Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?

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phmurphy1
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Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?

Post by phmurphy1 »

Anybody know of any musical theatre books (or anything else for that matter) that calls for one person to double on bass trombone and tuba?


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Re: Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?

Post by tobysima` »

phmurphy1 wrote: Fri Nov 13, 2020 8:51 pm Anybody know of any musical theatre books (or anything else for that matter) that calls for one person to double on bass trombone and tuba?
I think Les Miserables does. There's a tuba solo within the trombone book, and even though the part goes high, a bass bone would be way better.
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Re: Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?

Post by bort2.0 »

Chicago, right?
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Re: Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?

Post by ronr »

bort2.0 wrote: Fri Nov 13, 2020 9:16 pmChicago, right?
Chicago book is string bass and tuba. Most fun I’ve ever had in a pit!
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Re: Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?

Post by frailingtuba »

I played an orchestration of Mary Poppins that had a bass trombone/tuba book. Quick changes between both horns and lots of mute work on bass trombone. Keeps you on your toes pretty much the whole show.

I think there is also a larger setting where the two parts might be separated, not entirely sure.
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Re: Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?

Post by bloke »

several...though I can't name them.
The touring versions of the many of the books compact orchestration/instrumentation.

I had to double on tuba and euphonium when playing the touring version of "Ragtime"...which (oddly) was a Broadway musical reverse-engineered from (sure: technically, a novel, but defacto...) a movie.

At one point, I had to play a very loud "crying out" upper G# on the euphonium, slam it on the floor, pick up the tuba, and produce a thunderous low D.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragtime_(musical)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragtime_(film)
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Re: Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?

Post by hup_d_dup »

Lion King

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Yes, I play tuba. What else is there to say?
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Re: Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?

Post by bort2.0 »

hup_d_dup wrote: Sun Nov 15, 2020 7:56 am Lion King

Hup
Ok, when I said "Chicago," I was actually thinking Lion King. Close enough, right? :facepalm2:

Only reason I know this is bc I know the guy who has played Lion King a billion times on bass trombone, who had also shopped around for a while for a pit-sized tuba.
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Re: Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?

Post by Snake Charmer »

Miss Saigon
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Re: Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?

Post by bloke »

When the double is from bass trombone to tuba, I always recommend to bass trombonists (who tell me that they wish to develop tuba as a "double") that they buy compensating E-flat tubas, as comp. E-flat tubas so closely relate to F-attachment trombones.
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Re: Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?

Post by Druzone »

The original Broadway productions of Mary Poppins, Lion King, Mystery of Edwin Drood, Beauty and the Beast and Cyrano (to mention a few) all had Bass Trombone/Tuba Books - I’m sure I’m leaving a few out).

The original Broadway Ragtime Production had a Tuba/Euphonium double. I played it a couple of hundred times. It was challenging - the Euph part was written as a 3rd Horn part, mostly soft and high - and in that pit you were close to the “Conductor” pointing right at him.

Original orchestrations often change for road/rental/revival versions of the same show. I subbed the first Broadway revival of Annie which had the Bass Trombone/Tuba double. (The original Annie on Broadway had a rare, non-double Tuba part -played by the great Tony Price).
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Re: Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?

Post by bloke »

Druzone wrote: Mon Nov 16, 2020 8:29 am The original Broadway productions of Mary Poppins, Lion King, Mystery of Edwin Drood, Beauty and the Beast and Cyrano (to mention a few) all had Bass Trombone/Tuba Books - I’m sure I’m leaving a few out).

The original Broadway Ragtime Production had a Tuba/Euphonium double. I played it a couple of hundred times. It was challenging - the Euph part was written as a 3rd Horn part, mostly soft and high - and in that pit you were close to the “Conductor” pointing right at him.

Original orchestrations often change for road/rental/revival versions of the same show. I subbed the first Broadway revival of Annie which had the Bass Trombone/Tuba double. (The original Annie on Broadway had a rare, non-double Tuba part -played by the great Tony Price).
As mentioned in a previous post, I did the Ragtime double (road company) as you describe. I also played the tuba-only book a couple of times in EARLY road tours of Annie. The first time, I played it on a 6/4 Holton BB340 (the 3-valve version of the BB345 B♭, which I picked up for $75). It sounded amazing on those "BUMP!....BA-BUMP!" B♭...F-B♭ licks in the overture...particularly in the cavernous 1920's Orpheum-circuit theater, in which the touring Broadway shows were/are performed.
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