Aah Weightlifting: aka Challenge number 3. This was an interesting one indeed.
It took awhile to decide just how to accomplish this task, mainly because I knew I wanted to create the piece as a scribble and doodle, as the 30 second* time limit for unaccompanied tuba fit my already established guideline of no more than one page. Most of my scribbles and doodles seem to be food themed and I did not have any Tuba solos available, so why not combine the opportunity with the project? Also, I wanted to write something a little out of my comfort zone that would also challenge the Victim..er I mean professional Tuba Player, Eric Ebeling.
In the end, the piece ended up being an avant gard performance piece that I called Lifting a Sneezeburger. It goes up to a High F..the usual but forbidden upper range limit of most tuba players I’ve met, but I thought that, because it was weightlifting challenge, the scalar/ intervalic passage would be befitting. Also, I call for the player to act out the scene by huffing and puffing at this ludicrous attempt at lifting a 500 lb cheeseburger and even include a “tuba sneeze” at the end. Sadly, because we could only be provided audio recordings, you can not see the performer acting out the instructions, but Eric did a fantastic job and it is easy to imagine what is going on.
Kudos to Eric for tackling this barrage of solos from us and for being a good sport with this particular Scribble.He definitely earned a medal after reading all of our pieces.
Good news for anyone Curious about these Creations and any Tuba Players who might want to try this particular Scribble out. I offer these pieces for Free (though I would appreciate any notifications if you choose to perform them in public)!!! Please visit the Scribbles and Doodles page for more information.
*Most composer’s solos ended up taking more than 30 seconds upon real person playback..including mine. The tempo is marked “free” though it was just under 30 seconds when played back on the notation program.
As always, the other composer’s creativity has shone through, especially with the titles. If you want a some entertainment this afternoon, please read these titles and listen to the music.
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