I was finding one of the pieces we’re playing with the Training Band, a medley called “Christmas Swings”, harder than it ought to have been and, yesterday, I discovered why. Jane suggested I practise with a version published on YouTube that shows the music scrolling by and I immediately spotted something that raised a question mark. You see, the tuba part starts off in Bb major, beginning on a low F but my music had started in C major, beginning on a low G.

I think that what I’d been doing was playing the fingering for notes in the wrong key and then, by ear, trying to approximate the key being played by the rest of the band. No wonder it was hard work and I felt like it just wasn’t coming together (and also that it never seemed that hard practising on my own but only in the context of playing with others). It turns out the Bb tuba part I had been given was a part transposed for a Bb instrument. That’s odd because any of the tubas normally play at concert pitch in a concert band or transposed and written in treble clef for a brass band but this was transposed and written in bass clef.

I’d already done my own engraving of the music because it also appeared an octave too high so it was a quick job to drop it down a tone. I’m looking forward to trying this at our next rehearsal on Tuesday and I think it will be so much easier than before!