by Vern Pat Nelson

SONATA - TUBA LIBRE - BARTON LUTHER SPRING

This music was commissioned by Jay Rozen and John Woods, in 1992. Interested tubists may also be interested in my Killer Tuba Songs!

SONATA. The Sonata For Two Tubas is in 3 movements: a fast, aggressive Sonata Allegro; a beautiful slow Siciliano; and a playful Passacaglia. By now you ought to be hearing a MIDI file of: the first 1/3 of the Sonata Allegro (fading out); the first 1/3 of the Siciliano (fading out); and the entirety of the Passacaglia, which I couldn't bring myself to cut up. CLICK HERE if the MIDI hasn't yet come on automatically. (And yes, that is foot-stomping a la cha-cha-cha at the very end.) You can see, tubists, that this is challenging music, but well worth the effort.

The Sonata For Two Tubas is now available for examination and purchase at sibeliusmusic.com-- all you need is the free scorch plug-in to see the music, hear it and print it!  Click here for Movement 1, Movement 2, and Movement 3!

Along with the SONATA come two strange but fun ancillary pieces: the surrealistically humorous TUBA LIBRE, and the unperformed, and probably unperformable BARTON LUTHER SPRING, about which nothing can be said. TUBA LIBRE, however, which audiences love, incorporates the technique of singing into the tuba different pitches than you are playing; the feeling of disco; the phenomenon of making a tuba squawk insanely by using a saxophone mouthpiece; and the ever-popular audience-handclapping-on-the-upbeat. Believe me, I can send you a good tape of it.

ALONG WITH ALL THAT, if you act NOW and stop dilly-dallying, I can send you a very nice arrangement I made, for beginner tubist and piano, of the slow movement of Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata. If you are a good enough tubist to play my Sonata and Tuba Libre, let alone my Killer Tuba Songs, then you probably have students... and this is perfect for them.