The History and Future of the Tuba Family : Material-, Resonance-, and Performance-Based Perspectives
(2024) In Timbre and Orchestration Writings- Abstract
- This paper proposes an examination of the intersections of materiality, acoustics, and musical performance practice through the prism of instruments of the tuba family.[*] Investigation into the symbiotic relationship between instrumental evolution and performance practice is a crucial facet of any study of timbre and orchestration. The development of musical objects to produce the sound colors demanded by aesthetic trends and compositional desires (or vice versa) has an inevitable impact upon both performance and pedagogical traditions. Gone unchecked, such transformations can easily solidify as common practices, and are soon followed unquestioningly by new generations of performers. This can result in a rarefication of the palette of... (More)
- This paper proposes an examination of the intersections of materiality, acoustics, and musical performance practice through the prism of instruments of the tuba family.[*] Investigation into the symbiotic relationship between instrumental evolution and performance practice is a crucial facet of any study of timbre and orchestration. The development of musical objects to produce the sound colors demanded by aesthetic trends and compositional desires (or vice versa) has an inevitable impact upon both performance and pedagogical traditions. Gone unchecked, such transformations can easily solidify as common practices, and are soon followed unquestioningly by new generations of performers. This can result in a rarefication of the palette of timbres available to musicians, be they interested in evaluating the music of the past or exploring the music of the future.
Such a risk is particularly acute in the case of the tuba family, the least-examined subsection of the labrosones (or “brass” instruments), and as such particularly vulnerable to isolationist performance practices.[1] Such “ghettos of interest” (Wills, 1997, p. 176) are reflected in contemporary academic and performance-based practices, implying an urgent need to both propagate an understanding of, and develop a means of knowledge transfer between, the organological, acoustical, physiological, and logistical parameters which define how music is made using instruments of the tuba family. Performance-based historical organology and acoustic analysis can illuminate how an instrument’s history informs discussions concerning the sound colors available to performers and composers. An interdisciplinary critical-experimental approach to a wide range of knowledge sources—from early-nineteenth-century newspaper reports to electro-acoustic organological experimentation—can thus provide a means of examining the complex relationship that performers have with their instruments.
Attending to the above assessment, this article demonstrates how analytical processes can be applied to tuba family performance and pedagogical practices, book-ended by two diverse case studies. I first employ a combination of historical organology and practice-based research to illustrate how instruments of the tuba family that preceded the invention of the valve in around 1814 evolved as composers began adopting them into their orchestras. Audio-visual resources are then presented as a means of overcoming entrenched uncritical interpretational traditions. Following this, an overview of twentieth- and twenty-first-century appraisals of the tuba family juxtaposes the benefits provided by an acoustics- and resonance-based analysis of labrosones. This is then demonstrated in my second case study, which presents nascent findings from my ongoing experiments with electroacoustic resonant systems. These examples demonstrate how both historical and analytical organology can be used in combination with artistic research to form a rigorous, historical- and data-driven study that has the potential to have significant impact on contemporary performance practice. (Less)
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- author
- Adler-McKean, Jack LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024-03-20
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Timbre and Orchestration Writings
- publisher
- Timbre and Orchestration Resource
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 198b85f9-2985-47d8-ad86-13a7dcac129e
- alternative location
- https://timbreandorchestration.org/writings/articles/the-history-and-future-of-the-tuba-family
- date added to LUP
- 2024-03-28 01:18:52
- date last changed
- 2024-04-02 09:50:54
@article{198b85f9-2985-47d8-ad86-13a7dcac129e,
abstract = {{This paper proposes an examination of the intersections of materiality, acoustics, and musical performance practice through the prism of instruments of the tuba family.[*] Investigation into the symbiotic relationship between instrumental evolution and performance practice is a crucial facet of any study of timbre and orchestration. The development of musical objects to produce the sound colors demanded by aesthetic trends and compositional desires (or vice versa) has an inevitable impact upon both performance and pedagogical traditions. Gone unchecked, such transformations can easily solidify as common practices, and are soon followed unquestioningly by new generations of performers. This can result in a rarefication of the palette of timbres available to musicians, be they interested in evaluating the music of the past or exploring the music of the future.<br/><br/>Such a risk is particularly acute in the case of the tuba family, the least-examined subsection of the labrosones (or “brass” instruments), and as such particularly vulnerable to isolationist performance practices.[1] Such “ghettos of interest” (Wills, 1997, p. 176) are reflected in contemporary academic and performance-based practices, implying an urgent need to both propagate an understanding of, and develop a means of knowledge transfer between, the organological, acoustical, physiological, and logistical parameters which define how music is made using instruments of the tuba family. Performance-based historical organology and acoustic analysis can illuminate how an instrument’s history informs discussions concerning the sound colors available to performers and composers. An interdisciplinary critical-experimental approach to a wide range of knowledge sources—from early-nineteenth-century newspaper reports to electro-acoustic organological experimentation—can thus provide a means of examining the complex relationship that performers have with their instruments.<br/><br/>Attending to the above assessment, this article demonstrates how analytical processes can be applied to tuba family performance and pedagogical practices, book-ended by two diverse case studies. I first employ a combination of historical organology and practice-based research to illustrate how instruments of the tuba family that preceded the invention of the valve in around 1814 evolved as composers began adopting them into their orchestras. Audio-visual resources are then presented as a means of overcoming entrenched uncritical interpretational traditions. Following this, an overview of twentieth- and twenty-first-century appraisals of the tuba family juxtaposes the benefits provided by an acoustics- and resonance-based analysis of labrosones. This is then demonstrated in my second case study, which presents nascent findings from my ongoing experiments with electroacoustic resonant systems. These examples demonstrate how both historical and analytical organology can be used in combination with artistic research to form a rigorous, historical- and data-driven study that has the potential to have significant impact on contemporary performance practice.}},
author = {{Adler-McKean, Jack}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{03}},
publisher = {{Timbre and Orchestration Resource}},
series = {{Timbre and Orchestration Writings}},
title = {{The History and Future of the Tuba Family : Material-, Resonance-, and Performance-Based Perspectives}},
url = {{https://timbreandorchestration.org/writings/articles/the-history-and-future-of-the-tuba-family}},
year = {{2024}},
}