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I have given this method a little time, off and on, since I bought it long ago. I have the original edition. It seems like studies I’ve had over a long period of time always have a different meaning and effect on me when I revisit them.

This time, I’m digging deep and giving it much more time in my daily routine. The results are very positive, but the interesting part of really pulling this book apart is the insight it offers into what Roger Bobo thinks is important. I play about 30% of each study area. So, in about 30-45 minutes I get through about 75% of the material.

I love the results. Improved accuracy, more focus, and consistent tone in all registers, plus stable and solid high range. I admit that any directed and thoughtful work in these areas will improve one’s playing, but at the moment, this is jumping ahead. Plus, I just love all things Bobo… guess that’s why I’m playing his studies and a handful of solos on my new old CC184.

I highly recommend this study to anyone interested in improving skills on low brass instruments.
Editions Bim Mastering The Tuba by Roger Bobo

A blessed Thanksgiving Holiday to all!
TJ

I spent a couple summers up at Domaine Forget when he taught there. His warm-up sessions in the mornings were all based on these exercises. Taking the time to really work on each of those exercises encapsulates what made him so far and away better than anyone else before or since. He wanted to develop technical mastery such that no musical thought was out of reach. It's a simple thing to think about, but I don't know that I've heard anyone actually achieve it other than him. I still listen to his recordings all the time, and you can hear it all in there - the wide array of articulations he used, the flexibility and fluidity between notes, and his big thing - his sound wasn't always "nice." He played with timbre, and would bemoan the idea of always playing with a "beautiful" sound.

The exercises put it all within reach - he has flexibility, articulation, range extenders, breath control, dynamic contrast.

It's certainly not an end in and of itself. It's just technical. You still need to develop musically. But his theory that you couldn't have musical mastery without technical master is what jump started me into taking technical exercises much more seriously. I had always thought and been taught that if you can play the music, you're fine. But that would be like telling a baseball player if he's hitting home runs, there's no need for batting practice. It's ridiculous.

I don't do all of them every day (and Roger didn't either in the sessions), but I pick at least one per practice session to use at the beginning and end of my sessions to keep myself honest.

@Tim Jackson

I noticed you called it “Book 1.” I Googled and asked ChatGPT, but this is the only book with this title that I could find.
I used to own the book, but it was 30 years ago, and I don’t remember exactly what it was called. I want to say “Mastering the Tuba, Vol. 1,” like you said, possibly with a very light blue cover. Is there, or was there at least talk of, a book 2?

@graybach

I have "Mastering the Tuba Book 1" - Fundamental Exercises (Warm-ups) - Editions BIM with the old blue cover. I think I bought it around 25-30 years ago. The last few pages of book one lists two other books, "Mastering the Tuba Book 2" (Special Etudes by contemporary composers) and "Mastering the Tuba Book 3" (How to be your own teacher). I did not see books 2 and 3 on the Bim site today, but I assume they were published at one time since my Book one has the other two books listed.

The link below is a performance of a solo/etude from book-2. I am not sure if the original Book-2 had other etudes aside from Mr. Stevens.

I gave a quick duckduckgo search for Bobo's book and came up with only 1 hit, which notes that additional duty charges will be due at time of delivery. Amazon books says out of stock and we don't know if we can get more.

I have an old Fred Geib book copyright 1941 that is very dog eared. I bought it new in about 1975 on the instruction of Mike Russell who was my teacher at the time. It may out live me but just the same I'd like to have another method book to work on.

1 Ton Tommy wrote: Sun Nov 23, 2025 1:34 pm I gave a quick duckduckgo search for Bobo's book and came up with only 1 hit, which notes that additional duty charges will be due at time of delivery. Amazon books says out of stock and we don't know if we can get more.

I have an old Fred Geib book copyright 1941 that is very dog eared. I bought it new in about 1975 on the instruction of Mike Russell who was my teacher at the time. It may out live me but just the same I'd like to have another method book to work on.

I didn’t know of the Bobo book until I saw this post and I went looking for it as well. I even tried looking on used book sites with no luck. Hopefully they do another print. Not sure if the rights are in the Bobo estate. Estates can be weird with this type of stuff. I understand that estate issues are the hang up with getting Bill Chase’s work available again.

Seems to be in print here:

https://euphonium.com/products/bobo-mastering-the-tuba

Nemo wrote: Sun Nov 23, 2025 4:33 pm Seems to be in print here:

https://euphonium.com/products/bobo-mastering-the-tuba

I borrowed another tubist's old copy of this book, and liked it well enough to order a copy for myself. Unfortunately what I have is as pictured in the above link, and although it has a bit of new content relative to the older one I borrowed (e.g. circular breathing), it also has some blatant errors that were apparently introduced during the re-typesetting process. If you buy a copy and wonder, for example, why Bobo might claim that C♭=B♭ (transposed/concert pitch) for the euphonium, know that the first edition didn't contain this mistake. And if note progressions have weird inconsistencies, again, the first edition probably didn't contain such mistakes. I've found several errors, and there are probably many more to discover.

It's a great book, but the introduced errors are disheartening.

The version I have is in treble clef—making it playable by all brass. Was there a bass clef version released?