the first sound you ever made on the tuba...??

[Ace]

That's great nostalgia. Interesting post.

I started on a bugle and then a cornet at age 11. That same year 1947, my first note played on a bass was on my southern California high school's really old and beat-up Czech Sousaphone. It was covered with dents, and the four rotary valves were very slow. It had a green patina. It was a heavy instrument for a seventh grader like me. The first sound was like a mule f-rt. The second sound vaguely resembled something musical. Then, I found a note to center on-----an F. Interestingly, an Indiana State grad who had played Sousaphone in their football band was visiting the neighbors, and he heard me practicing in my Dad's backyard wood shop. He came over and asked if he could try the horn. It had been 35 years since he had played and he sounded really bad. He promptly gave up, and said it had been "too long ago". I continued trumpet playing through school, college, and Army. Never played another note on tuba again until 1990's when I purchased a used MW CC tuba. It was a glorious introduction to the wonderful world of orchestral tuba playing. Tubas are addictive!

Ace

[WessCollette]

I have an Uncle that is 5 years older than I am. He was a good uncle to me and I always thought he was the coolest. So happened he played tuba, so I wanted to do the same. During tryouts at the end of the 5th grade, I went in knowing I wanted to play tuba. The band director tried to talk me in to starting on baritone. I said tuba or nothing.

6th grade starting, I would say an F or Bb would probably be the first notes played correctly. One think I vividly remember was cheating on the fingerings for the first playing test we had, which was the Bb scale. We were supposed to play from memory, but I just left the book on my stand. Not even sure if anyone else did that as well.

[EdFirth]

As a fifth grader in Croydon, Pa. I had always wanted to play trombone but our family finances were at the breaking point and you had to rent one to play so when the band director came to my class and announced that he wanted "someone big to play in the band" my hand shot right up. He took me to his office and introduced me to a sousaphone which he allowed me to take home. No book, no fingering chart, just the horn. When we returned home I commenced to torture the neighbors by trying to play along with The Flintstones and the radio. The first sound was probably an Eb below the staff as it was an Eb sousaphone. But once I started hearing the sound I was hooked.Ed

[anotherjtm2]

I did one of those student pick-up band things (all region, maybe?) with Col. Gabriel. He left quite an impression. Unfortunately, I was still in middle school (on bassoon); I'm sure the high school band had an even better time.

...
I had been finding the trumpet to be easy enough, and was (per typical of trumpet players) engaging in "high note" contests with another kid. ... As a joke, my high-note-contest buddy announced, "bloke will do it!" (Those things were brownish and dirty, and the "school" mouthpieces were disgusting.) Following along with the joke, I chimed in "Sure! I'll do it! (thinking that the band director would want me to stay with the trumpet, as I was coming along pretty well).

...but no...He said, "Good !"
...

Marty Erickson wrote a piece where he explains why you don't want to fill your tuba section with the weakest trumpet players. He starts with this:

Let's look at the qualities you want in a good tuba player. The essential qualities are these:
1 - Full, rich tone quality
2 - An excellent sense of pitch
3 - Superb sense of rhythm
4 - Clarity of purpose and focus
5 - An independent, self-assured, take-charge type of person

The rest is at https://www.dansr.com/wick/resources/wh ... ch-to-tuba.

[Charlie C Chowder]

I also started on the trombone. Not a good choice as I still am too short for the bone. With many trombone players who were taller then me, my inability to reach sixth and seventh positions always put me near last chair. I some how put a pin size dent in my slide and decided not to take band in the seventh grade. But the director talked me into going back and was me on a sousaphone chair. My feet did not even reach the floor. During the small earth quack we had that year my feet just swung beneath me as the room and chair shook. But I could now play all of the notes with the valves of the sousaphone. I did was one of only two sousaphones and quickly out played the other for first chair. But he was the typical big dumb kid so it was not hard. Thank you Mr. Marshal!

How much I would have miss out on if you did not sit me in the big green chair.
CCC

[acemorgan]

Starting out on higher brass seems to be a theme, here. I began playing cornet in 7th grade. I played cornet because my family had one. We had one because my brother had played it for maybe a year. I was frustrated because the cool guys had trumpets. And yes, it was guys because this was 1967.

I remained a mediocre cornet player until my freshman year of high school. A friend suggested I had the right mouth for bass. I had been consigned to beginning band, despite having been first chair in grade school (low bar). So spending that class period sitting in a practice room alone with an exotic sousaphone, while everyone else was playing ensemble scales and arpeggios, was a delight.

First sound? I know I aimed for low middle--the mental target of about second treble line G if I had been on cornet. Since there was a piano in the practice room (which I literal!y used as a music stand, sitting on the bench with the sousaphone on my shoulder, left hand on the keys) I could check pitch regularly. I know for a fact my first note was F2, which for the next 50 years became the first note I played anytime I held a new (to me) tuba. I distinctly remember the feeling of aiming for what would have been a comfortable cornet G, and hearing this low powerful F. Clef "culture shock." And I remember it being a decent sound, and knowing I had found the right instrument.

[Rick Denney]

The announcement over the PA on the first day of 7th grade (the first grade in the Houston junior high schools of the day): "Anyone interested in joining the beginner band should report to the band room tomorrow after school. Please bring a parent."

I don't know why I heeded the announcement, but I did.

My older sister had played 'cello, the pin of which, even retracted, had poked a hole in the door upholstery of my mother's beloved 1963 Valiant. My mother, therefore, accompanied me to the band room with a Purpose: Something small, preferably a flute. That Irresistable Force entered the band room and ran right into the Immovable Object, Miss Bette Pruden, the band director at my school (RIP--but one of the great hires of the great Ed Trongoni, who created an astounding music program in Houston schools in the 60's and 70's, culminating in the renowned High School for the Performing and Visual Arts). At age 11 or 12, I was already tall and large, and had wide lips. Miss Pruden started the manipulation machine immediately. "What do you want to play?"

