new music for old instruments
outline
Jack is researching how the historical predecessors to the tuba - the serpent, ophicleide, and other bass horns - can be approached today by both performers and composers. Following the practice he established in his 2020 book publication on tuba playing techniques, he has undertaken primary source investigation of historical instruments, investigated the underlying acoustic principles behind the instruments, and created resources to enable production of new music.
His research visits have been focussed on the bass horn, various forms of low-pitched labrosone developed between ca. 1790-1860 which aim to maintain the timbral qualities of the serpent while enabling more stable chromatic tone production, better ergonomic construction, and louder volumes. This quantitative analysis of bore and tone-hole measurements aims to question the dominance of the ophicleide over other bass horns over course of the nineteenth century, as well as assessing how well their timbral characteristics were reproduced by the valved instruments that eventually succeeded them. Initial findings of these investigations will be published in 2024/25.
He has also produced guides to the playing techniques of serpent, ophicleide, and other bass horns, introducing the instrument to both curious composers, as well as performers interested in approaching these instruments separated from their historical contexts. The unique sonic resources that these instruments offer has already attracted interest from several composers, with current commissions to be premiered in 2024/25 including solo works from Jesse Ronneau, Athena Corcoran-Tadd, and Fernando Garnero, and chamber music from Henrik Denerin, Trinton Hlynn, and Ylva Lund Bergner.
He has also assessed other rare tuba predecessors, including quantitative and historical analysis of a valved ophicleide discovered at a museum in South Bohemia, and performance-based analysis of four rare bass horns that form part of the collection at St. Cecilia’s Hall at the University of Edinburgh.
publications and recordings
“The History and Future of the Tuba Family: Material-, Resonance-, and Performance-Based Perspectives,” Timbre and Orchestration Resource, 2024 [case study one]
The Playing Techniques of the Serpent and The Playing Techniques of the Ophicleide and other Bass Horn (self published), 2024
“Tubas, Tubists, and Composers: a mixed-methodological approach to performer- and composer-instrument relationships,” PhD thesis, The Royal Northern College of Music, 2023
“Historické zvuky hlubokých žesťů od vltavských břehů - raná ventilová ofiklejda od Michálka [Historical low brass sounds from near the Moldau - An early valved ophicleide by Michálek]” in Výběr [Museums of South Bohemia] 59:4 (2022) [English-language version available here]
“Brass instruments, techniques, and repertoire in the early twenty-first century” in The Oxford Handbook of Wind Instruments (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 2023 [submitted]
Documenting the low brass-wind collection at the Grassi Museum. Blog post for the North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership PhD Placement Scheme, November 2022
The Techniques of Tuba Playing / Die Spieltechnik der Tuba. Kassel: Bärenreiter, June 2020 [published in English and German, French version available here]
Recordings using a valved ophicleide discovered at a museum in South Bohemia (see article above)
Comparative recordings of one etude on a Serpent Piffault, Basson Russe, Serpent Forveille, Chromatic Bass Horn, as well as comparative bass horn recordings of Mendelssohn’s Ein Sommernachtstraum, Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, and Bellini’s Norma
Recordings of orchestral excerpts on historical instruments including a serpent, keyed and valved ophicleides, and various other forms of bass horn
Comparative recordings of orchestra excerpts on historical and commonly-used modern instruments
public presentations
April 2024: “Performance, timbre, and materiality: critical interdisciplinary perspectives on tuba family studies,” IRL Lab (Royal College of Music, Stockholm, SE)
March 2024: “All the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order: In search of sustainability at the interface of materiality, timbre, and performance practice,” Subject/Object/Practice/Place: Connecting Creatively Through the Performing Arts (L-Università ta' Malta, Valetta, MT)
June 2023: “Nineteenth-century operatic orchestration for the tuba family, and its impact on orchestral practice and vocal pedagogy,” Interdisciplinary Approaches to Opera (University of Cambridge, UK)
May 2023: “The tuba family: a mixed-methodological approach to Artistic Research in music performance,” Practice Research in 21st Century Music (University of West London, UK)
March 2023: “Artistic Research and Organology: friends or foes?,” European Platform for Artistic Research in Music (Royal Danish Academy of Music, Copenhagen, DK)
September 2022: “Looking backwards, looking forwards: a multifaceted methodological approach to tuba performance practice,” Royal Musical Association Annual Conference (University of Durham, UK)
March 2021: “Exploring nineteenth-century tuba-composer relationships,” European Platform for Artistic Research in Music (Royal Academy of Music, UK)
January 2021: “Exploring nineteenth-century tuba-composer relationships,” Historical Performance Institute Fifth Annual Conference (Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Bloomington IN, US)
field work
Jack is very grateful to have been given access to the following archival, museum, and private collections as part of this project:
Kölnisches Stadtmuseum, Cologne (DE): 07.08.2024
Music Instrument Museum, Brussels (BE), 27.05.2024
Deutsches Museum, Munich (DE): 16.-17.05.2024
Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen (DE): 19.04.2024
Scenkonstmuseet, Stockholm (SE): 11.04.2024, 01.02.2024
St. Cecilia’s Hall, Edinburgh (UK): 01.-03.04.2024, 03.-05.03.2020
Musikinstrumentenmuseum der Universität Leipzig, Leipzig (DE): 11.03.2024
Günter Hett, Bergisch Gladbach (DE): 09.-12.01.2024
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (US): 15.-18.05.2023
Městské muzeum, Týn nad Vltavou (CZ): 04.-06.01.2023