Tuba Sonata
for tuba and piano

November 1985 Rev. 1994
                                                                                 Recopied in February 2020 with edits

Contact us for a free study score

Buy the sheet music from MusicaNeo ($20usd)

Buy the sheet music directly from Richard.
Pay by paypal and get a pdf sent by e-mail

One of my most favorite works. It still needs a premiere, which I might be able to help fund.

This originally was a piece that explored the use of multi-phonics on the tuba in somewhat of a random way. After the revision, the randomness is all gone, and there are only a few multi-phonics left.
Theoretically, as usual scale created by a random throw of the I Ching are the foundation of each movement. Different scales are used for each movement. The rhythmic influence of the I Ching can be seen in places such as the opening where the left hand plays: ( -, -, -, +, +, + ), in the second movement where the opening combined rhythm is: ( -, -, +, -, +, - ). and the third movement where Measure 18 in the piano is ( +, -, -, +, +, - ). Most any six note rhythm would somehow relate to the particular hexagram being used. In my more recent works (1992), I am much more frugal in the use of different scales. Although I couldn't find my organization charts for the piece, by just looking at the rhythm patterns it is obvious that more than one hexagram is being used in each movement. Theoretically it doesn't stand up to my high Ideas of perfect symmetry, but it is a nice piece and I am proud of it even though it is so old.

Three movements:
I. Moderato (with some multiphonics) (2:30)
II. Fast (3:30)
III. Moderto (x:x0)

Share This on Twitter      Share This Link on Facebook

The Sheet music cover:

x