Posted by Shon on June 12, 2000 at 09:52:27:
In Reply to: Re: Fluency on different keyed tubas posted by tommo on June 11, 2000 at 20:53:21:
I moved to tuba from trumpet (advanced amateur). I made the switch about a year ago at the age of 37.
Transposition was critical for my trumpet playing. What tuba players have to do is really the same as what trumpet players do (not the opposite). Trumpet players usually have an arsenal of horns (Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G, A-pic, Bb-pic, C-pic). The choice of which trumpet to use on a piece should be independent of what keyed part is provided. If the publisher foolishly printed a Bb part for Handel's Messiah, my job was just a little harder - I certainly didn't use a Bb trumpet to play it.
Other trumpet players were amazed at my transposition skills. I can transpose effectively by just about any interval. What I did that other players didn't do is practice transposing. They'd transpose when they had to. I transposed in regular practice. If you're playing out of Arbans or Rochut, pick an interval and play the exercise displaced by that interval. It doesn't matter what horn you have in your hand.
If you want to learn F fingerings but only have a CC, just play your etudes down a 4th. When I'd start working on a new transposition, I'd think in terms of intervals, but quickly moved to thinking in terms of a set of fingerings.
The transpositions I'm most comfortable with are (more or less in order):
* Up a step (playing a C part on a Bb instrument, D on C, E on D, F on Eb, etc)
* Down a step (playing a Bb part on a C instrument, C on D, Eb on F, etc)
* Down a 4th (playing a Bb part on an Eb instrument, C on F, D on G)
* Down a half step (playing an A part on a Bb instrument)
* Down a major 7th (playing a Bb part on A piccolo)
* Down a 5th (playing a Bb part on an F instrument, C on G, D on A piccolo, etc)
* Down a major 6th (playing a C part on an A piccolo, etc)
* Down a major 3rd (playing a Bb part on a D instrument, etc)
* Down a minor 3rd (playing a C part on an Eb instrument, etc)
I've used other transpositions as well but not enough to get to the point of remembering fingerings. For intervals like "up a 5th" I tended to think "down a 4th, up an octave".
I haven't been playing tuba long enough to know how important it is to be fluent on the different horns, but it never hurts to have an extra tool in your pack. Of course, minimally everyone should be fluent in displacing up or down by one or more octaves.
Hope something I said above helps....