Translator: Hiroko Kawano Reviewer: Marleen Laschet
(Music)
(Music ends)
(Applause)
Thank you.
This is what probably most people think of when they see a tuba.
But now for something completely different,
Vittorio Monti's Czardas, originally written for violin.
(Music)
(Applause)
(Laughter）
(Music ends)
(Laughter)
(Music)
(Music ends)
(Applause)
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
I know what you're thinking: why on earth did he choose a tuba?
(Laughter)
Here's the obvious answer: I chose the tuba
in order to attract the most beautiful girl in the school.
And here she is, my wife, Anna, on piano.
(Applause)
To be honest, that's not really what happened.
What happened was I wanted to start in the local wind orchestra,
and tuba was the only available instrument.
So for me, it was tuba or nothing.
In the beginning, I did the typical tuba playing
as you heard me do when I walked on stage here,
which is sometimes referred to as "oompah oompah."
This is what we do in the wind band.
It's not the most glamorous job in the band, but it's extremely important.
And as all tuba players of you here know, it's a lot harder than it looks.
Now, it could have all stopped there.
I could have done my five years of playing in the band,
and then gone on to do something else.
But a very important life-changing experience happened to me.
I had a very enthusiastic tuba teacher called Eyvind,
and he introduced me to the magical world of tuba,
which for most people is very hidden.
(Laughter)
For example, did you know there's a tuba international organization?
It used to be called T-U-B-A, Tubists Universal Brotherhood Association.
It still exists but under the name I-T-E-A, International Tuba Euphonium Association.
I liked T-U-B-A better though, but I started listening to recordings.
At that time, there weren't many around from tuba solo playing.
One of the pioneers or some of the pioneers
were Harvey Phillips and Roger Bobo from the US.
We had John Fletcher in England ;
and Michael Lind in Sweden made a great impression.
And it struck me: it's not about the limitations of the instrument.
This piece of metal has no limitations.
It's about the musician itself.
Let me play a song for you that I composed myself, called:
"It will be alright."
(Music)
(Music ends)
(Applause)
Thank you.
So, this five-meter long pipe of brass
was invented first time on September 12, 1835.
And that makes it a very young instrument, really.
It's not until about the 1950's you started playing solo on the tuba,
and for me, that's part of the joy:
finding out what's possible on this instrument.
One thing I tried very early on: how fast can you play on a tuba?
To do that, you have to use double tonguing,
and you guessed it, double tonguing is the opposite of single tonguing.
(Laughter)
To-to-to-to is single, tuku-tuku is double.
And here's what it sounds like.
(Music)
There is a Dr House TV show episode,
where a tuba player plays so fast that he dies.
(Laughter)
And it turns out that the producers of the show
watched one of my YouTube videos where I play a really fast song
called: "Carnival of Venice" - I won't do that today for safety reasons.
But I'll keep on playing the double tongue in the low register.
So let's follow it now.
(Tuba tunes)
(End of tuba tunes)
When I did that for my teacher, he said, "That doesn't sound like a tuba,
but more like a helicopter. Stop doing that immediately."
Of course, I didn't. What I did, I added a little accent with my belly.
So watch my belly while I play those helicopter tunes one more time.
(Tuba tunes)
(Hands clap rhythmically)
(End of tuba tunes)
Right, then you can add a litttle...
(Tuba chirp)
... in between the helicopter sounds.
(Tuba rhythmic sounds)
(End of tuba rhythmic sounds)
As you understand I had a lot of spare time when I grew up,
(Laughter)
on the countryside, outside Trondheim here.
(Cheers) (Applause)
So I started to experiment with something called multiphonics,
where you sing and play at the same time.
(Tuba multiphonics)
(End of tuba multiphonics)
Alright, so when you combine ... (Applause)
Thank you.
When you combine that sound ... (Tuba multiphonics)
with the helicopter ... (Tuba tunes)
and this one ... (Tuba chirp)
... that hasn't got a name yet,
you get a song that I composed myself that's called "Fnugg".
And this is really to make you think, after this conference,
that tuba is the coolest instrument on the planet.
(Laughter)
(Tuba song: "Fnugg")
(End of tuba song "Fnugg")
(Applause) (Cheers)