Why do we play the tuba?

[Mark E. Chachich]

sound!

When I used to teach tuba I would tell my students if you want to be the star and in the spotlight, switch instruments now. If you want to be the foundation of the group and have great and wonderful harmonies built on your sound, you have come to the right place. I would also be very clear that the rhythm depends on the tuba line being correct and on time. These are the reasons that I picked tuba and that the tuba picked me.

Mark

[TubaRay]

sound!

When I used to teach tuba I would tell my students if you want to be the star and in the spotlight, switch instruments now. If you want to be the foundation of the group and have great and wonderful harmonies built on your sound, you have come to the right place. I would also be very clear that the rhythm depends on the tuba line being correct and on time. These are the reasons that I picked tuba and that the tuba picked me.

Mark

Although these are not the reasons I picked the tuba(and I did pick it), they eloquently speak of what keeps most of us coming back for more. As for me, I don't need to be the star. I am quite happy knowing that I have a major impact on the finished product. I was very lucky to have chosen to play tuba. I chose it because they looked so cool when they marched by in our small town's annual parade. Hey! I was eleven years old at the time. What do you expect?

[Dylan King]

Tuba gets me high.

[Will]

I began on trumpet in sixth grade. But my hopes of being a virtuoso trumpet player were crushed once I got braces. I was then moved to baritone. I only played tuba because we had a need for it, from playing sousaphone my SEVENTH grade year in the high school marching band to playing tuba, euphonium, and trombone in our concert band (very small, mind you) my senior year. Actually, I didn't decide to pursue a college degree on tuba (I was debating over that and euph and trombone) until 2 months before my audition! And I'm glad I did it.


-heads

[Kevin Hendrick]

I just moved to Alabama this year, and i want to join the marching band. Tryouts are this Monday... i just know i will do awful. but we'll see.

I'm betting you'll do just fine!

i was all set up to play the basson when i spotted this huge hunk of shimmering metallic glory. I was all, "can i try THAT?" and the lady just laughed at me.

Glad you didn't let her dampen your enthusiasm

... if i make band here in Auburn, i will be the first female tuba player in the history of Auburn High School. crazy, huh?

Sounds great to me -- go for it!

[MichaelDenney]

A typical little boy, I liked everything that was big--bulldozers, trucks, oil field equipment, tubas. The sound was big too--one of the few things louder than a little boy. And tubas are beautiful shiny objects as well as big ones. So it was the natural choice for me.

[Leland]

I had already been playing trombone and baritone since 5th grade, and while starting my junior year of high school, my mom asked if I would like to join her in the brass quintet at church. At the time, they had two trumpets, a French horn (my mom), and two trombones. We borrowed an extra tuba from the neighborhood high school, I started taking it to quintet rehearsals, and that, as they say, was that.

I never played tuba in high school, although I did baritone during my junior year, mainly because I had started marching bari in drum corps the summer before. In corps, I switched to contra in my second corps season (between junior & senior HS years) because we needed someone to do it. I marched one more season of school band on trombone, then graduated, and I've marched only sousaphone or contrabass ever since.

Occasionally, I played euph in college, and during 6 of my 7 years, I was in the trombone section in jazz band. But, as everyone else keeps saying, it's the sound that still has me declaring tuba/contra as my primary instrument.

Funny how my formative tuba experiences were a church brass quintet (complete with pipe organ) and drum corps.

[Benjamin]

I was in the 5th grade and the Band directer from the middle school came down to our elementry school. I seen the Tuba and heard him play some notes and I know that is what I wanted to play.

[TubaRay]

For the chicks...

Me, too! When will they start coming around? I've been playing tuba since I was 12. I know it's only a question of time.