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I played concert with the Hampshire Police Band this evening. During the half-time interval while we were all drinking tea and eating cakes (as we like to do in England) an old man I guess near 80 came over to me and said how much he was enjoying hearing my tuba . He said when young he had spent several years in the USA and had enjoyed the bands then with their big tubas. He had not heard that sound for the last 50 years back home and hearing my tuba tonight brought the memories flooding back - it had made his evening! I tried to tell him that I was playing C tuba, but he said he's no musician and that meant nothing to him. He just knew the sound is special

Interesting that the BAT sound was so embedded on the mind of a non-musician! I guess it was the sound of 2xJ's, Martin Mammoths etc. he so vividly and fondly remembers?

Who said a tuba is just a tuba to non-tubists?

That is a really cool thing to hear. You sure he wasn't a real life troll?

But really, neat! Hearing something like that always makes it worth getting those big 'ol tubas!

I did a double take myself - not what one expects to hear from an old man, but that is as near as I can remember to what he said

Nice to be appreciated - and a reminder that you never knows who might be listening and the effect of ones playing!

Actually, the same thing happened to me. An older gentleman came up to the brass quintet I was playing with during intermission. He said he was enjoying the group but especially liked "the really big one". One of the trumpet players then proceeded to say, "I taught him everything he knows".

Our trop rock trio was breaking down after a four hour gig at a beachside restuarant.
I noticed two older ladies at a table upfront had dinner and lingered over drinks for the rest of the evening.
As I lifted my tuba out of it's stand, one of the ladies asked me, "Sir, what do you call that big horn you play?"
I replied, "Most folks call it a tuba but here in Alabama we call it a tuber."
She said, "Whatever it is, the sound of it makes me smile."

As most of the positive responses related here are from the "elderly" I'll share some, too. When I play in church (usually twice a month) I get the most positive feedback from seniors. They have lost a lot of hearing, mostly in the high end of the spectrum, but can still hear (or at least feel) lower frequencies. They are comforted when presented with music they can still enjoy.

Keep it up (or down) guys!

I take the Besson and volunteer for the local Salvation Army chapter for a couple of hours every Christmas season. I try to get something like a Wal-Mart, and to see the giggles on the children when I play something like "Frosty the Snowman" is priceless. Invariably they stop, tug on their parent's coat, and the parent dutifully hands the child a coin to drop in the kettle.

shinytuba7 wrote:Actually, the same thing happened to me. An older gentleman came up to the brass quintet I was playing with during intermission. He said he was enjoying the group but especially liked "the really big one". One of the trumpet players then proceeded to say, "I taught him everything he knows".

Sounds like a typical trumpet player.

Likewise, when I played a miraphone 186 for a school group, one of the older teachers asked me, "what is that instrument?" I told her that it was a tuba to which she replied, "Oh, I thought it might be. It sounded like a tuba but I thought tubas were supposed to be bigger than that."

-T

Tabor wrote:"Oh, I thought it might be. It sounded like a tuba but I thought tubas were supposed to be bigger than that."

-T

... all the girls say that.

Tabor wrote:I thought tubas were supposed to be bigger than that.

all the girls like a BAT...size matters!