Does Anyone Still Practice the Full Bill Bell Routine?

[JCTuba67]

Recently, I had a lesson with a Bill Bell student. Unfortunately, there are not many of them left.

The lesson focused on the old routine often referred to as the “Warmup.” I believe Charles Colin published a warmup routine associated with Bell, but based on what was passed down to me, it seems that a great deal of information may have been left out.

For those of you who do the full routine, how do you approach it? The way it was presented to me in the lesson included:

* Long tones with the “scary” hairpins, gradually fading until the sound disappears
* Articulation work focused on staccato and legato
* Three variations of lip slurs through all combinations
* Arban triple and double tonguing
* Bell’s expanded scales from Walter Smith

This was my first time doing the entire routine, and I have to admit it was extremely difficult and eye-opening. Don Harry once told me in a lesson that everyone had to play the entire routine from memory before moving on to anything else. Bell seemed very pragmatic and strict, but I can also see how this kind of work helped cultivate so many great players who studied with him.

Don showed me a handwritten edition that I believe he had written out himself. That was almost 40 years ago now, and I wish I could see it again, or even get a copy of it. It was beautifully done.

I’m very curious what others on the forum do for fundamentals, and whether anyone here still does this routine in its entirety. I’m also interested in how people balance time between fundamentals and audition preparation.

About 35 years ago, I had the great privilege of spending four years taking regular lessons with Dennis Miller, former principal tubist of the Montreal Symphony. He really opened my eyes and ears to this approach. He did a considerable amount of Bell’s routine, along with many things he learned from Jacobs. I really miss Dennis.

[Mattuba01]

I haven’t played the full Bill Bell warm-up—just the scales. I’d be interested to learn more.

The scale warm-up I use is adapted from the Encore Publishing release. They’re great. The get the ears, hands, and chops ready.

[bloke]

Those (specifically) are fundamentals that I work on (when practicing, and when have TIME to practice MORE THAN some semi-difficult music for an upcoming gig), but I do not follow the strict Bell outline. I also don't spend very much time on double/triple tonguing. (I'm not saying that those shouldn't be maintained, but paying gigs usually don't involve very much of those techniques, and - when I need those techniques - I always seem to be able to clean them back up.) I'm thinking that - back during Bell Bell's days with students (even at Indiana) most tuba solos which were available to play were "theme and variations" types of solos, whereby students' solo performances (in their juries and recitals) featured a good bit of double/triple tonguing (thus, included in his "fundamentals" and "warm-up routine").

I do the crescendo-diminuendo long tones in expanding intervals - beginning on bottom-of-staff F.
If I do NOTHING more, I WILL do these.
opinion:
If doing crescendo-diminuendo long tones WITHOUT a tuner sitting there on the stand (and a silent/light-flash metronome is also very helpful for gauging the crescendi and diminuendi), it's probably a waste of time.
THE POINT of those is to control PITCH and TONE.
Being able to fade to "nothing" is a VERY useful musical tool. This is easier to do with the tuba vs. the trombone, so (when playing in an orchestral section) if the trombones don't quite do it, perhaps we shouldn't quite do it. (??)

Finally...
I only work on so-called "fundamentals" with the contrabass tubas...(Mostly, they're too easy, playing bass tubas.)

unsolicited additional info:
The MOST BENEFICIAL part of a practice session - for me - is to (first) go outside and undertake some sort of semi-brisk five-minute (or more) walk.
That wakes up my body, whereby all the playing I subsequently do ends up being much easier. Rather than "eventually" (when practicing) my playing begins at close to my objective quality level, as (with a more awake body) it's closer to that right off the bat. The embouchure muscles wake up in a matter of seconds (in my experience). The main issue is the REST of the body. This is why I don't necessarily work on "fundamentals" first, and (often) tear right into "music" (and visiting various "fundamentals" if there's time to work on them). Mostly, I do things (other than playing music) for money. I play the tuba for money, but the amount of time devoted to "practice" needs is limited, and needs to be used wisely (very little available time for "recreational/for-the-love-of-it" home playing).

