How to Play Octaves on the Tuba

Video Transcript

"Hello everyone, Kevin Smith here again, TubaLove, and the next part of my typical practice session is octaves. Now when I started with just doing the general slurring, I was just going down to basically the next open note. And then as I was working on intervals, I was increasing the note up as far as an octave. What that was doing is gradually giving my embouchure time to warm up. Because you'll notice I mean the longer or the farther the distance between each of these notes, the more you have to adjust your lips and your rather your jaw and what's called your embouchure. So if you're starting out that kind of thing early, you're not really giving your embouchure the time to warm up properly. So now that I've done the intervals. Now I'm going to take it a little bit further and just warm up with octaves, which is the next as I said earlier the note that sounds just like another one except that it's higher in pitch like this. Usually when I do them, I usually do three notes or one entirety of two octaves. So if I start in a low F, and again when you're doing these, continue to slur them. Don't tongue yet. The slurring gives your better opportunity early on to get the embouchure going and to get that feeling of the air support that's needed to keep that gliding sound in between the notes. That real flowing sense. That the high C there is about as high as I would go for the moment. And also that clicking that you heard was the spit that was building up in my horn."