[Dixielandjazz] Lots of flats or sharps

[James O'Briant]

Ken Gates asks...

> Where is the difficulty of the trumpet player in those keys
[i.e. lots 
> of sharps or flats]?
> The 3 fingers involved don't look difficult as I look at a
fingering 
> chart---it surely must be awkward changes in lip/tongue etc
positions?  
> Is that it?

Nope, it's mostly awkward fingering changes. 

Depressing the valves on a trumpet, valve trombone or tuba (or
other brass instrument) involves more finger strength and distance
of movement than closing a tone hole or depressing a key on a
clarinet. Some changes from one fingering to another (e.g., from
2&4 to 2&3 on a 4-valve tuba) are fairly awkward. In some cases
(as with the clarinet) there are alternate fingerings that may
serve well, but sometimes intonation is less than ideal. With
brass instruments, the higher you go in the instrument's range,
the more alternate fingerings are generally available, again it
depends on which specific pitches are involved.

Most (but not all) instrumentalists are less proficient in keys
with more than about 4 sharps or four flats. We play a lot in the
keys with fewer sharps or flats, so most of us (including me)
don't spend the time that we really should with the Rubank
Advanced Volume II Book, or with the sections of Klose or Arban
that concentrate on these less-frequently-encountered keys. Thus,
the scales and especially the arpeggios in these keys aren't as
automatic as they ought to be.

Most of the time, since we're not playing in these keys, it
doesn't make a lot of difference. Then, the leader calls "Creole
Belles" in Ab & Db, or Lu Watters' version of "Terrible Blues" in
C-Flat (7 flats), and minor panic ensues....

Jim O'Briant
Tuba
Gilroy, CA