"Uh, I dunno."

"Well, have you ever played a brass instrument?"

"No."

My mother interjected: "How big are those?"

"This trombone is fun to play. Here's how you hold it. Now, see if you can make a sound on it." (1-second demonstration of buzzing one's lips.)

RRRRIRRIRIIRRYYYRYRYRRRR!!!!! (Laughter from all.)

What followed was a focused, five-minute description of how to make a sound on a brass instrument--air, pitch, buzz, firm corners, big breath, warm and slow air--all of it. And during that "lesson", she was edging me over to their pride and joy, a nearly new King fiberglass sousaphone in a comfortable Wenger chair (as opposed to the ugly Conns in the ugly and uncomfortable Conn chair). "Try this one."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"You are a natural bass horn player." (Like in Memphis, the word "tuba" didn't exist--it was a bass horn no matter what its shape, just as the half-size version was a baritone without the option.)

My mother again, somewhat panicked: "Nooooooooo!"

Me: "This is neat!" (One reason I was never popular with the girls at that age.)

So: September 1, 1970, was the day I made my first sound on a tuba. 50 years ago in a month, and I still haven't learned how to play it.

Rick "and now degrading faster than improving" Denney

[anotherjtm2]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"You are a natural bass horn player." (Like in Memphis, the word "tuba" didn't exist--it was a bass horn no matter what its shape, just as the half-size version was a baritone without the option.)

My mother again, somewhat panicked: "Nooooooooo!"

At least she didn't need to carry it around in her car (the first year, anyway), right?

[Rick Denney]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"You are a natural bass horn player." (Like in Memphis, the word "tuba" didn't exist--it was a bass horn no matter what its shape, just as the half-size version was a baritone without the option.)

My mother again, somewhat panicked: "Nooooooooo!"

At least she didn't need to carry it around in her car (the first year, anyway), right?

Sure she did. At 12, I didn't have a license, let alone a car. And, unlike Bloke, I took my instrument home to practice every day.

We lived three miles from that school, along the busiest arterial streets in Houston, which were congested even in those days. We didn't have bus service, so parents of kids in my neighborhood had to drive their kids to school.

Rick "not that it did any good" Denney

[anotherjtm2]

Sure she did. At 12, I didn't have a license, let alone a car. And, unlike Bloke, I took my instrument home to practice every day.

That's dedication.

The reason I have a silver (currently gunmetal grey) Conn sousaphone is that my younger brother asked the high school if they had any spares for home practice horns. The marching horns were fiberglass so they sent the old Conn home with him. By the time he graduated, they didn't want it back. (I'm a bad enough brother I don't remember what he did in middle school).

I played more sensibly sized instruments, and since bass was just my football horn, I found ways to practice enough at school.

[grayax]

I didn't start until my junior year in high school after the tuba player quit. Having played euphonium the year before, I didn't sound terrible.

My five year old daughter played my Eb with a Helleberg 7C and sounded decent on an Eb in the staff. She has also sounded decent with my PT-36 on my 1241.

[iiipopes]

I started as a freshman in high school assuredly relegated to the bottom of the trumpet section as only one more freshman black spot (color of the uniform) on the field. Then the director said that he needed volunteers for marching sousaphone to replace the seniors who had graduated. He brought one out and explained its purpose. I thought, hey, with that big bell, they will see me! And I volunteered. The first song had a lot of open bottom of the staff F's in it, which was good, because, oh, boy, did it take effort to relax and re-form my embouchure to tuba from trumpet. And yes, it sounded wheezy at the start. But I practiced and practiced, and a week later was marching my first half-time show. Yes, they did see me!

Over the years, I got a small scholarship to college to play tuba in the band; in grad school I showed up the music majors on the marching field at Mizzou with a standing ovation from the rest of the band playing a part perfectly they could not play, and many other fun times supporting ensembles, all beyond the scope of this thread.

[Birdo]

The rest is at https://www.dansr.com/wick/resources/wh ... ch-to-tuba.

My HS BD was definitely on the “flute players make great low brass players” train. Though at the time I wasn’t entirely sure if part of the reason was because we had about 25 flute players (...including me). I didn’t make the jump then, but I did develop a great appreciation for countermelody and basslines.

After taking a decade off post-college, I restarted band life and self-taught euphonium to take my mind off a difficult family tragedy. A few years later I was filling in for a friend in a band that really needed a tuba player. I just...felt the tug on my heart to help out. I learned the basics of euph pretty fast. Tuba can’t be THAT much harder. So I offered to play if someone had connections and could provide an instrument. I started on a school-owned King with a detachable bell and four valves that 5’4” me could barely reach (I’ve since moved on to something much less cumbersome). One of the other members was a retired band teacher and on Day 1 he took me aside for a crash course.

Him: Okay so you already know how brass instruments work. We’ll go straight to trying a Bb scale note by note. So relax and try to play the lowest note you can.

Me: (Alright...relax...relax. Channel your pedal Bb energy. You can do this.) *inhale* Oooooooooooom (Heeeey! That’s WAY better than I was expecting! I CAN do this!)

Him: Nice! That was a good F!

Me: *eye widen with a tiny amount of terror* ...That was an F?

Him: Yes.

Thankfully the second attempt WAS a Bb.

[Paul Scott]

On an Eb tuba, my first sound was Bb on the bass clef staff. And the next was low Eb. I can remember things from nearly 50 years ago but I can't remember last month!

[tadawson]

I can't recall exactly (It's been since 1975 - 46 years . . ) but I'm certain that somewhere, a Wildebeest was offended . . .

(First brass instrument I ever touched - it wasn't pretty!)