Posted by Doc on December 13, 2001 at 10:07:32:
In Reply to: TubaEuph Barbershop? posted by Kenneth Sloan on December 12, 2001 at 01:38:21:
In addition to being an active tubist, I'm an active barbershopper. There are many great arrangements out there, but not all of them work great for tuba. Some do not sound great when sung, either. There are not-so-good bbshop arrangements, as there are not-so-good tuba arrangements. BTW, it is not SATB, it is Tenor, Lead, Baritone, Bass. In barbershop, there are a few stylistic things that are concrete:
There is an ever-present melody sung by the lead, the tenor is always above the lead, the seventh chord (V7) is a staple, harmonic progressions are based on the circle of fifths, there are no tall or jazz chords. The voices are not "divorced" or spread over a large distance (most of the time). IV to I chords are unstylistic.
In tuba 4tet, many times we are accustomed to hearing the melody in the highest voice, while in bbshop, it is in the second highest voice. Occasionally the tenor or baritone may have a short melodic blurb, but it is usually at the end (the tag) or in a transition. If you play the tenor part (highest voice) down one 8va, it will work. It will not be entirely true to the bbshop sound, but a barbershopper or someone who knows bbshop music would certainly get the idea. You need to find what works best for your group for each arrangement. In college, we got a 4tet together (not my regular 4tet) and read some bbshop arrangements. A euph, F tuba, 3/4 CC, and a BAT. We played it as written, and it sounded great. A little experimentation and some good arrangements will yield a really nice sound.
www.spebsqsa.org
Doc