How did you get started playing tuba?

docpugh · Post by **docpugh** » Sun Apr 04, 2004 2:46 pm

I'd be interested to hear everyone's stories about how they got started playing tuba.

I started playing tuba in the 7th grade. Our middle school band didn't have a tuba player. The band director made a desperate plea for someone to try it. Everyone's reaction was the same: "what dork are we gonna get to play that thing!" It was a huge King BBb with bell front sitting in the back of the band room in a stand smelling all musty. I eventually volunteered for it, like it was my civic duty or something to save our middle school band from having no tuba. I was OK on trumpet, 2nd chair, but asked if I could try it. The band director was a little hesitant at first, giving up his second chair trumpet for the tuba. I guess he was hoping for some slacky woodwind to do it. Anyway, he was at wits end for a tuba player and said he'd let me do it. By this point I think he was ready to bring in his grandmother to do it. I took some lessons with him during his planning period, starting out with the Rubank beginner methods. It really seemed to click for me. The rest is history.

What about the rest of you?

phoenix · Post by **phoenix** » Sun Apr 04, 2004 3:02 pm

Started in 4th grade. I was a big kid and I thought the instrument sounded awesome, just the way it resonated through the room in which I first heard it. I told the band director and he wents nuts knowing he was getting a tuba in an elementary band! So far, I am an accomplished musician on tuba, making All-State two years in a row, last being ranked first. Okay, enough bragging. But yea just an awesome instrument!!!!!

Brett Miller
Student, North Penn High School
TUBA ROCKS!!!!

Lew · Post by **Lew** » Sun Apr 04, 2004 3:19 pm

I started playing cello in 4th grade. For some reason in my family it wasn't a question of whether we were going to play an instrument, but what instrument. I remember picking cello because I liked the sound and because I didn't want to play a wind instrument because I had mild asthma. I played cello in a local youth symphony and in the elementary and middle school orchestras.

As I approached the end of 8th grade I realized that the high school didn't have an orchestra, so if I wanted to play in a group in school I would have to take up a band instrument. Tuba was a natural because I already knew bass clef from cello, because I was over 6' tall by then, and because the band always needed one. I took lessons with the band director on a fiberglass sousaphone over the summer and was one of 2 tuba players in the band that Fall, although we had 6 sousaphone players in the marching band consisting of 2 tuba players, and French horn, clarinet, and sax players. I continued to play both cello and tuba through high school, but haven't touched a cello since.

Paul S · Post by **Paul S** » Sun Apr 04, 2004 4:28 pm

docpugh wrote:I'd be interested to hear everyone's stories about how they got started playing tuba. It really seemed to click for me. The rest is history. What about the rest of you?

I started out on cornet and played that for three years in elementary school. Although I was pretty fair and one of the "firsts" we were overly blessed with Cornets and trumpets and yet had no tuba player in my Junior High ensemble. I volunteered because I loved the thought that I would get the chance to do the special tuba strut and bell bows that the section did if I eventually made it into the Sr. High Marching band.

Coming from Ohio, I was also indoctrinated each Fall with how a Tuba/Sousaphone player dotted the I in script Ohio, so my path was clear. Unfortunately I ended up marching as a cornet player my sophomore year as our all brass marching band had only four Sousaphones but five players, with me being the only one who was proficient enough to play something else. It did make for a pleasant memory though.

I marched cornet that Fall, played concert tuba in the Winter (when another player went back to string bass) and then after getting Superior rating at State Solo contest on tuba, I also took first chair tuba at District as a Sophomore. I can still remember the looks from the other tubists in the District that year when they asked what brand horn I marched with and I said... â€œOh I march cornet...â€

Leland · Post by **Leland** » Sun Apr 04, 2004 5:14 pm

I'm expecting a lot of, "I started on (instrument other than tuba) ..." statements.. lol

When 5th grade was right around the corner, my parents (mom plays French horn, dad plays drums) asked if I wanted to play an instrument, and I told them that I wanted to play trombone. I liked the sound, and really liked the slide and all the noises that it could make.

