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I have been told that if a player shows up at an audition in Germany with a cc tuba, they would not generally be allowed to audition. I was also told that if a player shows up to an audition here in the U.S. with a bb-flat they would not generally be allowed to audition. Without getting into a war with those who are for and/or against on both sides of the pond, who are today's great active players in Germany? I would like to compare the sound, style, etc. between them via recordings or some other means to get an idea of the differences between American and German players.

You have some incorrect info in your question. I've never heard of anyone not being allowed to audition for an American orchestra on a BBflat. That being said, I've never heard of anyone winning a full time American orchestra audition on a BBflat (at least in the past 20 years or so).

BavarianFanfare wrote:I have been told that if a player shows up at an audition in Germany with a cc tuba, they would not generally be allowed to audition. I was also told that if a player shows up to an audition here in the U.S. with a bb-flat they would not generally be allowed to audition. Without getting into a war with those who are for and/or against on both sides of the pond, who are today's great active players in Germany? I would like to compare the sound, style, etc. between them via recordings or some other means to get an idea of the differences between American and German players.

I know that Dave Glidden from the Frankfurt Radio Symphony won the job using a big CC, but the orchestra told him that if he wanted to keep the job, he would have to perform on BBb as his contrabass. He had Rudy Meinl make a great BBb for him, and that was that.

James Jenkins of the Jacksonville,Fl. Symph. Got the job when Matt Good went to Dallas.Around 1994-1995...Before that James won the Naples,Fl. job,and before that the Alabama Symph.He also finished pretty high in several other auditions.All on BBb.Rare,but it has been done.

I'm pretty sure that a lot of the reason you don't see/hear of BBb players winning these gigs is because many of the "serious" orchestral tuba players play on CC's in the US. This isn't all, but many. I'm sure this skews the stats a little.

Just my $.02

The ever famous example was Ev Gillmore in Dallas. No one DARED tell him not to play a BBb.

Tucker Jolly formerly used an Alex Kaiser BBb for his part-time orchestra stuff. That is a FUN horn, wow!

Frankly, my impression is, in the US, it doesn't make any difference WHAT you're playing, as long as it's played WELL and fits with the orchestra. If you can do that on a YBB-103, so be it.

tubashaman wrote: Im sure if Arnold Jacobs tried out on a BBb he would make it....however if he tried out on a BBb at Curtis, he would get refused....what would Arnold do?

In fact Arnold did audition at Curtis on a BBb - sort of - actually it was a Conn Eb with the 4th valve tied down and slides pulled out to make it play in tune. However, although he passed the audition, he was rejected because he was underweight. Subsequently, after his father fed him a crash diet of milk shakes and egg creams and he had put on 10 pounds in 2 weeks he was admitted - at the age of 15

tuben wrote: While I have not yet read "Song and Wind", I'm sure it is in there as well.

Yes, Song and Wind is my source