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with Piano

From the editor:

Bel Canto is an elusive term to define. While it literally translates to beautiful voice, it was a style of singing that emphasized beauty of tone, flexibility, and ease of execution. The music written in this style was characterized by florid lines and an emphasis of musical line over text. The term bel canto was, interestingly enough, not used until the style had faded somewhat. Rossini, at a dinner party in 1858 said, “Alas for us, we have lost our bel canto.”

The 12 Vocalizzi in this volume have depth and stand on their own merit amongst the more serious works of Rossini. I recommend these as recital pieces without reservation. They are the equal to-albeit in a different style than-Rachmaninov’s famous Vocalise Op. 34 No. 14 and are ideal for either unaccompanied or accompanied performance, with the included piano accompaniment making them especially suitable for lessons, juries, and solo recitals. I hope you will enjoy working on these pieces as much as I have. They breathe fresh life into the somewhat stale world of bel-canto-for-brass repertoire.

with Piano

Bel Canto is an elusive term to define. While it literally translates to beautiful voice, it was a style of singing that emphasized beauty of tone, flexibility, and ease of execution. The music written in this style was characterized by florid lines and an emphasis of musical line over text. The term bel canto was, interestingly enough, not used until the style had faded somewhat. Rossini, at a dinner party in 1858 said, “Alas for us, we have lost our bel canto.”

The 12 Vocalizzi in this volume have depth and stand on their own merit amongst the more serious works of Rossini. I recommend these as recital pieces without reservation. They are the equal to- albeit in a different style than- Rachmaninov’s famous Vocalise Op. 34 No. 14 and are ideal for either unaccompanied or accompanied performance, with the included piano accompaniment making them especially suitable for lessons, juries, and solo recitals. I hope you will enjoy working on these pieces as much as I have. They breathe fresh life into the somewhat stale world of bel-canto-for-brass repertoire.

- Dr. Robert Benton

2 tubas (or 2 bass trombones)

or tuba/bass trombone with downloadable backing tracks (downloads included for both parts 1 and 2) – recorded by Zach Collins

Concert Duets is a collection of 14 arrangements of works by prominent 18^th-century composers, mostly taken from Trio Sonatas. Duet 11 is a Jim Self original work in the Rococo style; and Duets 12, 13 and 14 are arrangements of the three-movements of the Bach Concerto for Two Violins. Included with this edition are play-along recorded tracks by tubist Zach Collins, who also served as editor of the current edition.

I created these duets as Christmas gifts for my tuba playing friends, with the first duet being arranged in 1976.  All 14 of the duets are challenging and fun to play and are especially effective as concert pieces.

As a young musician I had the privilege of playing duets with many of the world’s finest tubists including Harvey Phillips, John Fletcher, Bob Pallansch, Chester, Schmitz, Dan Perantoni, Toby Hanks, Ron Bishop, Winston Morris and Tommy Johnson. I learned more about playing music in these duo sessions than from any other musical activity I have ever experienced. Duets are powerful teaching tools for learning and mastering rhythm, phrasing and intonation and for developing overall musicianship.

Jim Self:

Self (b. 1943) is a Los Angeles free-lance musician, a veteran of thousands of Hollywood motion pictures, television shows and records, and tuba soloist on many prominent movies. His tuba was the “Voice of the Mothership” in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He is Principal Tuba/Cimbasso with the Pacific and Pasadena Symphonies and the Los Angeles Opera and Hollywood Bowl Orchestras. Formerly he was in The U.S. Army Band and tuba / euphonium professor at the University of Tennessee. He holds a DMA from the USC Thornton School of Music where he is Adjunct Professor of Tuba and Chamber Music. His compositions and arrangements include works for solo tuba, brass quintet, other brass, string and woodwind chamber music, wind band and orchestra. Jim has produced many solo jazz and classical recordings. His music and recordings are available from Potenza Music and www.jimself.com. Jim Self is a Yamaha Performing Artist.

Zach Collins, editor:

Zach Collins is professor of Tuba and Euphonium at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. In 2019, he released his first solo album, Chronicle. It was recognized with the 2021 ITEA Roger Bobo Award for Excellence in Recording for the best Solo Tuba Album.

His interpretation of William Kraft’s Encounters II for Solo Tuba was released on Cambria Master Recordings. Zach performs with Eastern Standard, a horn, tuba, piano trio he formed with Heidi Lucas and Jacob Ertl. The ensemble has released two commercial albums, Eastern Standard and Wanderlust.

