Posted by Bob Daniel on May 04, 2001 at 10:17:54:
In Reply to: Contra-Octave in band playing posted by Austin H. on May 03, 2001 at 17:31:29:
Having been principa tubist with the USAF Band tuba section for 13 years, I'll comment on this interesting thread. I can't speak for the past 5 years (I "retired" from the band in 1996), but we generally would not drop octaves every chance we got. We would pick and choose depending on the piece, the texture of the music, etc. Out of the 4 of us in the section, only 2 would drop the octave. The reasoning for dropping an octave was to add something a little richer bottom to the chord. I used to remind the section, use discretion. Dropping octaves is like eating caviar: a little bit is wonderful, too much and it doesn't taste as good.
Zerkel's post reminded of a story where we were mildly reprimanded by the composer Ron Nelson. The band had commissoned him to write a piece for us. He flew into DC to hear the piece before it was premiered. I can't recall the name of the work, but it was chordal, not technical and we were dropping a few octaves. He stopped the band and asked if the low octaves were written in. We said no and he asked us to play it as written. On the other hand, you'll find other composers enjoyed the additonal octave (ie Navy Band- Marty Erickson dropping of the octave in the chorale of Eternal Father by Claude Smith and Claude changing the part)
Bottom line...........no pun intended, consider how the dropping of the octave will add something to the music, not to your ego.