Use the tuba’s innate strengths of range and phrasing to craft an ideal orchestral solo. Solo tuba is a bit rare in the standard repertoire. The scarcity is due to several factors, like lack of opportunity for low-register soloing in the plan of a score; unfamiliarity with the tuba’s technique and solo tone; and the…
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Orchestrators should know the difference between tuba, contrabassoon, and bass clarinet timbre, and score according to each instrument’s strength and character. This is the kind of tip I love sharing – a comparative look at instruments of similar range and utility, but quite different tone and technique – followed by an excerpt of a favorite…
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The tuba’s unique tone should be considered carefully when scoring brass chorales. In older scores, tuba is often placed on the same staff as the bass trombone. But don’t be fooled – these two instruments are nothing like each other. The fundamental wave-form of trombone or trumpet is saw-tooth, whereas tuba is more of a…
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Orchestrators must be mindful of the amount of breath required to sustain a note or phrase on the tuba. Tuba can be a surprisingly agile, even delicate instrument, capable of great subtlety and range of expression. It’s in some ways the opposite of the bass trombone in the same lower registers. Some composers have used…
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Despite the hugeness of the tuba, it still has the ability to blend with great subtlety, if properly scored. This relates somewhat to the role of the tuba in most scoring. While it’s a powerful bottom end in a brass chorale, and an overwhelming color in a low brass unison, the average role of the…
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Never underestimate the tuba’s enormous powers of projection. Tuba is one of those instruments that gets overlooked quite often by beginning orchestrators, or added to a score as an afterthought – a little bit of extra weight here or there for the heavy brass. Actually, it’s quite a fascinating instrument, with great potential for interest…
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A video installment in my daily series of tips. Please follow me on Twitter for the Orchestration Online Tip of the Day at @OrchestrationOL, or join the Orchestration Online Facebook group for feedback, resources, and advice. Tips of the Day for this week: Monday, January 28: Shaping Orchestral Phrasing Tuesday, January 29: Defining Themes by…
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The parameters of technique and execution must be considered in scoring a phrase to an instrument or section. Here’s one last tip about orchestral phrasing before tomorrow’s video about Tchaikovsky. The easiest way to say this is: “one size does not fit all.” But this goes past character, timbre, inflection, and other factors I’ve written…
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Inflection is often key to matching a thematic phrase intuitively to an orchestral instrument or section. Once again, we have a parallel between language and music. In speech, inflection is defined by a certain shaping of vocal tone to reinforce the meaning of a sentence. The most obvious of these is a rising voice for…
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Thematic development which is driven by the character of the instruments should determine the nature of the accompanying orchestral texture. For the past three days, I’ve examined the role of instrumental color in determining the shape of phrasing and the development of themes, empowered by obeying the basic rules of linguistic communication. Today, I’m going…
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