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Hi. This is my very first post so have patience

I'm a grade 10 student in Canada (just moved from the States at the beginning of the school year), currently playing tuba in the grade 11-12 symphonic band. I also play a few other low brass in the other bands offered by my school.

I definitely want to do something with music in university. This may be a long while away, but I was wondering where an appropriate Canadian Music Store (online or mortar and pestle) would be. From my last teacher in the States, he mentioned that if I was looking to buy a tuba, a CC would be nice and it might be wise to buy something my grade 12 year to get used to the new fingerings, etc. I had a Laskey 30G Euro shank mouthpiece in the States, which I loved, but unfortunately lost. I am currently using the school's 24AW which works well too.

I know that the people here have been playing tuba for a way longer time than I have. When would be a good time to try out new tubas (and where)? The school ones are nice, but my last school had a Conn 5J, which by far is my favourite. I was hoping to find something like that (side valves as all the ones in my new school are upright). Any opinion would be really helpful.

In my experience, most stores in smaller cities will not stock anything but student model tubas. Stores in the larger cities will have some new horns, and some used horns. I have not heard of any stores which offer more than minimal selection in merchandise. There is no Canadian "tuba mecca" of any kind.

Any of the stores that are Yamaha dealers should be able to get you a YCB-621 or YCB-822 without any problem.

For online retail, I've used http://www.tomleemusic.ca" target="_blank for general accessories. The selection is not great, but they have free shipping on purchases over $199. The is also cosmomusic.ca that you can look at but I have not dealt with the online store.

Many specialty items are not readily available in Canada. If stores carry mouthpieces you will readily see Yamaha, Bach, Schilke and Denis Wick. The Laskey mouthpieces might be available through Long & McQuade, a brick and mortar shop, but they might not have the model you want. (This depends on location, some of the stores have no brass instruments )

Shipping in Canada is usually expensive. Shipping a tuba mouthpiece from 1000km away cost me $16. That has to be factored into to your decision. I can have a mouthpiece shipped to me from the USA for around $6.

I have purchased quite a few items such as mouthpieces, music, instruments all from American retailers. (Basically anything you would need except for lubricants). I've paid customs or certain items, and I have not on others. In many cases it was cheaper to buy from the USA, pay for customs and shipping, than it would have been to buy from a Canadian store.

Another idea would be to hit some stores in the States when you come back to visit family and friends.

What part of the U.S. did you live in?

Where in Canada are you? In most provinces, I would check with Long & McQuade first. St. John's Music can also get you what you want for a good college tuba.

If you're looking for tuba related gear, I'm sorry to inform you that there's some slim pickings. It's just a supply and demand thing and it's tough for retailers to keep product on hand that only gets dusty for months (and years) in their show room. What I'd recommend is to contact the store with a few options in mind (whether it be instrument or accessory related) and drop them a line with questions. Questions like: "Can you get this product in?" "What's the return policy?" (No retailer wants to hear that one, but we gotta. )

If you can find a retailer where there's a low brass specialist, you're already ahead of the game.

Good luck and here is a list of retailers in Canada:

http://long-mcquade.com/
http://cosmomusic.ca/ (I run the band department at this one.)
http://www.harknettmusic.com/
http://www.stevesmusic.com/
http://www.tomleemusic.ca
http://www.stjohnsmusic.com/

Hope that's somewhat helpful,
Al