the advantage(s) of being able to play well WITHOUT a "warm-up", as well as the psychological ability to give ourselves "permission to play well" without a "warm-up":
In real gig-life, there are so many times whereby we (not only on that morning or afternoon, but not for the entire day) we are not able to "warm up" nor run through passages one last time prior to a gig. Here's just one example:
We frantically work all day (getting the non-music things done which we must get done), we just manage to get all those things done (me personally: typically stuff related to what I mostly do for a living), we grab and early dinner, we get cleaned up, we put on the gig clothes, we load up, we arrive c. a half hour prior to the gig, and (often - particularly Episcopal, which tend to pay the best) there's a less-attended service going on just before the one whereby we're hired to play. We sit in our car, the previous service ends, we walk in, and (avoiding being jackasses, and avoiding playing "warm-up" routines in the sanctuary/cathedral - which would otherwise disturb the entering parishioners - many of whom sit quietly/reverently) we sit quietly up high in the loft in the back and probably only "physically" warm our instruments (holding them next to ourselves) and silently "buzz" into our mouthpieces (while looking through the charts and organizing them). It's then time to "hit it" (basically: "semi-cold"). Another (perhaps more common) version of this, is being required to arise at c. 5:00 A.M. in order to coffee-aspirin/shower/dress/drive and arrange ourselves into our seat (still referring to a church gig). Since the first service is very early, the doors might not even be open much more than twenty minutes prior to the service commencing...again: no real "warm-up", and (being real) we're NOT going to be arise 45 minutes earlier (at 4:15 A.M. ), and warm up at home (disturbing the entire household) simply to have "warmed up".

BACK TO THE BILL BELL FULL ROUTINE TOPIC...

[Porky]

This is a great topic to discuss.

I was introduced to the routine you outlined when I was younger, and I have never found anything better that was so full of information and so well put together. Over time, I created a modernized, extended version that expands Bell’s original long-tone pattern higher and lower. I still believe that section is one of the most difficult things to do well on the tuba, especially early in the morning.

In my opinion, his lip slurs are helpful, but they are not especially advanced, which may actually be part of their value. They use a simple idea very effectively. I also alternate the Arban double- and triple-tonguing exercises, starting them very slowly and gradually seeing how fast I can get them over the course of several weeks, or more often, several months. Working this way, I have been able to get through about two-thirds of the multiple-tonguing drills in Arban over the course of about a year.

Bell was also a big admirer of Herbert L. Clarke. Unfortunately, Clarke and Bell did not play together in the Sousa Band, since Clarke left in 1917 and Bell joined later. Still, Bell was clearly interested in Clarke’s studies, including the one-minute drills, along with another book called Setting Up Drills. I think a lot of the later brass pedagogy Bell absorbed likely came from Clarke, Walter Smith, and many of the other great musicians he worked with. A lot of his ideas come from those mentioned above.

Bell remains a phenomenon in my opinion. He was certainly eccentric, but he was also extremely intelligent. I can imagine him finding that tuba at the boys’ club or school, sitting down with it, figuring it out, and then taking off into one of the greatest careers we can think of.

Back to the routine itself: I have heard about a handwritten document that may have been made by Don Harry, Jack Robinson, or someone else from that time. I have never seen it, but I have been looking for it. I was also told that the packet that was eventually made was not exactly what Bell wanted, and that he was dissatisfied with certain aspects of it. My guess is that they may have formatted it that way to save paper and make it a little more concise.

I think the Torchinsky version that Encore put out is probably the one most people know and play. Alan Baer also has an edition that expands the routine into more keys and cleans it up quite a bit. That one is my favorite version to play, and I think everyone should buy it.

I was also told the story that students had to play the routine from memory for Bell, and once people figured it out, many of them never did it again. So it seems to me that the routine had mixed reactions. Some people valued it, and others probably did not enjoy it at all.

For me, the biggest benefit is that after playing through the entire routine, I feel like I have covered just about every note and musical situation I am going to encounter on the tuba that day. In other words, music feels easier to play afterward. I definitely agree that anyone who can sit down and play the entire thing has serious chops. I do not just mean the scales, either. I mean the whole routine. It is extremely difficult.

[russiantuba]

I’ve only heard of the Bell Scales, and I agree that the Baer version that are cross training between horns but the same format, are a great fundamental routine. I normally take the F tuba ones down an octave since I normally play them earlier on.

