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Hi - I'm a composer working on a piece for brass choir for a competition. I am considering adding a brief unconventional passage for the tuba players - having the players strike the bell with a drumstick. I'm wondering (since i don't have a tuba handy)- would this damage the instrument? Would the bell strike ring out- and if so, what note would ring out? - or would it just make a staccato flat thud-like sound? I've searched the internet high and low for compositions using this idea but nothing has been found, surely this has been done before. Any help would be appreciated. - thanks, Mark.

First off, the bell is made of brass. Brass is soft and dents easily. Unless the horn is an old "beater" horn, in order to avoid any personal bodily injury, I'd recommend not doing this at all.

Personally, hard pass on that. It’s not a percussion instrument and they’re friggin’ expensive.

Nice that you asked, but if I saw that in a part my immediate thought would be “ignorant and disrespectful. Ain’t gonna happen.”

Others may feel differently.

I have written pieces back in my avant garde tuba ensemble days which call for the player to flick the bell rim with their fingernail instead.

I can take a video of what this would sound like. I don't think it would have the effect you have in mind. Hang tight.

I do not believe you will find a tuba player willing to damage their instrument just because it's on the page to do so.

Try this:

Locate a tuba player at your school who is practicing using a personally-owned instrument. Show them your drumstick and ask them whether you could demonstrate this "technique" by "striking" their horn exactly as you would want done in your piece and see how they answer such a request.

And there you go… instantaneous honesty…

the elephant wrote: ↑Fri Oct 25, 2024 12:06 pm If you want the most realistic, honest answer to this question you need to get a drumstick and find a tuba player practicing using a personally-owned instrument. Ask them whether you could demonstrate this "technique" on their horn with your drumstick.

And there you go… honesty… instantaneous honesty…

Yeah that initiates the Hell No Get Away From Me With That Thing.

My point, exactly. This "idea" is as ill-considered and horrible as Col Legno playing…

If my group was premiering this piece and you the composer were there I would find you afterwards and beat you with said drumstick. Seriously - you will want to make sure your health insurance is paid up and covers ER visits.

If you’re after a cymbal type sound effect that won’t be the effect - there won't be an after ring. I would best describe it as sounding like a whack on a car fender. Plus giving tuba players at any level a hand weapon is probably not going to end well...

arpthark wrote: ↑Fri Oct 25, 2024 11:08 am I have written pieces back in my avant garde tuba ensemble days which call for the player to flick the bell rim with their fingernail instead.

I can take a video of what this would sound like. I don't think it would have the effect you have in mind. Hang tight.

This effect is used in Priscilla McLean's Beneath the Horizon III for tuba and whale ensemble (whales recorded as fixed media). I remembered growing my finger nails quite long for this. There is a wind band piece that requires hitting the mouthpiece to create a sound.and then blowing through using a "chooooo" syllable. I didn't particularly enjoy playing this work in undergrad, after my PT50+ mouthpiece got stuck a few weeks before (the band director that chose this piece hurt my receiver with the bobcat, then the repair tech in town must have chiseled the shank of the mouthpiece to get it stuck).

In all honesty, if you think it can damage an instrument, don't write for it.

Go for it. I'm all in favor.

arpthark wrote: ↑Fri Oct 25, 2024 6:41 pm

Reminds me of some of my graduate musicology classes. And they took this stuff sooo seriously.

This should be a poll.

bloke wrote: ↑Fri Oct 25, 2024 6:38 pm Go for it. I'm all in favor.

Excellent! We can all hit @bloke’s tuba with a stick! This should be fun!!!

Reminds me of one of those “tuba toss” contests…

MiBrassFS wrote: ↑Sat Oct 26, 2024 5:04 am

bloke wrote: ↑Fri Oct 25, 2024 6:38 pm Go for it. I'm all in favor.

Excellent! We can all hit @bloke’s tuba with a stick! This should be fun!!!

Reminds me of one of those “tuba toss” contests…

Y'all can try. I wouldn't recommend trying.
Wouldn't it really sound better to hit one of those gold flutes with a stick... or with a Heckel bassoon wing joint?

pffft

Aren't we always supposed to do whatever it says in the music, whether it's making a fool of ourselves in some sort of theatrical way, making some described on the page bad sound, or however we are told to behave or sound?
I don't believe this began with musicians who read music. I believe it's been this way since time immemorial.
Those recreations of PDQ Bach (playing Beethoven 5 as if it was a football game) are so hilarious. Ha... ha... ha...

I knew a trumpet play who had business cards printed up that said, “I’ll do anything for a buck.” He always received some entertaining offers when he handed them out.