Tenor Tuba in B

[DelVento]

Hey all,

Finally landed an orchestral gig....unpaid though

The parts I were given were all tenor tuba in B. Has anyone seen these? And if I may ask....WHY?

[clez89]

Tenor Tuba in B

Check to see if the parts are in a foreign language. In several European countries (especially Germany), B flat is sometimes notated as "B" while B natural is notated "H".

[DelVento]

Tenor Tuba in B

I thought this too! But not the case here....it compares with the other parts as being actually in the key of B.

[clez89]

Tenor Tuba in B

Wow. Who is the composer?

[DelVento]

Tenor Tuba in B

Yeah it's actually the Ein Heldenleben and Don Quixote parts you can get on IMSLP.

[Dieter]

Tenor Tuba in B

We are now playing an easy-listening piece "Mexican trumpets" by R. Beck, and my (baritone) score is notated "B" but actually it is written for a Bb instrument.

But a score that is really in B (so written for instruments that are transposed to a minor second below concert C), I have never seen before.

And as far as I know, there are no instruments tuned in B as well??

[davewerden]

Tenor Tuba in B

It's a notation/label thing. The part is in B-flat bass clef. If you notice the trombone parts, they are in 3 flats. The Tenortuba part is in 1 flat.

At Rehearsal #8 the bass trombone is holding a B-flat. The Tenortuba enters on the same sounding pitch, but it is notated as a C.

Look at the score. Notice how the bassoons (Fagotte) have the same line you start in the 2nd bar of rehearsal #3, starting on the fp. Yours is written one step higher, but should sound the same.

You should buy the Euphonium Excerpt Book. It has both the Strauss parts you mention already transposed for "normal" euphonium reading:

http://www.dwerden.com/eu-books-ee.cfm

There are also links to get MP3 recordings of most of the pieces in the book to help with preparing.

(Note that I do not sell the book directly, but there are links on the page above to purchase it two sources.)

[fmanola]

Tenor Tuba in B

This sounds like the bass saxhorn parts found in some French (and possibly other) music. For example, I have the J. Casterede "Sonatine", which is marked "pour Tuba Ut, ou Saxhorn basse Sib, et Piano". It came with two brass parts, one for "tuba Ut" in concert pitch, the other for "saxhorn basse Sib" in Bb bass clef (i.e., a written C sounds as Bb).

--Frank

[davewerden]

Tenor Tuba in B

Yup - what Frank said.

[jeffo]

Tenor Tuba in B

Originally posted by: davewerden ...At Rehearsal #8 the bass trombone is holding a B-flat. The Tenortuba enters on the same sounding pitch, but it is notated as a C.

I was thinking of how you'd go about transposing that. If you're comfortable with alto clef, you could just pretend you're reading alto and take it down an octave.

BTW, that's a nice euph part in Don Quixote (or Donkey Hotey as they say in Krazy Kat)

[DelVento]

Tenor Tuba in B

I do have the excerpt book...and even better, the "Orchestral Excerpts for Euphonium and Bass Trumpet" with the full transposed parts.

I was just wondering why they would write Bb BC for tenor tuba and do "normal" notation for the rest of the low brass.

[fsung]

Tenor Tuba in B

Because Strauss wrote the parts for Tenor Tuba in Bb, which for Strauss, Wagner, Bruckner, and the majority of late Romantic composers on the Continent would have been a Wagner tuba, not for euphonium.

[DelVento]

Tenor Tuba in B

Originally posted by: fsung

Because Strauss wrote the parts for Tenor Tuba in Bb, which for Strauss, Wagner, Bruckner, and the majority of late Romantic composers on the Continent would have been a Wagner tuba, not for euphonium.

Oh yeah?

[bbocaner]

Tenor Tuba in B

I've seen the strauss tone poem "tenor tuba" parts performed that way and it is highly unsatisfactory! I have heard some papers presented which gave evidence that they were originally intended to be performed this way which I attribute either to Strauss not fully understanding the instrument he was writing for or the possibility that late 19th century tuben mouthpieces were different than what gets used today? German manufacturers of the time were making what would today be called a tenorhorn and also a baryton for military bands, there may have been some confusion there on the part of the composer or even the people putting together the orchestras at the time.

As for the notation, transposing bass clef isn't too out of the ordinary -- you see it for bass clarinet very often. And sometimes for horn, which explains why once in a while you will also see tuben parts like that. These instruments were fairly new at the time and composers and copiests and publishing companies can be excused for not knowing the conventions for that instrument if those conventions hadn't even been firmly established yet!

Nevertheless, I don't see why reading bass clef Bb parts would be any different from reading treble clef Bb parts, it should be very easy and automatic and you shouldn't need a transposed "wussy part".

[DelVento]

Tenor Tuba in B

Well I guess I'm a wussy.