Zach regularly performs with the Keystone Chamber Winds, Altoona Symphony Orchestra, and West Virginia Symphony Orchestras. His compositions and arrangements for brass and for tuba and euphonium can be purchased from Cimarron Music and Eighth Note Publications. Zach earned degrees from Texas Christian University and the University of Southern California. His primary teachers have been Richard Murrow, Jim Self, Tommy Johnson, and Norm Pearson. Zach Collins is a Miraphone artist.

20 Duets for Horn and Tuba is perfect for a get together with a friend or for a teacher and student. This set includes pieces from Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, etc.

20 Duets for Horn is perfect for a get together with a friend or for a teacher and student. This set includes pieces from Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, etc.

20 Duets for Low Brass is perfect for a get together with a friend or for a teacher and student. This set includes pieces from Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, etc.

20 Duets for Trumpets is perfect for a get together with a friend or for a teacher and student. This set includes pieces from Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, etc.

20 Duets for Trombone is perfect for a get together with a friend or for a teacher and student. This set includes:

1. Bist du bei mir - Bach

2. Allegro assai - Beethoven

3. Prelude No. 7 - Chopin

4. Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes - trad.

5. Gavotte - Purcell

6. Honor and Arms - Handel

7. Serenade from String Quartet in F - Hoffstetter

8. Prelude from Cello Suite I - Bach

9. Rondeau - Mouret

10. The Liberty Bell - Sousa

11. Sarabande II - Handel

12. Largo - Vivaldi

13. Pastorale - Vivaldi

14. Bridal March - Wagner

15. Adagio - Handel

16. Andante - Handel

17. In the Hall of the Mountain King - Grieg

18. Für Elise - Beethoven

19 Sarabande - Handel

20. Turkish Rondo - Mozart

with Piano

From the editor:

The pieces in this volume came from a collection of 18 Gorgheggi, 4 Solfeggi and 12 Nuovi Vocalizzi by Gioachino Rossini (1702-1868). The Gorgheggi are scale patterns and exercises for learning, turns, ornaments and other embellishments. The 4 Solfeggi are training pieces that are much more musical than the Gorgheggi. They are melodic, have accompaniments, and are functionally wordless songs. I would put these in a similar category to several of the Kopprasch horn etudes; quite musical, but still primarily pedagogical in nature. While an effective performer can bring enough musicianship to these to make them viable exam jury or recital repertoire, they still have the feel of training pieces due to the limited ranges, simpler harmonic designs, repeated melodic figures, etc. The Vocalizzi (published separately by Potenza in versions for both euphonium and tuba) have much more depth than the Solfeggi, and stand on their own merit amongst the more serious works of Rossini. They are the equal to-albeit in a different style than- Rachmaninov’s famous Vocalise Op. 34 No. 14.

These Rossini etudes are another entry into the realm of performative-yet-pedagogical material. They are truly in the bel canto style, yet to my ear, have more depth than your average Bordogni etude. Each of these etudes requires-or develops-flexibility, beauty of sound, and the utmost lyricism possible for brass musicians.

These etudes are ideal for either unaccompanied or accompanied performance, with the included piano accompaniment making them especially suitable for lesson, juries, and solo recitals.

with Piano

This piece was not written specifically in response to either the poem by Maya Angelou or that by Paul Dunbar that both refer to “the caged bird”. However, there is no doubt that both poems have inspired my own further exploration and now musical extrapolation on the subject of being “caged” and of still “singing” in spite of this. With all due respect and admiration for Ms. Angelou and Mr. Dunbar, I have attempted here in my own concept of “cagedness” to include, beyond  racial references, also those issues that include gender, sexuality, economic status, medical/physical problems and any number of other situations that create restrictive and even imprisoning boundaries from which we and all others struggle to break free and find fully human, creative and even spiritual expression within ourselves. Even within the many bonds and restrictive boundaries that we often find ourselves, it still seems to be a fundamental part of our Nature as both human and Spiritual beings that we cannot help but “sing” in both joy and praise both from ourselves and to our own Creator despite the sometimes, even apparently insurmountable obstacles we encounter. For me, this piece is not so much an exploration as to “why the caged bird sings” as it is simply a commenting, even with some measure of wonderment, on its remarkable inevitability.