The realities of the "tuba job market" - great article

[ghmerrill]

My guess would be that it did - phpBB is widely used, and this is a real weird error. I would also guess that no matter how long ago that was, you were running a more recent version than we're running here, but that's just a guess, I don't see anything about it in the page source. Do you know how to tell what version we have?

That was my guess as well. I don't think there's any way to tell what version it's running just from what we can see. However, I do notice that in the page source there's a comment about it's being edited on April 28, 2008. If that's an indication of the version that's being run (it may not be), then it's an earlier version.

Not surprising. Updates are something of a pain -- especially if you're using any of the generally available mods or, particularly, if you're using any local mods (like maybe to support sponsors, etc.). In the year I ran mine (for a community band), I avoided any modes except for some simple header graphics. Alas, while I liked phpBB a lot (and a number of the band members did), the forum technology was just too much for the particular organization to which it was being offered. I have retreated to a Mailman listserv. It works.

By the way -- since/if I have people's attention: Anyone know what's happened to Dave Werden's tuba/euph site? It seems to have totally disappeared for several days now. Looks like some sort of catastrophic failure may have occurred. I'm missing it.

[Dylan King]

In college at UCLA I had my mind set on being an orchestral tubist. I was going to get the BIG job, or die trying. I showed a lot of promise in high school, and even in college I had plenty of encouragement from my elders in the professional world. Teachers, directors, and the like all told me that I could do it.

Probably the best teacher of any subject up until then was Tommy Johnson. He also encouraged me, and sincerely believed that I had a good shot at becoming an orchestral tubist, despite the huge amount of competition. But he also worked with me every week on my other talents, and now over twenty years later, I can say that his advise paid off.

Tommy encouraged me to branch out and not just focus on "classical" or "legit" playing. He also encouraged me to keep up my interest in other brass instruments, rock instruments, and the like. I started to gig more and more in LA, and even record--but much of the time the work was in jazz bands, experimental rock bands, and then on other instruments that I excelled at. He encouraged me to continue my pursuit of film scoring, which eventually landed a career in...

Well, I took those skills and applied them to film-making, as a producer, director, editor, and composer. I ended up switching careers, but staying creative. I took my favorite "hobby" of film-making and made a career of that, while my profession of tubist slowly fizzled out when real success came from the "hobby". I still make money making music, but rarely from playing the tuba, other than my YouTube revenue. That's another story...

I enjoy making music much more now than I did back when I was struggling to be somebody in the tuba world. There is too much pressure, and the article is right, way too much competition to seriously devote oneself to winning a life-sustaining tuba spot in an orchestra. There are alternative ways to make a living with music, and one can still enjoy a huge piece of brass on their lap without playing the audition game--if there is an audition available. Tuba players these days have to think outside the box and look for others ways to express themselves musically and make a living. It's getting more and more difficult to get paid to play anyway. People are staying home and streaming their entertainment these days.

I have a friend in LA who plays trumpet as well as anyone. He has played on soundtracks and subbed with the LA Phil on trumpet, but makes his living playing viola. His parents knew that he would have a much better shot at success if he took up viola while learning trumpet, and as it turns out, he is an amazing violist too. There are many more opportunities for a good violist in LA than a good trumpeter. That's just the way it goes. He saw that opportunity and grabbed it. It paid off--despite having to read alto clef every day.

[Three Valves]

Fortunately, I caught on to myself!!