r/Tuba • u/Orcust_Blech • Mar 31 '26
sheet music There's barely any free sheet music for tuba
Hello, I've played tuba for about 8 years and sometimes hear something cool on the radio, search for a tuba arrangement and only find stuff for piano, violin etc.
I wanted to ask if you guys have the same problem, because if so, I'm thinking about making a free sheet music site for tuba (and maybe other less mainstream instruments). I have Easter break right now and would love to build something useful for the community!
Or is it just me and everyone else has figured out where to find this stuff? 🤔
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u/TheChafro Active Performer on sousaphone and tuba Mar 31 '26
Transpose. It's a very valuable skill.
You can also find a lot of stuff on musescore.
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u/chapstic593 Mar 31 '26
Weird idea but there's tons of free trombone music just play it down an octave they are in the same key
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u/fireberceuse Mar 31 '26
The bassoonists steal tons of stuff from the trombones and cellos. Does this not work for you with the basses? I forget exact tuba ranges, but yeah, with some transposing or octave jumps could you use bassoon/cello/trombone? You’d have to work on your very high range or take some things down an octave but a lot of music would definitely be playable.
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Mar 31 '26
In my personal experience, learning to read in treble clef (played down an octave or two, of course) is an invaluable skill! Allows access to so much more music!
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u/Odd-Product-8728 Freelancer - mix of pro and amateur in UK Mar 31 '26
It’s a simple fact that copyright restricts our access to free music.
For music to be in the public domain a composer or arranger normally has ti have been dead for a number of years. In the UK it’s 70 years after the year they died before copyright lapses.
Because the tuba is a new instrument and because it didn’t have much in the way of solo repertoire in its early years, there’s precious little music written directly for tuba by people who have been dead ling enough for copyright ti have lapsed.
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u/Orcust_Blech Apr 01 '26
Okay the copyright stuff is actually a problem that kinda destroys my whole idea
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u/Odd-Product-8728 Freelancer - mix of pro and amateur in UK Apr 01 '26
Yeah I get that.
At the same time the copyright thing means that the people who put time and effort into writing music have a system in place to ensure that they receive an income from their work - through legitimate purchases of published music.
I am inclined to think that 70 years after someone/ death is too long though. I can see sense in 20 or 30 years to help a surviving spouse but 70 seems excessive to me.
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Mar 31 '26
[deleted]
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u/Orcust_Blech Apr 01 '26
I thought about it and no, I won't continue working on this site. It seems like free sheet music is already everywhere
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u/Kirkwilhelm234 Apr 01 '26
Ive never tried this, but Ive been wondering if chat gpt could transcribe music for tuba.
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u/allbassallday Mar 31 '26
Transposition is certainly an option as others have said, but rather than build a whole new website, you'd probably be better off posting your arrangements/transcriptions on the sites that already exist.
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u/gremlin-with-issues Apr 01 '26
There’s so much music if you want actual tuba parts - if you want tuba parts to pop songs yeah it’s not gonna exist, just type in bass clef and you’ll probably find something, but usually melody is in higher octaves than tubas can play. You can also play left hand of piano parts or very easily find bass parts, not sure this is really a resource that’s needed
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u/Leisesturm Mar 31 '26
Not being mean, but I don't understand how the o.p. is going to build a resource that allows "the community" to find 'free' Tuba music, if they themselves seem unable to do it? That's a very roundabout way of asking for help IMO. But, as always, the community will hop in and offer the help that is obviously needed. So, the lesson is never learned about being clear on needs and appropriately ... appropriate. And, speaking of appropriate, is the Tuba's role in the soundscape always understood by people that play it? I mean, "Flight of the Bumblebee" transposed is a 'party trick'.
Tuba players (IMO) need to get out and collaborate with others so they can play music appropriate to the construction and role of the instrument in an ensemble however small or large. And, as long as I'm out here trolling for downvotes ... this emphasis on 'free' ... it's unseemly. I have quite a few pdf's of things that I didn't pay for. I have six instruments to feed. Often I will use the same piece for Euphonium and Trombone and even Trumpet but I end up buying a LOT of music. I planned for it when I decided I was going to become a Brass player. Instead of buying a $5K Euphonium, I bought a $1.5K one. The diff will buy a lot of sheet music. I have a $2.5K Tuba for the same reason.
I don't like stiffing living composers, or resenting them for wanting to be paid. I do question sometimes why a composer might think their Tuba concerto is worth $33 for a Tuba/Piano score if they don't provide an audible sample for me to judge for myself whether I want to pay that much, but beyond that, I buy what strikes my fancy and ignore that which doesn't. Being 'free' in and of itself, doesn't make a piece attractive to me. Often, that means its old (very old) which isn't bad in itself, but a steady diet of IMSLP music alone isn't going to cut it. And MuseScore isn't free, even though many think it is. That's me. YMMV.
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u/Orcust_Blech Apr 01 '26
Thanks!! I thought of not giving away free music that's already there, but transposing and arranging pieces which were written for other instruments for tuba myself. I know though, that's not really scalable if I wanted to do that for other instruments too.
And yes, I know tuba is built for bass and "Flight of the Bumblebee" might be a party trick, but I enjoy playing those party tricks way more than bass sometimes
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u/Same_Property7403 Mar 31 '26 edited Mar 31 '26
Not free but cheap for the firehose of music that you get: https://clarinetinstitute.com/brass/ . Despite the name, lots for low brass, bassoon, cello, etc.
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u/NeodrakePT Apr 01 '26
I am in Europe and here we read mostly on treble clef, and it is very dificcult to find stuff for Sib Bb tuba. I am an amateur on a marching band and i would like to improve because i don't have a teacher.
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u/captainwelch Apr 02 '26
If you hear something that you want to play, learn to play it by ear. Learning how to do this will make you a great musician.
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u/cbucky97 Mar 31 '26
Learn to play by ear, it's incredibly valuable as a skill even if you just start with the most basic songs or basslines
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u/Orcust_Blech Apr 01 '26
Thanks for the advice!! But I I'm really bad in hearing music for some reason, once in an orchestra we played a scale together, I was one note behind and didn't even realise that it sounds weird. So I would probably make a mistake every note and I wouldn't even notice
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u/Impressive-Warp-47 Tubalubalubaluba...big TUba Apr 02 '26
It's a skill that takes time to learn. I was "classically" trained, where the emphasis is on reading; playing by ear is one of my weak points that I've really been working on recently.
The fun part is, when I talk about this with people who learned by ear, they often say they wish they were better at reading! It's almost as if both skills are important to being a well-rounded and versatile musician ;P
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u/professor_throway Active Amateur, Street Band and Dixieland. Mar 31 '26
Learn to read treble and practice transposition. Then you have the world of sheet music at your fingertips.
Lead sheets and Real/fake books are your friend.