Arban Tuba Method – Interactive Sheet Music
Jean-Baptiste Arban’s method adapted for tuba, in bass clef: 581 technical exercises arranged by type and difficulty, from elementary level all the way to advanced.
Contents of the Arban method for tuba
The Arban is organized by type of exercise and, within each type, by difficulty, so it is not studied from beginning to end. As a rough guide, this is how its 581 technical exercises are organized by difficulty, with their page in the PDF of this version:
Jean-Baptiste Arban and his method, adapted for tuba
The best known and most used Arban method is probably the trumpet one, but this is a fully adapted version for the tuba. The content is exactly the same as in the trumpet version, but adapted as follows:
- It is written entirely in bass clef and at concert pitch (tuba in C).
- All the exercises are lowered two octaves and a tone with respect to the trumpet one (a sixteenth, strictly speaking), since the trumpet Arban is designed for trumpet in B♭ and this one for tuba. The exercises therefore range from E1 to B3, and nearly 98% of the notes stay below F3.
- If your tuba is in E♭ or B♭ and you read in treble clef, in MIDI & MusicXML Player (with Premium) you can change the clef and transpose the exercises without leaving the score.
This method has exercises for almost every technical aspect a tuba student needs: flexibility, technique, scales, studies and much more.
Read more
Although the Arban method starts with simple exercises, it cannot be considered the best method to get started on the tuba: it does not contain a large selection of beginner exercises and it quickly increases in difficulty. However, as soon as you have a basic level and register you can start studying it without any problem.
On the other hand, it is organized by type of exercise, so it should not be studied from start to finish. Within each type the exercises are ordered by difficulty, but the exercises of a later type may be simpler than those of an earlier one. It is therefore useful to be clear about what you want to study at each moment and to look for the most suitable exercise.
The method is made up of two parts: a more technical first part, with first studies, slurs, major, minor and chromatic scales, ornaments (turns, appoggiaturas, mordents, trills), advanced studies (intervals, triplets, arpeggios and cadenzas) and double and triple tonguing; and a more musical second part, with songs, duets, characteristic studies and fantasies, including the famous “Carnival of Venice”.
Shortcomings of the Arban method for tuba
Although the Arban method is very complete, there are aspects it does not cover, for which you would need other methods:
- It makes no special mention of the warm-up.
- It is not suitable for working on the extreme low register: only 9 notes in the book go down to E1, and 95% of them lie above C2.
- Nor is it suitable for the high register: only one note reaches B3, and 99% stay below G3.
- It is a 19th-century book, so there is no modern music, jazz or improvisation.
Other versions of the Arban method
To use other versions, you can visit:
- Arban for trumpet: in treble clef and with B♭ scores.
- Arban for trombone: in bass clef and with scores in C.
- Arban for euphonium: in bass clef and with scores in B♭.
PDF and copyright
Jean-Baptiste Arban’s original method is in the public domain: Arban died in 1889. The scores of this tuba version are an adaptation of the exercises made for MIDI & MusicXML Player, so you have every exercise complete in the player.
You can download the PDF of this tuba version for free: all 581 exercises, grouped by topic, with a cover, an index and the page of each one. It is in English, like the exercise names in the player, so it works the same in any language. The commercial editions for tuba (such as the Young and Jacobs one) are protected by their editors’ copyright.
Practice Arban Tuba Method with audio
Buy the Arban method for tuba
It is always a good idea to have methods in physical format (paper). Here is a complete edition for tuba, in case you want it in your library.
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