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At 5"6" in barefeet, do I hold the world record as the shortest, fully grown, adult male tubist? The average height of the tuba sections I have played with seems to be 6' . I'm starting to feel a little self conscious. Are tuba players selected by height and build at high school over musical aptitude? I might stick with the euphonium, it seems to be a more height-friendly environment for littlies like me. BTW I mainly play a Besson Sovereign EEb.

One of the first sousaphone players in my community marching band was barely 5' 2" tall - he had a very large horn - not exactly a Jumbo, but very large (and it looked even larger on him.)

Here is a picture of him from 1967.

and in a more formal group shot.

euphomate wrote:At 5"6" in barefeet, do I hold the world record as the shortest, fully grown, adult male tubist?

No.

I am 5'2 and the shortest at my college and also by considered my everyone else to be the best at my college so I think short people can play tuba just as well as taller people.

I think the average height of a male in the US is something like 5'9"...so it seems like you are not any farther from average than your 6 foot friends are!

Height matters very little in music. If you can comfortably hold the horn and have enough air to play it, that's it.

I'm 5'6" too and my repaid person is 5'2" and weights about 100 pounds soaking wet. She'll play circles around most anyone. Size only matters on a long march with a monster.

Don't forget nations and ethnicities where the average height is much less than the U.S. average. They have Sousaphonians, too, and I'll bet that some are under 5'.

Went on a brass quintet tour in Japan last christmas.

I'd say there are tons of good, adult male, tubists... that have you beaten by an easy 5-6 inches. They had some serious chops, as well.

At 5"6" in barefeet, I'm starting to feel a little self conscious.

Ahh, euphomate, I'm picking up on a range of issues here. (I'm five foot seven, heh, heh - runs away laughing).

Signed
anonymous