-----Original Message-----From: David H. Bailey [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 22 January 2004 11:26 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: Finale List Subject: Re: [Finale] Tubas and 8vb
Tubists are used to reading ledger lines, not 8va markings.
From: Eden - Lawrence D. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 22 January 2004 11:31 To: Colin Broom Cc: Finale List Subject: Re: [Finale] Tubas and 8vb
I am a tuba player and I have rarely seen an 8ve marking in my part...although it might be helpful. More often, I see what looks like a divisi that shows the higher octave as well as the lower. This is the method I prefer when I write tuba parts.
Wow, 5 minute response! Thanks. That makes things easier, since the score os already leger line orientated.
The original reason for writing tuba parts in octaves was that bands used both Eb and BBb tubas. A 3-valve Eb's lowest note is AA. The Eb, like the BBb, can produce half-wavelength notes to fill in the "break" between the lowest 3-valve note and the first fundamental, but they are less than wonderful on the Eb. A 4th valve fills in the break range for both tubas and euphoniums.
So for composers like John Philip Sousa, they wrote in octaves because they expected both octaves to be played. The problem is that a great many modern composers and arrangers are not familiar with band performance practice and assume that only BBb tubas are used. When they take their tuba parts down too low for an Eb, we fill in the upper octave automatically, but that means we are acting (necessarily) as arrangers because the arranger didn't know what he was doing. A few composers actually do write divisi tuba parts (although rarely) and want them both played. When no provision is made for Eb tuba and low parts are not written in octaves, the ledger lines can get confusing, and would read 8va in a second, but it's very seldom used.
For the record, I have been playing a 3-valve Eb tuba in a community band for several years because that's the instrument that was available to me. (My real band instrument is bass trombone, but we've had a full trombone section and an empty tuba section.) I'm also an arranger and sometime composer, so I go ahead and rewrite the parts on the fly. After a couple of years of frustration I finally figured out the fingerings to fill in the break, but with an Eb mouthpiece the tone leaves much to be desired.
When you enter the orchestral world, of course, you never know which size tuba will be used, but it doesn't matter because the tubist will have enough valves and enough chops to play anything you write. And again, the more normal practice is to use ledger lines.
John
-- John & Susie Howell Virginia Tech Department of Music Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 Mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