My uncle played trombone in college, and would still play his alma mater's fight song in the front yard when they scored a touchdown. He brought out his horn, show me how to move the slide without dropping it, showed me how to buzz, and sent me off to grandma's basement to start honking away. THAT was fun -- I made all sorts of racket!

I stuck with that through high school, which started for us in 10th grade. After my first season of marching band, my dad said, "You really seem to like this marching thing. There's a drum corps in town, and one of my friends from work has a couple kids marching there. Would you want to give it a shot?" Sure, sounded like fun, especially since I had seen my first DCI broadcast (1986) just weeks beforehand. So, I started doing the corps thing, playing baritone for my first season, learning how to use valves & how to read treble clef.

This is where my memory gets foggy -- I was heavily encouraged to play contrabass for my second season of drum corps (and never marched bari after that), and at about the same time, I started playing tuba in the brass group at church, of which my mom had been a member since maybe the late 70's or early 80's.

However it worked out, my formative years on tuba (well, bass brass) were in corps and in a church quintet that played alongside a real live pipe organ. I didn't play tuba in concert band until I went back to college in 1993 (actually, I played euph in 93-94 because we were pretty shorthanded), but looking back, I think I turned out OK. I got a lot of training in trying to achieve section unity through corps, and a combination of individual phrasing & responsibility, plus emulating a pipe organ, through the brass quintet.

ANYWAYS, there's my story. So far, anyway.

drandomtubas · Post by **drandomtubas** » Sun Apr 04, 2004 5:25 pm

I started playing flute in fifth grade, but I didn't particularly like it...but was one of the better twenty-five flutes. At the end of seventh grade, when my band teacher begged to get some low brass... and I offered to take up tuba... I had two lessons that summer, and then started band... didn't find out until two months later that my really ugly (old! ) tuba was an Eb, so I had to relearn fingerings, and then I went through four other really... naaasty tubas... anyways, I didn't really like it until last year ( 10th grade) and now I'm in love with tubas.

Dan Schultz · Post by **Dan Schultz** » Sun Apr 04, 2004 5:42 pm

I was late signing up for band and all the cool stuff was already taken!

RRW · Post by **RRW** » Sun Apr 04, 2004 5:58 pm

Tom B. · Post by **Tom B.** » Sun Apr 04, 2004 7:13 pm

I played piano from 3rd grade until 7th grade, and quit when the eldest of my younger sisters started showing me up on a regular basis. My dad had been forced to play baritone saxophone and had always wished he had played French Horn, so he "strongly encouraged" me, as well as all three of my younger sisters, to take up that instrument in school. That started in 6th grade, was tons of fun, and none of my sisters were able to catch me on that one--although my second sister will dispute that. I continued French Horn through college and it was a great experience, especially the brass quintet I played in.

Then I had to get serious about the career for about a decade, and quit doing anything musically--sad years. When I popped out of that, I looked around for an instrument to play. I wanted to be in a group, and where I lived, French Horn didn't seem like the best choice. So at age 31, I bought an electric bass, took a few lessons, and a couple years later, I was playing in a wedding band. My appreciation of those low notes grew steadily, and as I got a little more proficient, I started listening to more jazz, and started learning to play it.

Then I moved to a great little community with some amazing players of all ilks. A local jazz guitar player encouraged me to consider the upright bass. My wife surprised me on my 47th birthday with an upright bass, and once again, I was in lessons. One thing I noticed about that instrument--compared with French Horn, and even the electric bass--you can actually feel the natural vibrations of the instrument. And it seems to leave you with a very good feeling when you finally put it down. I liked that.

Last summer I visited my oldest sister out in Utah, and she dragged me along to a rehearsal. There she was--the sister who played piano better than me, and never worked at French Horn, playing the French Horn in a brass quintet! And to add insult to injury, they were playing the Ewald Quintet, and they were playing it well!

That was it. I couldn't stand it. I missed that brass literature, as well as the band literature, just too much. I started "lurking" on Tubenet and learning everything I could about tuba. It was the instrument I wanted to play, and I just needed to figure out the best way to go about doing it.

