Tubalosity was selected to be premiered by Kenyon Wilson at Indiana University, USA in 2014 as part of the Fifteen Minutes of Fame series. The piece is inspired by the versatility of the tuba sound – that of the funky bass and the melodic voice. The player should imagine they are playing both parts simultaneously as though the bass line is there all the way through, in the style of singer Bobby McFerrin.

Performance Notes:

Tubalosity has both a melody and a bass line – bring out the melody line in the upper notes from bar 5.

Notes with a cross-hatch head should be a tongue-click into the mouthpiece.

In bars 8, 12, 14, 15 and 20 the upper notes should be sung at the same time as playing the lower note. The sung notes should be in whichever octave is comfortable in the player’s range.