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Thread: How to extend my tuba register.

  1. How to extend my tuba register.

    Hi, I am a freshman (going into sophomore) tuba player at Hopkinsville High School in Hopkinsville, KY, and I usually play on either a St Petersburg 202N or 201N 4 valve BBb tuba. I can play comfortably anywhere from Bb 2 octaves below the bass staff up to Bb 3rd line in the treble staff. But i want to try to improve my range, and tone. I play perfectly well in the high and middle register, but my low register is suffering in comparison to the mid-high. When I play anything below Eb 2 octaves below the bass staff, the sound loses resonance and sometimes growls. My band director told me that to fix this, something i could do was to do longer and slower descending warmups and warmdowns, so I practiced this for several weeks, noticing a little bit of improvement in my low register, as well as more resonance in my high register. But the improvement in my low register stopped aftre several more weeks of doing this. He also told me to raise my palette and open my throat more, so that more warmer air can be used. But when I did that, I noticed that I started to fell light headed and ran out of breathe really quickly. Are there any other things that I might be able to do to either extend my low register, or at least improve where I can reach now?

    As for my high register, I began sometimes trying to match pitch with euphoniums, trumpets, and horns. When my band director told me to match a pitch he played on his trumpet, I played it in the same register as him, and he was shocked, because he had expected me o play it in my own register. After that, he started to test the limits of my range, and over the months I have developed the ability to play very well in the upper register. But, After 3rd line treble Bb, my sound loses resonance, becomes bright and piercing, and my throat closes off. I don't think that this is the upper limit of a BBb tuba, is it? I've asked my band director what I could do to fix it, and he said I should play more peddle tones, do lip slurs throughout all registers, learn passaeges which jump from one register to another, and just try to keep open in the upper register. I've tried all of those, and there has been improvement. But I still want to improve.

    If you know any way in which I might improve my playing, please do share.

    Thank you in advanced.


  2. #2

    How to extend my tuba register.

    Your teacher gave you good advice so far! The "open" exercises you tried are fine, and if you feel light headed that may also be good - it shows you are getting more air through the horn, which is exactly why it makes you feel dizzy. You probably need to get used to moving that much air. Good sound in the low register especially requires lots and lots of air. There is a reason the low tone speaker in a good stereo speaker is large (and usually has a very flexible "surround" material) is so it can move a lot of air.Add the following to you exercises. Do arpeggios downward through an octave. So in a normal major scale down one octave, play only notes 1, 4, 6, and 8. Do them slurred, with a slight ritard, and the hint of a crescendo. The effect you want to create is a nice, final-sounding phrase. Make the bottom note sound full and rich and relaxed.Then as an advanced exercise, take a simple etude and play it down an octave, trying to make it sound as good as it did in the normal octave.
    Dave Werden (ASCAP)
    Euphonium Soloist, U.S. Coast Guard Band, retired
    Adams Artist (Adams E3)
    Alliance Mouthpiece (DC3)
    YouTube: dwerden
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  3. How to extend my tuba register.

    Thank you for your help. I will definately try to follow these tips.


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