In January, after spotting a CC tuba for sale on this site (many of the same fingerings as French Horn), I made the big purchase. I also bought an Arban's method (after reading about it on this site), and started taking lessons from a very good teacher (after reading about him on this site). So at age 50, I'm 3 months into playing the tuba. It's a gas. It fills me with good vibrations, both literally and figuratively. I've set my sights on the city band this summer, and we're forming a brass quintet at church. I'm not going to retire the upright bass anytime soon, because I love that too, but this new avenue is bringing me a delight I haven't experienced since college.

Dan Schultz · Post by **Dan Schultz** » Sun Apr 04, 2004 8:10 pm

Cheryl wrote:I had played the flue for 2 years and happily volunteered to switch to the tuba in 7th grade so I could sit closer to my big-time crush, a percussionist in the back row.

Well.... did you make beautiful music together?

tubaspmcc · Post by **tubaspmcc** » Sun Apr 04, 2004 11:49 pm

I'm expecting a lot of, "I started on (instrument other than tuba) ..." statements.. lol

"I too started on piano", off and on, from ages 6-12. After quitting due to a dislike of the teacher, I came into contact with my local brass band wanting to take up music again. The Band Director of the day pointed to the big case against the wall, and told me that was what I was to learn. It was the best choice I never made!!

Six months later, I was playing with the learner band, and a further six months down the track and I was with the senior band.

Five years later whilst in another degree, I finally decided to take the instrument seriously. I contacted our local Orchestral pro and was soon in a performance degree.

numbnutstubist · Post by **numbnutstubist** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 12:22 am

Well, I was playing the bass clarinet in my high school concert band and I was outblowing the tuba section, so at the end of my freshman year, the director tells me that he can't have a bass clarinetist outblowing the tuba section and that the two senior tubists were graduating the following year. So, he asked me to give tuba a try.

That's my wierd story.

Rick Denney · Post by **Rick Denney** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 3:53 pm

docpugh wrote:I'd be interested to hear everyone's stories about how they got started playing tuba.

On my first day in the 7th grade, which was my first day in Junior High School, I heard the announcement over the public-address system: "Anyone who is interested in joining the band should report to the band hall at 3:00 PM tomorrow afternoon with a parent."

I don't know why I listened, and I don't know why I went. My feet just took me there.

My mother came as required, with the sole intention of steering me to an instrument that would easily fit in the car. My sister had played 'cello, and the pin rest had punched a hole in the upholstered door covering on our Plymouth Valiant. Mom did not want that to happen again.

The band director had a different objective. She took one look at me--largish, full-lipped, dull-witted--and decided I'd be her next tuba player. But she had a plan. I had no preferences, but at some core level I knew I was neither cool enough for trumpet nor coordinated enough for drums (despite the desire to beat on things), and I certainly did not want to play a (wood) woodwind. Plus, a friend and prodigy would be playing saxophone, and I knew I didn't want to compete with him. So, I said "I dunno--maybe trombone."

She handed me a trombone and invited me to give it a crack. I blew and no sound issued forth. She demonstrated a buzz, and then I was able to produce a sound, but certainly not a musical sound. She mentioned that perhaps I should try a bigger mouthpiece--how about this instrument over here? I crawled into the King plastic sousaphone that was perched on a Wenger chair and, with the collected experience of the previous three minutes, was able to make an actual tone.

The band director pronounced me a Natural Born Tuba Player, and pitched the hard-sell to me and my doomed mother. My mother accepted it gracefully, considering that her objective had not only failed, but failed in the worst possible way.

But the hard-sell turned out to be truthful: I was sitting in the first band after one semester, I've never had trouble finding places to play since that time, and I've always enjoyed it. And I indeed fell in love with the sound, and am still in love with the sound.

Rick "who got slide grease all over the seats of that Valiant" Denney

Mark E. Chachich · Post by **Mark E. Chachich** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 4:05 pm

I started playing the baritone in fourth grade, even though I wanted to play the tuba. In eighth grade the band had no tuba player, so I jumped at the chance. I also started learning the string bass in grade eight. Afterwards I earned an undergraduate music degree and posts in a minor professional symphony and a minor professional band (all many years ago). I am now a neuropathologist and statistician, showing that a tuba player can do almost anything.

