THE SOUL OF THE TUBA

Likhona Tokota
Table of Contents
Biography..........................................................................................................................................2
Elements of the soul of the Tuba.......................................................................................................2
Free Improvisation.............................................................................................................................3
Workshop..........................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................4
References.............................................................................................................................................5
Biography

My music career began in the year 2008, at the Beau Soleil Music Centre under Shaun Moir.
My interest in the tuba began after a quick glance at the enormous case of the tuba, which I
was unknowingly going to be shifted to. My nature of exploring beyond what the naked
senses are used to, lead to my exploration of extended techniques after a bandmate who also
played the tuba played Canon by Johann Pachelbel using 1Multiphonics by playing the bass
part and singing the melody. Some extended techniques I had explored after Multiphonics
included lip beating, vocal sounds, extreme pedal tones, valve percussion, half valve playing
and playing with water in the main tuning slide.

In 2019, Susana Santos Silva a Portuguese trumpet player, composer and improviser held a
workshop at the Stellenbosch Konservatorium which was aimed to dissolving the boundaries
between improvisation and composition. After the workshop I understood the act of
improvising as being in a time and space of stretching the possibilities of the instrument, the
exploration of new ways of expressing within music and the communication between two or
more bodies in the room through reading each other as performers and allowing a connection
of the body to the instrument and atmosphere. (Stover, 2017) also considers improvisation as
a multisided interaction among people in which the word “people” should be understood as
musical-objects-as-bodies that encounter one another in affective exchanges of intensities.

Extended techniques

From my observation from primary school through to University, the difficulty of tuba parts
in some of the ensemble pieces has evolved, some of the pieces that crossed my path evolved
to a more advanced difficulty which shows the tubas abilities beyond just playing the bass
notes in ensemble settings. My exploration and practicing process of some extended
techniques involved creativity and the exploration of the tubas limits, such as the
manipulation of multiphonics. The outcome of the manipulation of multiphonics such the
movement of the tongue, change of the vowels and throat singing was influenced by my
attempt of Tuvan throat singing. Although multiphonics are not new to the music world, the
tuba has had the privilege of the extensive employment of multiphonics in prescribed tuba
repertory pieces such as Encounters II by William Kraft and as Fnugg by Øystein Baadsvik
which was composed in the early stages of the discovery of extended techniques of tuba.

1
Ron (2018) suggests Lipbeat is an existing percussive extended technique on tuba which is
done through the accentuation of the desired beats of multiple tongued low-pitched notes,
invented by Øystein Baadsvik. Many extended techniques existed before they were
discovered by mankind, which is why I find it important to keep exploring extended
techniques on the tuba through inspirations from nature and different cultures. Some of the
vocals sounds I use influenced by nature are chirping (birds), growling (growling animals),
laughing (Hyenas) and Blow-whistle (strong wind) and a culture influenced extended
technique is the use of clicks in my culture which is isiXhosa.

The extensive use of extended techniques in tuba repertoire has sparked great interest towards
extended techniques in the tuba community. Fnugg by Øystein Baadsvik is one of the first
pieces to be solely based on extended techniques such as multiphonics, lipbeat and extremely
high register.

Figure 1: Fnugg by Øystein Baadsvik

This piece uses the manipulation of standard multiphonics by incorporation vowel changes
“O” and “E”.
Free Improvisation
In the free improvisation workshop in 2019 held in Stellenbosch by Susana Santos Silva, I
observed how free improvisation was done. The emphasis was not about playing the right
notes or producing the perfect sound, rather the emphasis was on the awareness the musicians
had of their surroundings and the ‘free’ in free improvisation interpreted as a conversation
which involves waiting, listening, leading and joining. Improvising is not exhausting but
rejuvenating says Tanya Tagaq an Inuuk avantgarde throat singer in an interview with
Professor David Gaertner of the University of British Columbia. (McNeilly, 2018) she adds
and reinforces the idea of improvisation as not just being sound but a way to help you get ‘out
of your own body´. This approach to free improvisation helps with feeling the freedom of
“free” in free improvisation. My recent experience of free-improvisation with African Open
Elements of the soul of the Tuba
The tuba is well-known for its role of playing bass parts in the orchestra and various
ensembles and chamber groups but there is more to the tuba than playing bass parts. The tuba
has a soul which I would like to describe as the connection between the tuba and the player
which allows the enhancement of the vocabulary used during the process of expressing
oneself. The soul of the tuba has various elements that makes up the soul, these includes the
story of the player, the capabilities of the player and the players understanding of the
aesthetic beauty of the tuba through curiosity and inquisitiveness.

As a tubist, the first step to finding the soul of the tuba was the encounter of the bandmate
that did Multiphonics which sparked an interest in Multiphonics which led to the exploration
of more extended techniques. Then I discovered extended techniques are compulsory in some
of the most notable new compositions for tuba such as Fnugg Red by Øystein Baadsvik,
Encounters II by William Kraft, Tuba Concerto by Jorge Salgueiro and Cantos VI by Samuel
Adler.
Workshop

I am planning on hosting a workshop on Free-improvisation, and the whole idea behind this
workshop is to bring awareness of the different ways a person could express themselves and
communicate. There might be no words involved in an instrumental free improvisation
session but there is a lot
Conclusion

The purpose of this paper is to unpack the meaning of the “Soul of the Tuba” in which I
believe is not visible but more of a feeling of freedom during the connection the player
behind the tuba and the tuba have after a well established relationship.
References
Carse, A., 2002. Musical Wind Instruments. New York, Mineola: Dover Publications Inc..

Chen, E., 2017. Stanford Live. [Online]

Palmer, P., 1990. In Defense of the Serpent. Historic Brass Society Journal, Volume 2, pp. 132-186.

Pegge, M., 1959. The 'Anaconda'. The Galphin Society Journal, Volume 12, pp. 53-56.

Ron, N. H., 2014. The Modern Tuba: The Evolution of the instrument, Key compositions and extended
techniques. Skemman: Tonleiter Island.

Schmidt, P., 1999. Serpent Website. [Online]

Schmidt, P., 2013. Serpent Website. [Online]

Webb, J., 1986. 19th-Century Keyed Brass. The Musical Times, 127(1716), pp. 83-85.

Westrup, J., 1927. SIdelights on the Serpent. The Musical Times, 68(1013), pp. 635-637.