The American in Paris Solo--Some Thoughts

[the elephant]

Interpreting and some of the farting around I have heard on this are not the same thing. It is not a cadenza. Period. So do not approach it as one.

The people who do this tend to think of the "solos" in Meistersinger and Mahler 1 as such, and they also are not solos, but are soli. No one pays money to hear the tuba player put unwritten bends and growls in this, just like no one pays to watch the conductor. Then came to hear GERSHWIN's music, not yours. This is based on audience surveys done by Paul Judy for the Orchestral Institute back in the 1990s and 2000s. People also come to hear the warhorses and not crap like Gerald McBoing-Boing or whatever. Check your egos. We are not important at all in the larger scope of the production, so don't sit there waving flags and shouting LOOK AT ME, I HAVE A SOLO! Play the ink.

It's been fun. I have to go, now, peeps. Adios!

[arpthark]

People also come to hear the warhorses and not crap like Gerald McBoing-Boing or whatever.

[bloke]

- no note bending, no "jazz' articulations, as none of this is indicated in the music and nothing previous indicated this in the other instruments playing of the same melody

This. In my old EU orchestra when they'd get their hands on something they considered "jazzy", they'd conjure up all sorts of crazy interpretations: fall-offs on every note, modifying parts at-will, and that stupid "growl" thingy. Ugh.

Mark Vail is a Texan who has been the bass trombonist to the Memphis Symphony for quite a few years.

Whenever there's some poor pops arrangement that sort of feigns jazz or swing, Mark and I will look at each other and (in a quasi eastern European accent - such as the "wild and crazy guys" on Saturday Night Live) say in unison,

jazzbanddancing

(The previous player in Memphis was an amazing player who was a Remington student, and played a mix and match instrument which was a near prototype of the 73h bell section with a near prototype of the 62h tunable slide section. They were sent to Remington before they started producing them, and he bought that combination of stuff to play. I suspect you may have met him. He lives near you now - Dr Russ Schultz)

[bloke]

It's fine to question the composer is something that's okay to do I suppose, yet sticking any of that sh!t into that coda-esque tuba passage of that section is something that I would question 10,000 times before I would question playing it as written with no words above the phrase in the printed music such as "jazzy", "in a jazz manner", or "be an ass clown here".

When music directors allow players to get away with that nonsense, I'm shocked when they are elderly and experienced, but not particularly shocked when they are young ignorant pretty-faced stick waivers fresh out of (taking up where Wade left off) Professor Wumple's Music School.

[the elephant]

People also come to hear the warhorses and not crap like Gerald McBoing-Boing or whatever.

An actual piece that we presented on a Chamber Series program back around 1994…

[bloke]

That's the man - who used to rule - Professor - Wumples - Music School

If anything with that solo, I believe that it's okay to do the thing that Arnold Jacobs taught when playing a solo such as that - which is to move the valves slowly (which is something chided by all band directors) to make some of the slurs sound more vocal and maybe even a very subtle vocal glissando between a few of the pitches (perhaps D sharp to E, but as a classical vocalist would do and not as a jazz saxophonist would do), but that's the limit of what should be done... The same thing that's okay to do with Mahler 1.

Again, this technique simply improves the legato and doesn't change the style.

[UncleBeer]

People also come to hear the warhorses and not crap like Gerald McBoing-Boing or whatever.

An actual piece that we presented on a Chamber Series program back around 1994…

My orchestra once did Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance" to accompany break dancers.

[1 Ton Tommy]

It's times like these, when we do arrangements that have vanishingly few passages of interest for tuba but some of the best trumpet solos ever, that I really regret giving up my seat in the trumpet section because we needed a bass voice. Other times, I'm happy as can be to be the foundation of the chords and I get kudos for filling up the otherwise empty bottom, my apologies to our good cellos.

And yes, we're short both string basses this season. And for "American in Paris Suite" that hurts, especially since I could fill at least part of that role with the Mammoth but have been directed to count measures out.

[tclements]

I think the original was swung, and played on a contrabass kazoo! Oh, and don't forget the flutter tongue!

[smitwil1]

Yeah, sometimes we get overexcited when we see "solo" printed in our parts and--not unlike beer goggles in another unrelated context--see "CADENZA!!!". In reality, isn't everything we do as tuba players in an orchestra "solo"--as in there's no one else to blame if the conductor doesn't like it? We are still fighting the Tubby-the-Jolly-Farmer-Joins-the-Circus thing. The most common "compliment" that I seem to hear come our way from other orchestra members (ones that have sonatas and concertos written for them by dead composers) is "...that was (Captain Subtext Translation: surprisingly!) musically done..". Just play the page.

Sorry, just tired of having my instrument be compared to a pachyderm, turned into a novelty, or otherwise considered to be "cute".

[bloke]

I've received compliments from string players (who understand phrasing, have infinitely more different ways to articulate sounds than do we, and - forgive me for speaking the truth, but - have access to far more sophisticated instruction and guidance than do we) for simply doing a nice job of phrasing some little solo passages in stuff as inane as John Williams movie music.
(All I did was play it. )

JUST PLAY IT.

[Yahnay-san]

I got to play it with my community orchestra, and as was pointed out, the tuba brings the piece to a sort of false ending before a spirited recapitulation, which I took as representing the titular American of the tone poem at the end of a long night (or wee hours of overindulging in Paris; our hero is homesick, drunk and nodding off. So, not much swing, as a little rubato and a ritard to the end. Brilliant orchestration, playing to audience perception of the tuba. (And maybe self-perception, check the whiskey thread!)

