What to start Tubists on

[djwesp]

Musical excellence on a Baritone, Euphonium, Eb Tuba, BBb Tuba, Trumpet---- is musical excellence.


Starting on any of the above instruments presents different difficulties. The main thing to be instilled is theory, the work ethic to become a good musician, and the other rounded tools you must have to excel.


As a beginner, you are gathering a lot of information that forms the musician you become. In my opinion, the size of the instrument in front of you has little to do with theory, general pedagogy, and work ethic.

[LoyalTubist]

I am still a strong believer in Eb tubas for those who started on trumpet. It makes it easy for the player to read bass clef. The student can spend a year or two on Eb, then switch to BBb. It's what I did and it worked out great.

The problem is that there are not that many inexpensive NEW Eb tubas on the market.

[Art Hovey]

I am amused by your phrase "there is a trend". My father always started kids on Eb tuba and switched them to BBb when they were big enough. I went through that myself, and so did he. The difference was that he made the switch at 18, and never lost his Eb fingerings. I switched at age 12, and promptly forgot mine. Today there are small BBb tubas that are well-suited to beginners. I am now giving lessons to a kid who started out on euphonium and now plays both euph and BBb tuba equally well in his sixth-grade band.
Eb tubas have become almost extinct in schools around here, but I have seen small BBb Yamahas in their styrofoam cases stacked so high in school instrument rooms that the cases were crushed.
The main purpose of starting a kid on Eb tuba seems to be that it makes the switch from trumpet or clarinet easy in terms of reading. I know a former clarinetist who has been playing Eb tuba very nicely in community bands for 30 years or more but still hasn't bothered to learn the note names in bass clef.

[Dan Schultz]

there is a trend on starting on Eb tuba and switching to BBb.

Who in the United States has got Eb tubas these days?.... unless they are old 'beaters' left over from the 50's? There was a day when most ALL tuba players started out on Eb tubas but them days have been gone for a long, long time.

[Eric B]

My Instrumental Methods professor ripped me for proposing that tuba players start on euphonium. I failed my first test because of my "original" thinking. The text book we used in that class was written by that professor. From that moment on, I decided it would be wise to not "think" for myself. Regurgitating his content was the way to go. I pulled a B in the class despite the disastrous first exam.

[iiipopes]

If the option to start on Eb for junior high existed in my school, there is a good chance I would have started earlier than as a freshman on a souzy, and probably would have stuck with it.

The way tuba was started in 5th grade in my school was to start a student on the elementary tuba book, but actually playing on euph playing the pitches up an octave. As soon as the student was of sufficient physical stature to handle a tuba, or in my school's case King fiberglass souzys, then the switch was made. What had to be adapted was the embouchure and the sound down an octave, but the fingerings stayed the same, of course. All the tuba players I knew that started that way were very proficient by the time they reached high school, and none seemed "screwed up" or disoriented from the change in octave in pitch to the embouchure.

[SplatterTone]

For a grade school kid, I think a euphonium would be the equivalent of a tuba to an adult. It would be easier on the school budget too.

[ken k]

it all depends on the kid. i have started elementary kids who have been fine on a small BBb tuba (small Yamaha YBB103). i have them take the samll yamaha home and they use a sousaphone on a Wenger chair at school. i prefer to use the sousas at school so I can hear them in band. I can never hear them with the small upright bell tuba. their sound gets lost, but with the sousaphone it never gets lost.

Then again, I have also tried to get some kids to play and they can't play lower than a second line Bb, even after weeks of working at it. So then I put them on a baritone or trombone.

I think starting kids on an Eb tuba would be a very good way to go. It is also an easy switch for a trumpet player, since it reads like treble clef, the only problem being they probably never learn what note they are actually playing.

ken k