Snedeco "Low Etudes For Tuba" from a different perspective (fair warning: probably a boring post)
Posted: Sat May 13, 2023 9:36 am
I've never worked out of this book.
I wasn't aware that I even owned it.
I don't remember purchasing it. (I probably did, but it may have been a bag-pocket with a used tuba that I bought to resell...??)
I was aware of all the chatter when it was first published.
Since I really didn't want to print this out from some questionable (legal?) free download, I just never looked at this book.
Suddenly, though, I discovered that I actually own a printed/paper version of the book.
From the perspective of an aging owner of a Fat Bastard (Miraphone model 98 B-flat "Seigfried") who's still trying to play the tuba at a marketable/sellable/"you-should-call-bloke" performance level, I'm noticing these things:
> With a 21.2mm bore (vs. a 19mm or 17.5mm bore) I'm actually having to breathe "correctly", whereas (with 19mm/17.5mm bore contrabass tubas) "whatever air was in my lungs" was/is usually either plenty or (at least) enough. I'm also aging, so this may be a factor (??). Further (having been exposed to some videos of some notable players), I'm trying to self-monitor, and avoid "head cocking" and "chest thrusting" when taking in "full" air (particularly when I NEED air and don't have much time to get it), as neither of those types of motions (at least, not to my knowledge) contribute to anything positive.
> Rotary valves are different from piston valves, but smooth slurring is just as possible. It's just that they don't work particularly well (using very large-bore rotary valves) with sloppy playing (as medium-large-bore piston valves are a bit more forgiving, in this regard). To say that "a tuba which demands that the player play better" could begin to sound like a cop-out/excuse for a tuba which is "harder to play", but it really isn't. It's difficult to proclaim that "being required to slur correctly and (previous bullet point) breathe correctly" are bad things.
> I'm still not absolutely there - and it's still not completely automatic, but "bringing my B-flat tuba reading skills up from where they were at age 17 to a completely competent (so-called 'professional') level" is coming along really well. I find that I'm neither tensing up mentally nor physically when sight-reading, and I'm managing to (depending on complexity and speed) stay somewhere ahead of what I'm playing, reading-wise. I'm even beginning to become somewhat comfortable with treble clef (playing down two octaves), which is "THE" clef of western music, thus (in my view) an important clef for me to be able to read competently, at least (for now) at so-called "concert" pitch.
> In regards to this book, it's not difficult to sight-read, and I'm finding that I'm just as good at hearing the upcoming pitches (in my head) ahead of time in the very low range as I am in the hovering-around-the-staff range. The one (reading) thing that I'm finding disconcerting (but learning to deal with) are the double-low pitches which are actually written out (ie. five ledger lines), rather than (with most performance music encountered) "8va basso". That having been said, writing them out does provide a pictorial image of the intervals to be executed.
> Intonation: I'm striving to work in mechanical tuning remedies when possible, and this would include pitches which follow each other at 2XX event per minute, and even pitches (when the slide remedy doesn't require an immediate slide position return for the very next pitch) pitches which might follow each other at twice that speed range. I understand the "that tuning is good enough for the tuba at those speeds" philosophy, but (for whatever reason) I never hear players of other wind instruments reflecting/expressing (at least, not openly) "good enough" types of tuning attitudes. Finally, understand that I do not view myself as Tubah Goddhh, and (when passages are quite difficult for the hands), I'm not beyond using a not-quite-in-tune fingering (or two) to get through them, and (ref: intonation) strive for the best.
> Double-low C: So far, I haven't encountered any B-naturals nor B-flats in this book, but (over time) I've taught myself to play the double-low C with all of the extra resistance involved in the valve combination 5-2-3-4 (PLUS the extra length of a B-flat instruments, PLUS the very large bore, PLUS flicking the nearby 5th slide up a few inches for tuning). This tuba offers a VERY friendly and VERY marketable 3rd valve "false-tone" double-low C, but I choose to be able to have both ways of approaching this pitch in my toolbox. As is known, this pitch is "no valves down" when played on C tubas and is an extremely easy pitch to access on those instruments, though it requires a practiced and accomplished player (with most C-pitched instruments) to play that pitch without playing it considerably sharp.
> Finally, I've never been particularly good at using the tongue to start double-low pitches. (For me, it just gets in the way of my wide-open mouth position, whereas - simply - blowing - works extraordinarily well...for me...and regardless of the type of "beginning sound" a very low pitch is supposed to exhibit - "hard", "soft", or "in-between") When jumping back-and-forth between the "normal" range of the tuba and the "double-low" range (in these exercises) I'm having to concentrate on "tah-tah-tah" (more defined/harder articulations) / "dah-dah-dah" (smoother/softer articulations) / "ahahah" (no articulations - connected pitches - slurring... notice the omission of the dashes), and (double-low range: regardless of articulation markings) "hah-hah-hah". (...and y'all can chide me for the way I begin very-very low pitches, but it works well for me, and I'm too old to go back to struggling-in-vain to try to do it other ways.)