I’d be curious in the rest. Three other routines I’ve wanted to get my hands on are Don Harry’s thick packet mentioned, Roylance’s Thunderdome, and I want to see if Mickey Moore’s packet matches the one Jim Akins used that Sam used to model the brass gym after.

[1 Ton Tommy]

For tuba, I am mostly self taught, beyond a year or so of lessons from the Seattle Symphony's tubist, in exchange for car repair. So, I wasn't introduced to methods beyond Fred Geib, a book the tubist gave me. For example, I did not know there was an Arban method for tuba.

For trumpet, I was taught by a very talented guy who had been medically retired from the D.C. Navy band. His idom of choice was jazz; yet, he introduced me to Arban, H.L. Clark and and Alan Vizzuti; and he had more than a few tricks of his own to pass on. I have adapted many of Vizzutti methods to tuba. He taught me many jazz improv techniques that I've adapted to tuba. Most useful of all to me is a long tone exercise he taught me.

Yet no amount of practice can thwart the ravages of advancing age and other life maladies. I don't sight read so well any more (particularly since Covid) and lately I need some help getting the Mammoth into the hall (need a new hip). But I can still fill the hall with sound and fill in for the missing chorus in a rehearsal of "Summertime," playing by ear the lead tenor vocal part, thanks to one Shawn Mickleson.

This thread has me thinking about all the stuff he taught me and how I've made use of it. His ex-wife called me last Wednesday to tell me he'd died that morning. It was a tough phone call. I'm going to Seattle this coming Wednesday to play a tribute of tunes he loved and that he taught me. There are a couple of tunes I'd love to do but I'm not sure I could get through them with out breaking up. Joy spring will be lots easier. Perhaps the saddest part of it is that he drank himself to death. And I had to watch, as his wife divorced him and his playing went sour. Booze is still an occupational hazard of jazz musicians. He'll be missed by many but he'll be in good company, with the likes of Bix, Strayhorn, Charlie Parker, and a host of bebop players. As a fellow veteran, I'll probably be asked to play taps. That's the toughest piece of all. Holding that hi G clean and clear must be done. The last note must fade into nothing almost unnoticed. Shawn was only 45.

[tclements]

Gary Tirey INSISTED I play them every day. I still have my original (1972) edition of the book. It's been awhile, sadly....

[bloke]

I'm not one to deny that going through the entire thing is difficult.

Were it that I played tuba and did nothing else for living, I might well be a person who went through it everyday myself...

... or alternated it with some other equally difficult tuba calisthenics.

[JCTuba67]

I got the Baer version of the scales today. It is much easier to read, includes more keys, and I like that the scales are written tonic to tonic.

I’m not really drawn to the Bell-style smears or rips into the next set of scales the way they were passed down to me. To me, that part feels unnecessary and a little goofy.

Though the smears itself are very valuable and useful for development.

[thedancingsousa]

I never thought about it much, but this sounds A LOT like what Morris had us doing at Tennessee Tech. Especially the legato and staccato part... I swear, I didn't play anything but legato scales for my first three weeks of lessons. Makes sense since he was a student of Bell.

[JCTuba67]

I never thought about it much, but this sounds A LOT like what Morris had us doing at Tennessee Tech. Especially the legato and staccato part... I swear, I didn't play anything but legato scales for my first three weeks of lessons. Makes sense since he was a student of Bell.

It was Winston who 30 years ago made me do the same. I was very thankful he did.

[JCTuba67]

I never thought about it much, but this sounds A LOT like what Morris had us doing at Tennessee Tech. Especially the legato and staccato part... I swear, I didn't play anything but legato scales for my first three weeks of lessons. Makes sense since he was a student of Bell.

It was Winston who 30 years ago made me do the same. I was very thankful he did.

[bloke]

I never thought about it much, but this sounds A LOT like what Morris had us doing at Tennessee Tech. Especially the legato and staccato part... I swear, I didn't play anything but legato scales for my first three weeks of lessons. Makes sense since he was a student of Bell.

I believe I heard out of his own mouth that he used that Bell warm up.