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I'm a sophomore in college and I'm trying to look into grad schools with well known and accomplished tuba professors to apply to in a couple of years. I know almost nothing about the tuba world/community. Any advice?

Thanks

I have a friend going through grad school studying Tuba at a good school and we had a conversation about this the other day. Here are a few schools we agreed should be pretty good (in my opinion that is) and the Tuba professor at said school:

Arizona State - Sam Pilafian
University of Indiana - Dan Perantoni
Tennessee Tech - R. Winston Morris
Penn State - Velvet Brown
University of Georgia - David Zerkel
University of North Texas - Don Little and Brian Bowman (euphonium)
Northwestern University - Rex Martin
USC- Jim Self and Doug Tornquist

Just to name a few, there are MANY good places to study.

There has been numerous posts on this subject that you can go back and find lots of information. Here is may take. What would you like to do when you are finished with school? Once you can answer that question go find which professor(s) and which school(s) are graduating people gaining employment in that line of work. This should provide you a good start in choosing a school for graduate study. Of course there are always other factors to consider such has funding, whether you get along with the teacher, etc.

I will posit that, if one wishes to make a living playing the tuba for money, the best choice for a grad school is somewhere where the tuba professor can get you some gigs playing with or subbing with real paying orchestras. There's a lot of benefit to "getting your foot in the door." And, it's an advantage a graduate student has over freelancers who often don't get the same opportunities "on a silver platter" as it were.

Thanks guys. I'll do some research and whatnot on these schools and teachers

Speaking as someone who entered graduate school this month, I would advise that the best graduate school is the one with the most desirable quality of life, the one with the curriculum you are seeking, and the one that offers you the most perks - financial support being the main perk, of course. So when I searched for graduate schools, the final candidates all were great potential homes that espoused my academic interests and philosophies. Money made the final decision, but I'd have been happy attending any of my options.

*EDIT for boneheaded typo.

I suggest looking at ITEA/Falcone competition results and making a list of all the schools/teachers listed over the past few years. You can also browse military band or orchestra resumes to see where the those players went to school. That'll give you a pretty good start.

There is no real definitive list because every scenario is different for each person. Between now and the time you decide on a school, explore different places to see which situation fits you the best.

Biggs wrote:Speaking as someone who entered graduate school this month, I would advise that the best graduate school is the one with the most desirable quality of life, the one with the curriculum you are seeking, and the one that offers you the most perks - financial support being the main perk, of course. So when I searched for graduate schools, the final candidates all were great potential homes that espoused my academic interests and philosophies were espoused. Money made the final decision, but I'd have been happy attending any of my options.

This is good advice for graduate school in any field.

I believe Mike Roylance is now teaching at Yale. Not too shabby.

Art Hovey wrote:I believe Mike Roylance is now teaching at Yale. Not too shabby.

He is, and his two students that I heard last semester while in New Haven were both very fine players.

The big question is...
What Do You Want To Do???

Classical? Commercial? Music Business? Recording Industry? Teach? Arrange? Musicology?

Seriously ask yourself that. There are a lot of schools that may be good for one or two of those things, but not the others.

THE TUBA wrote:I suggest looking at ITEA/Falcone competition results and making a list of all the schools/teachers listed over the past few years.

I "won" a falcon. He likes to dub his little bird head when I play on my tubas. Does that count?

Speak to your current teacher about this and get their advice.

Mike Milnarik

I finished an MM in 1985. My initial job search revealed that the schools were so broke, I was better off having the BA by itself. This sparked a rewarding career in an unrelated field. If you intend to teach, I would observe the schools are just as broke now as they were then. Your Bachelor's might be your best friend.

Todd S. Malicoate wrote:

Art Hovey wrote:I believe Mike Roylance is now teaching at Yale. Not too shabby.

He is, and his two students that I heard last semester while in New Haven were both very fine players.

He is a fantastic player and teacher, and teaches at Boston University and New England Conservatory as well. Speaking of 'getting your foot in the door,' Boston would be a great city for that kind of thing. Not to mention that you'd get to hear the BSO in Symphony Hall every weekend.

PWtuba wrote:

Todd S. Malicoate wrote:

Art Hovey wrote:I believe Mike Roylance is now teaching at Yale. Not too shabby.

He is, and his two students that I heard last semester while in New Haven were both very fine players.

He is a fantastic player and teacher, and teaches at Boston University and New England Conservatory as well. Speaking of 'getting your foot in the door,' Boston would be a great city for that kind of thing. Not to mention that you'd get to hear the BSO in Symphony Hall every weekend.

And you'd be at Yale, an amazing institution in ten thousand ways. My time as a master's student there (in a non-musical field) was one of the most important and formative experiences of my life. There's nothing like it.

As an alumnus of Indiana I am qualified to comment on that school. Perhaps others can comment on their own.

I did a 2 year masters during which I experienced tremendous musical growth that opened up many new career possibilities. I left, rather than stay to pursue a diploma or doctorate, because I wanted to get started on a freelance career and get out of the university system.

Most of what I did at school was prepare for orchestral auditions. Others were trying to "score" army band jobs, or were DMA candidates gunning for teaching positions. Mr. P, besides being a great technical teacher and musician, is very astute at honing the skills needed to get a job, especially in these three areas. I am not in that game any more, but the general training I got as a musician enabled me to branch out into other genres now that I'm back home in Toronto.

One thing about Indiana is it's a big school with a ton of grad students. This means there generally aren't enough assistantships to go around. I believe there were doctoral students - certainly master's students - who were paying significant tuition and racking up student debt. This struck me as unwise. Then again, Mr. P's students - and IU grads in general - tend to do well on the job market.

As far as quality of life is concerned, you are unlikely to find a more beautiful - and affordable - college town than Bloomington, Indiana. There was a bit of freelance work to be had in the surrounding area but not much. I for one am glad to be back in a big city.