Page 1 of 1
Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?
Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2020 8:51 pm
by phmurphy1
Anybody know of any musical theatre books (or anything else for that matter) that calls for one person to double on bass trombone and tuba?
Re: Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?
Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2020 9:02 pm
by tobysima`
phmurphy1 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 13, 2020 8:51 pm
Anybody know of any musical theatre books (or anything else for that matter) that calls for one person to double on bass trombone and tuba?
I think Les Miserables does. There's a tuba solo within the trombone book, and even though the part goes high, a bass bone would be way better.
Re: Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?
Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2020 9:16 pm
by bort2.0
Chicago, right?
Re: Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?
Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2020 11:07 pm
by ronr
bort2.0 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 13, 2020 9:16 pmChicago, right?
Chicago book is string bass and tuba. Most fun I’ve ever had in a pit!
Re: Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?
Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2020 5:36 am
by frailingtuba
I played an orchestration of Mary Poppins that had a bass trombone/tuba book. Quick changes between both horns and lots of mute work on bass trombone. Keeps you on your toes pretty much the whole show.
I think there is also a larger setting where the two parts might be separated, not entirely sure.
Re: Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?
Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2020 7:29 am
by bloke
several...though I can't name them.
The touring versions of the many of the books compact orchestration/instrumentation.
I had to double on tuba and euphonium when playing the touring version of "Ragtime"...which (oddly) was a Broadway musical reverse-engineered from (sure: technically, a novel, but defacto...) a movie.
At one point, I had to play a very loud "crying out" upper G# on the euphonium, slam it on the floor, pick up the tuba, and produce a thunderous low D.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragtime_(musical)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragtime_(film)
Re: Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?
Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 7:56 am
by hup_d_dup
Lion King
Hup
Re: Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?
Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 10:08 am
by bort2.0
hup_d_dup wrote: ↑Sun Nov 15, 2020 7:56 am
Lion King
Hup
Ok, when I said "Chicago," I was actually thinking Lion King. Close enough, right?
Only reason I know this is bc I know the guy who has played Lion King a billion times on bass trombone, who had also shopped around for a while for a pit-sized tuba.
Re: Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?
Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2020 12:47 am
by Snake Charmer
Miss Saigon
Re: Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?
Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2020 7:42 am
by bloke
When the double is from bass trombone to tuba, I always recommend to bass trombonists (who tell me that they wish to develop tuba as a "double") that they buy compensating E-flat tubas, as comp. E-flat tubas so closely relate to F-attachment trombones.
Re: Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?
Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2020 8:29 am
by Druzone
The original Broadway productions of Mary Poppins, Lion King, Mystery of Edwin Drood, Beauty and the Beast and Cyrano (to mention a few) all had Bass Trombone/Tuba Books - I’m sure I’m leaving a few out).
The original Broadway Ragtime Production had a Tuba/Euphonium double. I played it a couple of hundred times. It was challenging - the Euph part was written as a 3rd Horn part, mostly soft and high - and in that pit you were close to the “Conductor” pointing right at him.
Original orchestrations often change for road/rental/revival versions of the same show. I subbed the first Broadway revival of Annie which had the Bass Trombone/Tuba double. (The original Annie on Broadway had a rare, non-double Tuba part -played by the great Tony Price).
Re: Tuba/bass trombone doubling for shows?
Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2020 12:53 pm
by bloke
Druzone wrote: ↑Mon Nov 16, 2020 8:29 am
The original Broadway productions of Mary Poppins, Lion King, Mystery of Edwin Drood, Beauty and the Beast and Cyrano (to mention a few) all had Bass Trombone/Tuba Books - I’m sure I’m leaving a few out).
The original Broadway Ragtime Production had a Tuba/Euphonium double. I played it a couple of hundred times. It was challenging - the Euph part was written as a 3rd Horn part, mostly soft and high - and in that pit you were close to the “Conductor” pointing right at him.
Original orchestrations often change for road/rental/revival versions of the same show. I subbed the first Broadway revival of Annie which had the Bass Trombone/Tuba double. (The original Annie on Broadway had a rare, non-double Tuba part -played by the great Tony Price).
As mentioned in a previous post, I did the
Ragtime double (road company) as you describe. I also played the tuba-only book a couple of times in EARLY road tours of
Annie. The first time, I played it on a 6/4 Holton BB340 (the 3-valve version of the BB345 B♭, which I picked up for $75). It sounded amazing on those "BUMP!....BA-BUMP!" B♭...F-B♭ licks in the overture...
particularly in the cavernous 1920's Orpheum-circuit theater, in which the touring Broadway shows were/are performed.