[1 Ton Tommy]

I have a copy of the original Kelly/Caron musical and I haven't watched it in a long time. I think I will, just for fun. Seems it might be instructive as to how to play the part.

[bloke]

I have a copy of the original Kelly/Caron musical and I haven't watched it in a long time. I think I will, just for fun. Seems it might be instructive as to how to play the part.

- "American in Paris" was composed in 1928 by George Gershwin.

- Gene Kelly choreographed a dance to it and danced to it in 1951.

- if anyone is seeking a reference recording, the first recording was made in 1929 on the Victor label and was recorded by musicians who were also in the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Right around 14:00, what later became a tuba solo was played on a bass clarinet, was anything but "jazzy", and wasn't even slowed down. In fact, it didn't even begin on the same pitch (it began on concert D, rather than concert C), because extended range bass clarinets we're very uncommon at that time, and the lowest pitch on those instruments was concert d-flat...
... so this solo (which tuba players embrace as being so special to them) wasn't even originally a tuba solo, and Mr. Gershwin may have later reluctantly re-scored that short melody line it for tuba simply because the instrument could cover the lowest C in the motif, and - having to settle for a D in such an exposed solo line - perhaps hurt his musical sensibilities more than handing it off to the tuba hurt his musical sensibilities.
Bass clarinets with range extended to low C (concert B flat) in 1928 were extremely rare. I'm sort of surprised he didn't give it to the first bassoonist.



I'm not very smart, but I'm also old, and - sometimes - having been given more time to be shown things or to find things out can partially overcome not being smart.

[1 Ton Tommy]

I suppose that, ultimately, the arbiter of a performance is the audience, who spent their money to hear us play. In my case there are many grey-heads who also follow dance and will have seen the 1951 movie, though not in 1951 of course. Shall we take them down memory lane to that dance performance? Or shall we stick to the 1929 performance or somewhere in between? The answer is above my pay grade but my personal preference would be to remember it as in the 1951 musical. I think of that film and our visits to Paris often.

[1 Ton Tommy]

Does anyone know if it was the MGM studio orchestra that played the movie and if it was the original Gershwin Score or which revision? My last comment assumes it was a revision.

[Colby Fahrenbacher]

..and Mr. Gershwin may have later reluctantly re-scored that short melody line it for tuba simply because the instrument could cover the lowest C in the motif, and - having to settle for a D in such an exposed solo line - perhaps hurt his musical sensibilities more than handing it off to the tuba hurt his musical sensibilities.

If this were true (and there was confirmed evidence showing this was Gershwin's opinion), then we would have likely seen the tuba solo reverted to the bass clarinet in the critical edition, since this is a non-issue for the ubiquitous modern bass clarinet. It's also possible that this was Gershwin's opinion but the Gershwin Initiative considered the preponderance of performance practice on tuba to outweigh this opinion, or that Gershwin's opinion on the matter changed on the issue over time, so left it in the tuba part. Without consulting the Gershwin Initiative, all of this is purely speculative.

[bloke]

..and Mr. Gershwin may have later reluctantly re-scored that short melody line it for tuba simply because the instrument could cover the lowest C in the motif, and - having to settle for a D in such an exposed solo line - perhaps hurt his musical sensibilities more than handing it off to the tuba hurt his musical sensibilities.

If this were true (and there was confirmed evidence showing this was Gershwin's opinion), then we would have likely seen the tuba solo reverted to the bass clarinet in the critical edition, since this is a non-issue for the ubiquitous modern bass clarinet. It's also possible that this was Gershwin's opinion but the Gershwin Initiative considered the preponderance of performance practice on tuba to outweigh this opinion, or that Gershwin's opinion on the matter changed on the issue over time, so left it in the tuba part. Without consulting the Gershwin Initiative, all of this is purely speculative.

Of course it's speculative (see

may have

in what you just quoted), and I doubt that anything this unimportant (to anyone but a bunch of us 21st century tuba nerds and a tuba-chat-room e-prairie-dogger) would have ever come up in any interview of Mr. Gershwin prior to 1937 (when his brain tumor became apparent)...the MAIN point being (as the main point always seems to be lost on certain - again - e-prairie-doggers) that - in the first recording in 1929 (whereby the solo line was obviously written for bass clarinet), it didn't occur to the bass clarinetist to be "Mistuh or Miz Jassbo" (as there's nothing in the score indicating that the player of that extended phrase make an ass of themselves...

...' speaking of which: ' got a recording of yourself playing that solo with your orchestra to offer us?

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(possibly interesting information for the genuinely curious yet non-argumentative)
Years ago (for rentals), we picked up four REALLY old professional Conn wood bass clarinets which (as Yamaha began doing in the 1960's) replicated the best instruments of their time (Selmer, Paris...which - today - are still preferred by some over Buffet - particularly as far as BASS clarinets are concerned - Selmer, Paris vs. Buffet bass clarinets - a tendency to be more "robust", etc.)
Their serial numbers indicated that they dated back to the 1930's (yeah, the period of time being discussed). These instruments NOT ONLY did NOT feature the extended range to C (concert B-flat), but (additionally) they ONLY featured the (as with soprano clarinets) range to low E (concert D), so - per the Gershwin bass clarinet solo, the (concert) D MAY WELL HAVE BEEN (??) the very lowest pitch available on the instrument played in that 1929 recording.

bloke "destructively-and-irresponsibly speculating YET AGAIN, and - if you need footnotes, see below."
____________________________________________________________
¹bloke said this stuff
²because he did.
³ibid

[the elephant]

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[the elephant]

Look at all you tuba players, trying to look smart to each other…