Music needed..

[Ken Smith]

Does anyone have a String Bass part for the Holst Second Suite in F?

The part they sent me says 'Basses' and there are some octave splits in the part but still, 3 and 4 ledger lines below the staff is clearly for the Tuba, not the D.Bass. I know it has an optional part for String Bass but what they sent is a Tuba part as far as I can tell.

[Scott Pope]

Ken, being a concert band tuba player since high school, I checked a couple of different sources, including The Boosey & Hawkes website, Hal Leonard (who distributes the Boosey & Hawkes catalogue in the USA), a "public domain" scanned full score and parts, and well, Wiki to try to find further links. It appears there was/is only one part for "Basses"; no separate part for double bass, at least in the original concert band edition. The octave splits are for Eb tubas and Bb tubas and/or where the player wants to choose to "break back" the runs.

http://imslp.org/wiki/Second_Suite_f...(Holst,_Gustav)

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Scott Pope

Ken, being a concert band tuba player since high school, I checked a couple of different sources, including The Boosey & Hawkes website, Hal Leonard (who distributes the Boosey & Hawkes catalogue in the USA), a "public domain" scanned full score and parts, and well, Wiki to try to find further links. It appears there was/is only one part for "Basses"; no separate part for double bass, at least in the original concert band edition. The octave splits are for Eb tubas and Bb tubas and/or where the player wants to choose to "break back" the runs.

http://imslp.org/wiki/Second_Suite_for_Military_Band,_Op.28_No.2_(Holst, _Gustav)

I found the part on line because the Orchestra Version does have an optional String Bass part, not just the Tuba/Basses part.
http://www.onlinesheetmusic.com/seco...s-p311160.aspx

I was just hoping someone had it and might scan me a copy. They Conductor doesn't seem to care if I play on that piece or not as I have one other to play in that concert and he 'offered' to 'let' me play one other piece. My feelings are if I am to play, give me music written for 'my' instrument as some of the parts are 2 and 3 lines below my 5-string DB. Some parts are written in octaves and some not but re-writing the lines for 4-string bass range, I don't know what octave to play them in by how the part is they gave me marked Basses. Even with the parts in octaves, the String bass part shown as an example is even an octave above the basses split part and MUCH cleaner to read. Now I have 3 octaves to look at and play one of them. The music is over-marker up now and strains my eyes as I can hardly tell what line the notes are I'm playing. Way too cluttered.

I might have to just bite the bullet and buy the part. I have one rehearsal next month (2/2), the dress reh. the following night and the Concert the next on the 4th. I might just go and see how it works with my doctored up Basses/Tuba part and if my eyes hurt that night, buy the part the next day to use and then just own it. It's quite fast and 'fugue' like in spots. Too fast to be thinking about notes and transposing ledger lines.

[Scott Pope]

Ken, traditionally, the lowest note of a 3-valve BBb tuba, the instrument that Holst was familiar with, is E natural four ledger lines and a space below the bass clef. Of course, this is the actual pitch, not the transposed notation pitch, of a standard open E string of a 4-string double bass.

This is very convenient, as convention is to simply take a tuba part and play everything up an octave from what is written on double bass. Even today, until you get to some grade 5 or 6 pieces written for 4 and 5 valve tubas, 99%+ of all concert band literature has this same range. Even then, it's only the occasional note, playable with a handful of valves, in the same manner as playing the same notes on a C-extension double bass.

I still occasionally have to sight transpose, both ways. In my jazz/dance band, I occasionally get tuba parts that I play up an octave, and in concert band I occasionally get double bass or bass guitar parts that I play down an octave, or occasionally we'll get a piece that just sounds better on one instrument or the other, or even electric bass, and I just make it work.

Since the orchestra part is available, yes, I'd just get it, because it will take awhile, even with Finale or Sibelius, to rewrite the part up an octave. Then you'll always have it.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Scott Pope

Ken, traditionally, the lowest note of a 3-valve BBb tuba, the instrument that Holst was familiar with, is E natural four ledger lines and a space below the bass clef. Of course, this is the actual pitch, not the transposed notation pitch, of a standard open E string of a 4-string double bass.

This is very convenient, as convention is to simply take a tuba part and play everything up an octave from what is written on double bass. Even today, until you get to some grade 5 or 6 pieces written for 4 and 5 valve tubas, 99%+ of all concert band literature has this same range. Even then, it's only the occasional note, playable with a handful of valves, in the same manner as playing the same notes on a C-extension double bass.

I still occasionally have to sight transpose, both ways. In my jazz/dance band, I occasionally get tuba parts that I play up an octave, and in concert band I occasionally get double bass or bass guitar parts that I play down an octave, or occasionally we'll get a piece that just sounds better on one instrument or the other, or even electric bass, and I just make it work.

Since the orchestra part is available, yes, I'd just get it, because it will take awhile, even with Finale or Sibelius, to rewrite the part up an octave. Then you'll always have it.

Yes, I know all about the transposing thing as I started playing bass at 13, turned 60 last Sept. and played 20 years professionally in NY. Rarely did I EVER have to transpose because in professional circles, they write the parts in the correct octave. Imagine being a trumpet player and they give you the trombone part!

I get one rehearsal this time before the dress reh. because there are only two pieces for bass this concert which was originally Brass and Woodwinds only. I also will play the Dvorak Serenade for Winds and Brass with 1-Bass and 1-Cello as well in that concert.

I played for a year and change about 10 years ago in a concert band and some of the pieces were only for Tuba of which I have to transpose. One piece I made up the part by copy/pasting a mix of the Tuba and Bassoon parts to make up a DB part. When I left that band, they had a real bass book. Something they never had for well over 100 years since that group was founded.

I never played/studied Tuba or Piano so reading below the 5-string B is foreign to me. Sight reading it at a rapid fugue tempo is just not happening. Even with bass parts that have sections in Treble or Tenor clef I have to learn the parts and even write in the notes above to I don't make mistakes i n rehearsals or concerts. Usually I have them memorized by concert time. This time around I am working with 4 different Orchestras and have 4 concerts all within a month. That is A LOT of music to work on. My reading is fairly good so all I ask of the people I work with is clean parts to play without confusion.

I will probably add the $5. to my cartage bill for buying the part when I turn my fee slip in. I just wont tell the conductor about it!

[Scott Pope]

That was great that you made up a DB book for them. I like your ideas of selectively combining tuba and bassoon parts for an actual "part" that supports the various voicings of the band. Occasionally, when I've played in a band that was sparse, I've had to take bassoon or contra clarinet parts and add some missing texture if it wasn't cued in the tuba parts.

The best year I had in a community band was completely different, however. That particular year I played conventional tuba parts, but we had a guy who recognized it was about his last, as Parkinson's was getting him. He couldn't hold his trombone anymore, but he could balance a bass guitar in his lap. So we took the entire book and made parts for him to be able to play that last couple of years before he had to give it up completely. Some were transposed tuba parts, others were DB parts, a couple of contemporary pieces had actual bass guitar parts, etc. Just like low woodwinds add so much needed texture to tubas, his musicianship was of the highest caliber and really broadened the foundation of the band.

Have fun at your gig!