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Oh, Joe, you have really hit the mark with this one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Over the roughly 10 years that I have watched this board I have felt so sorry for all those aspiring young practice room virtuosos who just know THEY are going to be the next Jake, Harvey, Roger etc. etc.. So many, even IF they were to become the latest and greatest super star of the tuba world, even if not just in their own minds, would be destined to a life of frustration and possibly poverty. Then there are all those thousands who never approached the upper levels of playing ability; what for them?

I remember the first time I had an offer of a paying gig in Chicago - it was a pick up band playing at a Bratwurst Fest in the northern suburbs - no charts just pick it up by ear. When I asked jake about doing it he said do it - it would be the best lesson I ever got. How right he was! Going out playing new things with new people and having to listen and pick where the music was going and play the right notes at the right time in the right style and getting the "audience" to like what you were doing and want more forces you to REALLY learn how to play your instrument. The first time the leader said "take it tuba" and you had to play a lead line while the rest just vamped a rythm and harmony line on a tune you had never heard before was pretty damned scary.

I think the answer to your question should be "I'm gonna be flexible".

I could just about write a book on the dangers of following a narrow course toward becoming the next one to hold whatever principal tuba spot versus the benefits of listening to and playing every type of music you possibly can and even better, learning about things in the real world outside music.

We tend to 'LOVE" music and it is a very fortunate person who gets to do what he loves as a way of "making a living" but it is very unlikely to happen.

For all the brilliant, young, aspiring players here I highly recommend you take Bloke's advice and branch out and learn everything you can about as many things as you can.

You have raised a very good topic here, Joe......good on ya!

I really applaud bloke for his ability to do a bunch of different things to survive the music business. I made a decision in 1975 that put me down an entirely different road than he. I left the music business for a job in the business world. I just did not see a financial future for me in music for lots of reasons. A friend of mine once wrote in his bio, "I am fortunate to have a good job that feeds my family, but music feeds my soul." I too play for me and me alone. I don't give a flyin' rip if somebody wants to pay me, or even listen, much less applaud. I am fortunate to have found four other folks who feel likewise. A two hour quintet rehearsal is an absolute joy. My gig checks either go to charity, to buy music or pay for horns(repairs). I am certain that the things bloke forsees about the music business will come about. I fear even worse things will happen to suck the very life out of classical music as we know it. I own enough paper music to last my lifetime and I'll be off in a corner somewhere playing it just for me, even if it has to be by myself.

What a wonderful posting, Bloke!

In the Spring of 1979, I was sure that I was on the verge of a symphony career as I was graduating with my performance degree. I traveled to the only orchestral audition offered that late Spring, and found that I was auditioning against 75 others, from Curtis, Julliard, IU, Eastman, North Texas, even a guy from Hawaii for an orchestral position that DID NOT offer a living wage.

The long drive back home gave me a lot of thinking time. My teacher suggested that I audition for a military band, the US Army offered me the best contract, and I had a career. In the military, I found that to be a cutting-edge musician in demand, not only did you need to be able to read like crazy (both traditional notation and chord charts), but you needed to have "big ears" and be able to pull off crazy feats, like Bloke's educational concert replete with Michael Jackson tunes. I played on duty, off-duty, basically anything that was offered to me. I spent serious time on bass trombone, euphonium, string bass and electric bass as needed. Your employer will find you to be valuable indeed if they can call you at the last minute and you can play whatever they need. When the Sergeant Major of the US Army, Europe, Band in Heidelberg, Germany called me into his office one afternoon, said that the regular bass player for the stage band had just been admitted to the hospital, and that I had two days to be ready to go on tour with the stage band as the bass player, I was determined not to let him, or the ensemble down. I found that sort of challenge to be exciting, if a bit scary.

The best-paying jobs I ever had while in Atlanta involved playing tenor trombone in the top corporate/wedding/Bar/Bat Mitzvah rock band in town. On these gigs, the alto sax player, trumpet player and I would sometimes have written individual parts, but more often than not we would all be reading from one part, concert pitch treble clef, and I would be playing the lower notes, or there would be no sheet music at all.

There has been a small place for tuba solos in my career. They were just the cherry on top of the sundae, but did not figure in as a significant portion of the meal. Tuba solos are fun, but not profitable.

When I graduated with my undergrad degree, my teacher said, "Do you wonder why I've given you living Hell for the past two years? I did not intend to let you graduate unless I felt that you really could succeed as a professional musician." My teacher went on to tell me that he had had the conversation with some of his peers at other universities, asking them how they justified sending scores of music performance majors out with degrees when the potential for employment as professional musicans just was not there. Their reply was that they were merely responsible for providing the education, and felt no responsibility past that. I hope that young readers take note, think hard about this, and have teachers who will tell you the truth.

Lee Stofer wrote:My teacher went on to tell me that he had had the conversation with some of his peers at other universities, asking them how they justified sending scores of music performance majors out with degrees when the potential for employment as professional musicans just was not there. Their reply was that they were merely responsible for providing the education, and felt no responsibility past that. I hope that young readers take note, think hard about this, and have teachers who will tell you the truth.

I don't see how anyone with any concept of morals can do this. Of the two serious music majors I have had since starting Trevecca, one was a music ed major and the other commercial music/music business. Both of these guys have plenty of job options. Unless I had a kid who was incredibly gifted, I would not steer him down the performance-only route.