Mark

tubapress · Post by **tubapress** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 4:43 pm

I had started on violin in the 3rd grade. When I was in 9th grade, my Jr. High Band went to each of the elementary schools in the district to promote the band program. They took me along as part of a string quartet to promote the string program as well. The bad director thanked us "wire-whackers" by inviting us to the end of the year band cookout. So there I was...lounging by the pool, drinking a lemonade (but wishing it was a Long Island Iced Tea)..feeling comfy. The director sits down next to me and starts a conversation. "So..what are ya doing this summer?" "Oh..the same as usual" "Ever think of taking up a band instrument?" "Hmmm..that sounds kinda cool...I like brass" "Ok..how about the tuba"

***gary thinks to himself--what a cool looking instrument***

"Count me in!"

The rest is history

TubaRay · Post by **TubaRay** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 5:28 pm

I have been reading the replies to this question but have not had the time to reply. It appears that my story is somewhat different from most--I wanted to play tuba! When I was presented with the opportunity to join band I was about to begin 6th grade. My parents had an old clarinet and hoped that I would play it. I knew I wanted to play in the band, but I looked at all of those keys and thought I would never be able to play something with so many keys. I had seen these wonderful looking instruments march past me each year in our small town's celebration. I thought they were about as cool as anything could get. Those instruments, it turns out, were Conn sousaphones. Anyway, my parents went with me to meet with the band director. The director allowed my to play tuba. Lo, these many years later(2-3 yrs.) I still play tuba.

In the meantime, I learned to play clarinet well enough to play 3rd clarinet in our second band in college. This gave me the opportunity to sit next to my(now) wife who played clarinet in the first band and would also play in the second band so she could sit next to me. I know this sound pretty unbelievable, but it is true. I guess there weren't too many keys on the clarinet, either. Regardless, I'm glad I play tuba. It is strange how sometimes we can stumble onto the right decision in life.

Rick Denney · Post by **Rick Denney** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 12:13 am

TubaRay wrote:...Lo, these many years later(2-3 yrs.) I still play tuba.

You forgot the zeros. And the plus sign.

Rick "who always wondered about Ray's arithmetic" Denney

TonyZ · Post by **TonyZ** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 7:55 am

I started on trumpet, and quickly saw the light. My parents purchased a trumpet for me in fifth grade. I took preliminary lessons, and wound up first chair in sixth grade band...the first tune I ever played was called "Splashdown"...I don't know why I remember that...anyhow, there were no tubas in the band. A kid moved into town about midway through my sixth grade year and played tubs. Our band director said, "Any of you bigger guys want to play tuba? We could use another" (there were 73 kids in that band!) I fit the bill (and still do!) so I said "YES" much to the dismay of my trumpet-owning parents.

It's been bliss ever since!!!

Tony Zilincik

DonShirer · Post by **DonShirer** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 9:06 am

My dad started me on his silver Conn trumpet at the age of 6 and I was playing 2d trumpet in marching bands not too long thereafter. When we moved to a small town the high school had too many trumpets but no low brass. Dad somehow persuaded someone to loan him a double-bell Euphonium and I improvised parts from both baritone and tuba scores for a year before we had to give it back. The school had one old Eb helicon sitting in a closet and the teacher persuaded me to give it a try, even though I was the proverbial 90-pound midget at the time. It worked out so well that I was also asked to provide the bass line for their orchestra as well. When it came time to send people to the annual Cuyahoga honor band, it turned out that I was the only tuba player in the county. The director wanted lots of bass so they brought in the tubist from the Cleveland orchestra who played 2d tuba and let me have the "solos". I was so naive at the time I didn't think anyhthing of it! However it helped dad get over his disappointment at losing a trumpeter.

Jeffrey Hicks · Post by **Jeffrey Hicks** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 9:09 am

I seem to be rare as I started out as a drummer in the sixth grade. My parents after suffering through listening to me practicing at home to the point I broke three snare heads at home and two during band at school had had enough. My seventh grade year I got really interested in all the Marching bands at contest as I was marching a nasty pair of cymbals that year. So the band director asked me to play the tuba and it was a giant promotion. I was handed a YBB 321 and soon sent to Fred Marzan for lessons...15 years later here I am......

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