Tales of a Tuba

As part of our new Esprit Orchestra initiative Meet the Band, a segment of last night’s pre-concert talk, I invited our long-time tuba player Scott Irvine to talk about his instrument.

Scott entertained composer Paul Frehner and I with a lively tuba rendition of “Tequila.” Then he fascinated the concert-goers with an inside look at what it takes to play such a large instrument, and what it feels to be the “low man” in the orchestra.

He let us in on all kinds of insider information. For example, I didn’t know that tuba players think ill of composers who add the words con sordino in their tuba parts. (con sordino means ‘with mute’ - an instruction telling the musician to place the mute, a large sound-dampening tool, inside the bell of the instrument.) And I admit to having used this instruction in my scores.

But why do they curse us when we write con sordino?

Because the mute is as big as the tuba, and the player has to carry it, along with the big instrument, to and from rehearsals and concerts. No Smart Cars for the tuba player!

Scott remarked about how well Paul Frehner wrote for the brass section in his piece, Phantom Suns, which opened the second half of Esprit’s POLARIS concert.

In our ensuing discussion about how composers come to write for tuba I revealed that, although I have written for tuba in many pieces, I had never even held one. Scott leaned over to pick up the tuba and hand it to me, but I graciously declined!

-- Alexina Louie