Do you struggle to keep the bass voices in your ensembles engaged? Do they fall behind technically compared to other students with more nimble instruments? Does your band or orchestra tend to drag when the tubas and basses are on the beat? Is pitch often nebulous and unclear and you are not sure how to fix it? As a high school and youth orchestra conductor who also plays double bass and tuba, I look forward to sharing some thoughts on how to develop and nurture the students playing bass and tuba in your classes.
When you are teaching technique and technical drills don’t simplify it for them. Have the tubas go for that lip slur or articulation. Encourage the double basses to go for that giant shift or that fancy off-the-string articulation. It may not be easy, clean, or quickly mastered, but it will push them. Working toward skills that are a stretch for their instrument and much more demanding than the repertoire will make it seem easier.
Often the double bass and tuba parts will drag. If they are wanting to play too loud in their efforts to “drive” the band or orchestra, they will invariably become too heavy and slow down. Being more incisive with the beat will beat out volume every day of the week in keeping the ensemble on tempo.
Bigger instruments can be slower to articulate. We need to work on being more articulate and getting the instrument to speak exactly when we want it to. We can think we are articulating at the same time as our colleagues with smaller instruments but then end up behind them. It’s not that the sound gets to the front of the ensemble later, it is that it comes out of the instrument later if we are not focused on timely articulation.
Our bass parts need to anticipate the beat. For the double bass, make sure the bow is gripping the string. A good exercise for all string players, but especially basses, is to “wiggle” the string with just the bow. Don’t make a sound, don’t let the bow slip, feel that connection with the string. This grab and release of the bow will create a crisp and clear articulation. The grippiness in the bass will need to be more than the other string instruments.
The analogous situation for the tuba is the setting of the tongue at the end of the inhale. Think of the word “Hot’” when filling up with air. The “Ho” opens and relaxes the throat, and the “t” sets the tongue. This inhale and setting of the tongue in one motion sets them up for a clear articulation while being able to move a large volume of air. The precision of this articulation is more vital on the tuba than on smaller brass instruments to avoid a “woofy” articulation or cracked notes because of the higher volume/lower pressure of air.
For both bass instruments, this focus on the technique of articulation will help keep them in time and moving the ensemble along!
How do we address nebulous pitch in our double basses and tubas?
For the tuba, it is all about being able to create a clear, open sound. The combination of an open inner oral cavity with copious amounts of relaxed air and an embouchure with firm corners and a relaxed aperture will produce a resonant tone with a clear fundamental. As soon as the breathing becomes shallow, the inner oral cavity closes or the lips flop about, and because of uncontrolled corners, the player will produce a small, pinched sound that is impossible to tune or blend. We are working on intonenation!
On the double bass, ensure your left-hand fingers are firmly stopping the string against the fingerboard. This is necessary to produce a clear pitch. The bass player should be able to stop the string, not by squeezing, but by pulling their hand against the bass. Curved, “arched” fingers will give the strength needed to stop the string. You should be able to play the bass without the thumb touching at all!
For most, the whole step in lower positions is too far to hold a constant frame for sustained periods. Instead, get the 1st or 4th finger in tune and extend the hand, not unlike a cello extension, when needed. When playing 1st finger and moving to 4th finger, have the student emulate the forward extension motion their friends in the cello section have learned. Similarly, when going from 4th finger to 1st finger, approach that movement to the 1st finger like a cellist would with a backwards extension.
Producing a clear tone and consciously approaching the distance of a whole step in the lower positions will greatly improve your double bass intonation.
I hope these thoughts give you some ideas for how to nurture and develop your double bass and tuba players. They truly are the foundation of our ensembles, and developing their skills will help build outstanding bands and orchestras!
Joe Dyvig is currently the orchestra teacher at Olympia High School, as well as the Music and Visual Arts coordinator for the Olympia School District in Olympia, Washington.