Hey, I've just completed my A level arrangement of "Thunderbirds" for a jazz band but before I finally print it out I just want to check the ranges of a tuba, a trumpet and a trombone. I've done my composition on sibelius which tells you when a note is too low or too high for that particular instrument. But it isnt 100% reliable! Could someone tell me the ranges of the three instruments please!! I.e. can the tuba get an Eb below the stave? (in bass clef?)
Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Country_bumpkin
Full Version: Ranges Of Brass Instruments
I don't know about a tuba and trombone, but a trumpet can go down to Gb below the stave, and up to top C (above stave) in the normal range, although I have reached the E above this before, and people can get higher.
Thanks! thats helped me a lot cos sibelius has been saying that a trumpet cant play a G just above the stave! lol
just type ranges of brss instruments into google and some stuff should come up
| QUOTE (chrisgs @ May 8 2005, 03:04 PM) |
| I don't know about a tuba and trombone, but a trumpet can go down to Gb below the stave, and up to top C (above stave) in the normal range, although I have reached the E above this before, and people can get higher. |
1) Remember that some player have more than one instrument, and will use one of a different length to help them get notes that are difficult or impossible on the standard one.
2) Nowadays, there are lots of instruments (horns, tubas, flugel horns) with more than three valves, and on several of these the lowest note is below the capability of most players. That is always true of the double horn in F and Bb. For these, you need to know what the player can do. If you don't have a particular ensemble in mind, then Alfred Blatter's "Instrumentation and Orchestration"* helpfully tells you typical ranges for "high school" players, good amateurs and professionals.
* from memory; I might have got that wrong in detail.
Hi I play trombone and I'd say the standard range (ignoring professionals/advanced players) would be G above the bass clef, down to the F just under the bass clef. Unless you used the bass trombone in which case the F below that should be accetable.
Hi... I think it is the lowest limit for most tuba players are the E flat at ledger lines below the clefs and to B flat above the bar. Hope that this would help... 
As a rule, the Sibelius Programme is very conservative with its views on the ranges of instruments. Although this is not a bad thing for novice composers and arrangers all those red notes (that you can turn off) are annoying and sometimes confusing.
Any good music dictionary will be able to give you the text book ranges of all instruments and it is probably best to stick within these limits in an exam situation. In fact, to be safe you are probably best to stick well inside these ranges (as Sibelius does).
In the real world these ranges can be be extended upwards (especially with trumpets and trombones) and downwards with tubas to fit the standard of the players you are writing for. Of course, this works in reverse also. There is no point in writing As above the stave if your trumpet player can only play to Gs!
As a trumpet player myself I can confirm that most modern composers and arrangers consider the range of the B flat trumpet to be from f sharp below the treble stave to at least the F three ledger lines above the stave. Most players that you hear professionally on recordings etc can play much higher than this and it is more an more common to find music written to these extremes. Let's not forget that even the humble Concerto by Haydn written over two hundred years ago expects us to play to an E flat!
The ranges of tubas varies a lot depending on the tuba that the player owns. In British brass bands we use E flat and B flat tubas and with four valves these instruments easily have a range of 3 octaves from E flat and B flat (concert pitch) respectivly. Good players will be able to produce pedal notes to over an octave below this and should be able to play higher as well; four or perhaps even five octaves. Trumpet players are able to produce pedal notes as well, but they are less usable in real life situations.
A word of caution to composers wishing to write for tumpets in other pitches. A piccolo trumpet or an E flat trumpet will not naturally give a player an extra octave of range from the his normal trumpet. What they normally do is make the high notes to about F or G above the stave a little easier to pitch and therefore play with a little more certainty. And, of course, these trumpets have a different tone quality.
Although quite in depth, I hope this helps.
To sum up though, in an exam, I'd stick to the middle of the ranges as advised by Sibelius and only write to the extreme ranges when you know the players you have at your disposal will be able to play them comfortably.
Any good music dictionary will be able to give you the text book ranges of all instruments and it is probably best to stick within these limits in an exam situation. In fact, to be safe you are probably best to stick well inside these ranges (as Sibelius does).
In the real world these ranges can be be extended upwards (especially with trumpets and trombones) and downwards with tubas to fit the standard of the players you are writing for. Of course, this works in reverse also. There is no point in writing As above the stave if your trumpet player can only play to Gs!
As a trumpet player myself I can confirm that most modern composers and arrangers consider the range of the B flat trumpet to be from f sharp below the treble stave to at least the F three ledger lines above the stave. Most players that you hear professionally on recordings etc can play much higher than this and it is more an more common to find music written to these extremes. Let's not forget that even the humble Concerto by Haydn written over two hundred years ago expects us to play to an E flat!
The ranges of tubas varies a lot depending on the tuba that the player owns. In British brass bands we use E flat and B flat tubas and with four valves these instruments easily have a range of 3 octaves from E flat and B flat (concert pitch) respectivly. Good players will be able to produce pedal notes to over an octave below this and should be able to play higher as well; four or perhaps even five octaves. Trumpet players are able to produce pedal notes as well, but they are less usable in real life situations.
A word of caution to composers wishing to write for tumpets in other pitches. A piccolo trumpet or an E flat trumpet will not naturally give a player an extra octave of range from the his normal trumpet. What they normally do is make the high notes to about F or G above the stave a little easier to pitch and therefore play with a little more certainty. And, of course, these trumpets have a different tone quality.
Although quite in depth, I hope this helps.
To sum up though, in an exam, I'd stick to the middle of the ranges as advised by Sibelius and only write to the extreme ranges when you know the players you have at your disposal will be able to play them comfortably.
I think that a chat with the players that are going to play your piece is the best thing. And keep away from big sharp keys!!! 
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