is the open fingering, as is the second line, etc. It's also how bari sax players can read off of tuba parts pretty easily. It was easy enough that, while I was test driving an Eb during a couple church quintet rehearsals, I didn't have to worry much about how to finger the parts.

[Bruckner8]

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?

Bob...SCV 84...from Ohio...and note that we marched 11 contras at DCA Finals.

I saw you at DCI Finals this year. As you were marching out of the back stands, before scores were announced, I was leaning on the railing of the ramp (still on the field, behind Blooo). I didn't get all "Hi Leland!" on you since ya looked so "F U ALL" and everything, lol. I smiled and laughed.

[usmcontra]

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..

OK, I didn't say that allllll tuba parts are written for different keys of tubas. For the most part, it's all written in one key and one has to transpose. I have, however, seen parts written for other keys, again, mostly in orchestral tuba parts.

Edited August 15, 2008 by usmcontra

[G-horns]

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

Or, if you have some score reading ability, ask to look at the conductor's score.

[Leland]

Or just play it, and when the closing major chord becomes an inverted 11th (or something similarly and awesomely COOL), you know that your part is written wrong.

[Dave]

Honestly...just write it treble clef. Seriously. It's easier to be musically correct, and it's a useful tool inside and outside of drum corps. Eye cood rite liek dis and itt wood bee reedabul...but it would also be wrong and exceedingly confusing. Likewise, writing some bastardized bass clef just so contra players don't have to make the minimal effort necessary to learn treble clef may make things easier in the short run, but in the long run it becomes harder to incorporate players that don't understand your particular set of rules for reading the music, and it misses the larger point that drum corps ought to actually teach you something, not just be about the immediate moment.

[sonofjabba]

Honestly...just write it treble clef. Seriously. It's easier to be musically correct,

I concur, However it would be a useful tool for a "On the Fly" Situation when all you have is a bass clef tuba part. And the only horn available is my Contrabass.

Sibelius 5 Makes it easy to put into Treble... Just Not always at my disposal.. I have it on my Laptop, but my Printers aren't so portable. (Konica Color laser, and My Brother B&W Laser.) Both Heavyweights..

BTW I got a full copy of Sibelius so I can do just that. Works Excellent! No Clunkers Yet.