-------------------------------------------------------------
sidebar:
Is this legal? https://kupdf.net/download/low-etudes-f ... 894c61_pdf
I wasn't aware that I even owned it.
I don't remember purchasing it. (I probably did, but it may have been a bag-pocket with a used tuba that I bought to resell...??)
I was aware of all the chatter when it was first published.
Since I really didn't want to print this out from some questionable (legal?) free download, I just never looked at this book.
Suddenly, though, I discovered that I actually own a printed/paper version of the book.
From the perspective of an aging owner of a Fat Bastard (Miraphone model 98 B-flat "Seigfried") who's still trying to play the tuba at a marketable/sellable/"you-should-call-bloke" performance level, I'm noticing these things:
> With a 21.2mm bore (vs. a 19mm or 17.5mm bore) I'm actually having to breathe "correctly", whereas (with 19mm/17.5mm bore contrabass tubas) "whatever air was in my lungs" was/is usually either plenty or (at least) enough. I'm also aging, so this may be a factor (??). Further (having been exposed to some videos of some notable players), I'm trying to self-monitor, and avoid "head cocking" and "chest thrusting" when taking in "full" air (particularly when I NEED air and don't have much time to get it), as neither of those types of motions (at least, not to my knowledge) contribute to anything positive.
> Rotary valves are different from piston valves, but smooth slurring is just as possible. It's just that they don't work particularly well (using very large-bore rotary valves) with sloppy playing (as medium-large-bore piston valves are a bit more forgiving, in this regard). To say that "a tuba which demands that the player play better" could begin to sound like a cop-out/excuse for a tuba which is "harder to play", but it really isn't. It's difficult to proclaim that "being required to slur correctly and (previous bullet point) breathe correctly" are bad things.
> I'm still not absolutely there - and it's still not completely automatic, but "bringing my B-flat tuba reading skills up from where they were at age 17 to a completely competent (so-called 'professional') level" is coming along really well. I find that I'm neither tensing up mentally nor physically when sight-reading, and I'm managing to (depending on complexity and speed) stay somewhere ahead of what I'm playing, reading-wise. I'm even beginning to become somewhat comfortable with treble clef (playing down two octaves), which is "THE" clef of western music, thus (in my view) an important clef for me to be able to read competently, at least (for now) at so-called "concert" pitch.
> In regards to this book, it's not difficult to sight-read, and I'm finding that I'm just as good at hearing the upcoming pitches (in my head) ahead of time in the very low range as I am in the hovering-around-the-staff range. The one (reading) thing that I'm finding disconcerting (but learning to deal with) are the double-low pitches which are actually written out (ie. five ledger lines), rather than (with most performance music encountered) "8va basso". That having been said, writing them out does provide a pictorial image of the intervals to be executed.
> Intonation: I'm striving to work in mechanical tuning remedies when possible, and this would include pitches which follow each other at 2XX event per minute, and even pitches (when the slide remedy doesn't require an immediate slide position return for the very next pitch) pitches which might follow each other at twice that speed range. I understand the "that tuning is good enough for the tuba at those speeds" philosophy, but (for whatever reason) I never hear players of other wind instruments reflecting/expressing (at least, not openly) "good enough" types of tuning attitudes. Finally, understand that I do not view myself as Tubah Goddhh, and (when passages are quite difficult for the hands), I'm not beyond using a not-quite-in-tune fingering (or two) to get through them, and (ref: intonation) strive for the best.
> Double-low C: So far, I haven't encountered any B-naturals nor B-flats in this book, but (over time) I've taught myself to play the double-low C with all of the extra resistance involved in the valve combination 5-2-3-4 (PLUS the extra length of a B-flat instruments, PLUS the very large bore, PLUS flicking the nearby 5th slide up a few inches for tuning). This tuba offers a VERY friendly and VERY marketable 3rd valve "false-tone" double-low C, but I choose to be able to have both ways of approaching this pitch in my toolbox. As is known, this pitch is "no valves down" when played on C tubas and is an extremely easy pitch to access on those instruments, though it requires a practiced and accomplished player (with most C-pitched instruments) to play that pitch without playing it considerably sharp.
> Finally, I've never been particularly good at using the tongue to start double-low pitches. (For me, it just gets in the way of my wide-open mouth position, whereas - simply - blowing - works extraordinarily well...for me...and regardless of the type of "beginning sound" a very low pitch is supposed to exhibit - "hard", "soft", or "in-between") When jumping back-and-forth between the "normal" range of the tuba and the "double-low" range (in these exercises) I'm having to concentrate on "tah-tah-tah" (more defined/harder articulations) / "dah-dah-dah" (smoother/softer articulations) / "ahahah" (no articulations - connected pitches - slurring... notice the omission of the dashes), and (double-low range: regardless of articulation markings) "hah-hah-hah". (...and y'all can chide me for the way I begin very-very low pitches, but it works well for me, and I'm too old to go back to struggling-in-vain to try to do it other ways.)
-------------------------------------------------------------
sidebar:
Is this legal? https://kupdf.net/download/low-etudes-f ... 894c61_pdf
) F, which is never needed, and I'm not sure if I've ever been paid to play below a C above that.