Eduard Tubin Double Bass Concerto

[philopadaumus]

Ok So I'm really new to the bass but learning very quick. I admire Tubin's double bass concerto that I had to find this piece of music. The problem is that it's written for orchestral strings and not solo tuning, and is an octave lower than what I hear in videos of other people playing it. The problem is that some of the notes seem to fall below the "E" string. It might be a silly question but: What do bassist do when the occurs? If I play it an octave higher it just doesn't sound right!!

 

[Lynn Seaton]

Solo tuning is one step higher usually (F#, B, E, A). The bass parts are written in orchestral tuning to read it normally, but it sounds up a whole step. The accompaniment is written up a whole step to match the tuning of the bass. I am not familiar with the concerto, but it is possible that the concerto was written with an "8va" marking which means to play it up an octave. Some bassists find it easier to do that than read a bunch of lines above the staff. Some music is written in treble clef, and some is in tenor clef. I hope that helps.