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Low Register Beauty

Last Updated (Wednesday, 14 May 2008 08:25)
Written by Roger Bobo
Sunday, 03 February 2008 16:04

Articles - Pedagogical articles

All tubists look for ways to improve the low register and there are several low register methods available for exactly that purpose. Some are very good. No approach is bad, but I would like to suggest that perhaps the very best method has been available for a very long time.  

First, let’s review a couple of the very unique idiosyncrasies of low register on the tuba. Work in the low register is slower to show results than any other aspect of tuba study. In a tubist’s formative period, as one practices, progress becomes audible in almost all aspects of playing. More often than not, the low register seems to be at a developmental standstill. It’s during these frustrating times that it’s most important to persevere; improvement is taking place, just slower than we would like.

The other aspect to remember is that there is nothing else that I know of in human endeavor that resembles the adeptness necessary to play the tuba in the low register. Of course, I’m referring to the very large volumes of air we need and the maintenance of the air pressure necessary to support the large, fast-moving flow of air. Remember that at an octave lower at the same dynamic, a note will take twice as much air. This takes work, patience and perseverance to master.

This reality of air volume and pressure can sometimes push us beyond our “performance comfort zone”, which frequently results in a rough and unmusical mode of playing. Here is one of the major rules of performance: LOUD IS NEVER MORE IMPORTANT THAN BEAUTY.

Many players work on their low register by playing the Bordogni vocalises (frequently in the form of the Rochut Melodious Etudes for Trombone) down two octaves. This can be dangerous because the physical demands at that extreme low register are so great that they frequently result in the rough and ugly playing mentioned above.

I have had very positive success with my bass trombone students in the past by having them play those same Bordogni vocalises in tenor clef down an octave, which essentially lowers them a fourth and puts them in the central bass trombone tessitura. Since that works so very well for bass trombone, why not the same for tuba? Although I will use examples here referring to F and CC tubas, of course it will work equally well for Eb, BBb or any combination.

Please try the following: when learning the Bordogni vocalises, learn them on both CC and F tubas. When they are finished, then play the same etudes on the CC tuba using the F fingerings; that puts the vocalise down a fourth and in a way that makes the transposition very easy. It places the tessitura in an optimum range for the contrabass tuba, which can be played from a standpoint of beauty rather than a physical feat.

An extra, but wonderful, benefit of this method is that when these same vocalises are played on F tuba with CC fingerings it puts the tessitura in the central bass/baritone (Vaughn Williams - Romanza) register.

This means that one will play the vocalise in four different ways; as written on the CC and the F tubas, the CC tuba with F fingerings and the F tuba with CC fingerings. These four modes support each other very well. It’s easy, it’s fun and the benefits are enormous. Enjoy!

Tokyo