TromboneChat

Hey All,

Increasingly, my musical friends and students seem to be playing the lower instruments of the heavy brass variety.

I was a tenor major in college, and so most of the duet rep that I played with friends at that point was for two tenors, so in the past year or two I've been making my first informed forays into the bass/tuba repertoire.

Here's a spot to share if you have any favorite duet (or small group) pieces that you like for bass bones or including a tuba. I'm happy to hear about bass and tenor stuff you enjoy too, come to think of it; I want it all!

Thanks!

To start it off:

- I've enjoyed working on Devil's Waltz, and I'll be putting that together with my friend pretty soon. I'd like to hear what others like that Stephen Verhelst has written, if there are some highlights in there.

- I'm definitely a Michael Davis fan, and I've performed Trombone Institute of Technology a couple times, on recitals and small concerts.

I got a collection of jazz duets that I thought was fun for tenor and bass. David Wilborn 8 Southern Jazz Duets. These are actually a lot of fun, and not incredibly difficult. Titles like "Hey, Reb, Pass The Biscuits", and "I Wuz Gazin at the Cajun" and "Miss Sally Visits the Juke Joint". I got it from Hickeys.

Take a look at the Walter Sear Advanced Duets for Tuba. https://www.hickeys.com/search.php?q=Se ... nced+duets

They're designed mostly to be played by a "high tuba" and a "low tuba", and some of them have one of the parts that's playable by bass trombone. I've never done this in performance, but have been trying for a couple of years to get a tuba-playing friend of mine to do it with him as low tuba and me as bass trombone. They're wonderful duets mostly in the style of (and I would guess "borrowed" from) Bordogni.

Some years ago Brian Earl and Alessandro Fossi produced a great CD of both volumes of these duets (using a CC and F tuba). You can see/hear a number of these pieces on Youtube.

As an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7AydIfgH-k

Quick and dirty: Buy a book of trumpet duets and read them as bass clef (remember to add 3 flats to the key signature). Trumpet music ranges from 3 lines below the staff to 2 lines above. Good for lower bass trombone or higher tuba.

Song for Japan for two bass trombones

Ten duets for bass trombone by Tommy Peterson (great fun!)

Six jazz duets for 2 trombones (play one octave down) by Lennie Niehaus

Any fun duet you can find sight-transposed to whatever pitch you like (great exercise, I am doing this with flute music 2 octaves down)

More legit orientated, but I’ve used the following for lessons:

Daniel Augustine. JS Bach Duets and Trios
DeFesch. Three Sonatas
Zindars. Ten Duets
Singleton. Twenty Five Baroque and Classical Duets

Second on the Pedersen duets. Don’t forget his Crimson Collop!

Kbiggs wrote: ↑Wed Mar 13, 2019 9:15 pm More legit orientated, but I’ve used the following for lessons:

Daniel Augustine. JS Bach Duets and Trios
DeFesch. Three Sonatas
Zindars. Ten Duets
Singleton. Twenty Five Baroque and Classical Duets

Second on the Pedersen duets. Don’t forget his Crimson Collop!

+1 for the Ken Singleton book. Love that stuff!

Also, if you like early music: Di Lasso Motetti et Ricercari a due voci by London Pro Musica. There's a lot of treble clef in this, but it's great for transposing, reading, tuning, plenty of other stuff. Also you can pick what octave you want to play in, making it just fine for a high or low instrument playing either part. Again, it's early music, but I've had a lot of fun reading these with people.

Thanks for the ideas, everybody!

I'm liking the varied genres of the rep choices, and I'll be checking these out bit by bit; keep 'em coming too!

Reciprocity, written by James Meadow. Originally written for Tuba and Tenor Trombone (recording on Tim Buzbee’s “Buzzed” album). Newer additions also come with alt Bass Trombone parts for both instruments.