Duet Miniature No. 1 - for Bass Trombone (or Tuba) Duet

[RobertBomar]

Hi everyone ,

This is a short duet I wrote to be fairly easy to pick up and play; video below. Criticism and suggestions are more than welcome. Audio in the video is generated by NotePerformer 4.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0q93QbZTCI



Best,
Robert

[heldenbone]

Hi everyone ,

This is a short duet I wrote to be fairly easy to pick up and play; video below. Criticism and suggestions are more than welcome. Audio in the video is generated by NotePerformer 4.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0q93QbZTCI



Best,
Robert

I like the piece, but from the players' standpoint, there aren't many opportunities to phrase or breathe.

[RobertBomar]

Yeah, that's a good point about the phrasing. After practicing this myself, that ended up being the main thing I needed to focus on figuring out. I'll keep an eye on ease of phrasing the next time I write a duet; it seems to be a unique issue that doesn't really come up with other ensemble types (at least in my own writing).

[BGuttman]

Playing bass trombone in the lower registers (from Bb2 down to F1) can be very tiring. The instrument is an air hog in this register and long phrases are a problem. For example, when I played bass trombone in Dvorak 9, trying to go more than 2 bars in the chorale (2nd movement) on one breath was a big challenge. When the conductor wanted 4 bars per breath I just couldn't do it, though my colleagues on 2nd and 1st had no problem.

I notice that flute players need to keep an eye on phrase length as well. Keep that in mind as you compose for them.

By all means keep at it! We need music to play.