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This may seem a bit premature... I am wanting to pursue a master's degree (eventually doctorate as well) in tuba performance after I receive my bachelor's in Music Education. Do any of you have any suggestions for schools, or specific instructors? Additionally, I would be hoping to get some sort of assistantship or something along those lines that would help finance my education.

As for my personal goals, I am wanting to primarily be a teacher. I want to teach at the university level, and play in neighboring groups (orchestral, brass quintet, etc) whether its a paying gig or not. Teaching is what I primarily would like to do. (Maybe something of a ratio of 55-65% teaching, 45-35% playing)

Thanks for any insight any of you may have!

I think it would be worthwhile to study with someone that you want to sound like. Start figuring out a list of tuba players you like to listen to, and then see where (or if) they teach.

Read this entire blog carefully, think about it for a while and then read it again:
http://100rsns.blogspot.com/" target="_blank

It applies to the humanities, the sciences (my case) and I suspect everything else. Reading something like this several years ago would have saved me a lot of grief.

Unless you are receiving specific training for a high-demand career, graduate school is a colossal waste of time, energy and money. Don't believe department chairs or faculty regarding future employment prospects. They will lie to have you as a student in order to justify their own tenuous (for many of the reasons described in the blog) existence.

Good advice above. Always, always, always have a Plan B in mind. If your plans don't work out, you need to make a living in the meantime. Develop some other marketable skills.

Also, unless you expect to be widely regarded as one of the top 10 tuba players/teachers in the world when you start your job hunt, your most likely placement would be in a job where you teach tuba and something else. Obviously you need to at least know euphonium very well (including its band repertoire), which probably applies even if you ARE one of the top 10. Trombone, too, wouldn't hurt, depending on the situation. Note especially that you'll probably need to teach non-performance music classes, such as history, theory, music appreciation, etc. in order to fill out a full-time load at a smaller school.

Consider signing up for this monthly email right now:
http://www.academickeys.com/all/subscribe.php

You can peruse the positions as the come up and see what skills and background are expected. After many months of looking at these I think you'll have a better perspective on how to prepare.

Good luck!

Just to play devil's advocate: I completed two thirds of the degrees you are speaking of, with the MM in music ed. I could apply for the third one, and possibly get accepted. I have not done this, because the 2nd degree proved to be insignificant in a brutal market (mid 1980s) and I think it might be more brutal today, a with forecast of getting really horrible. Two large ensembles have been locked out like NFL referees now, and such things have a way of becoming common. It all points to majoring in what could put bread on the table, which in music is accompanying people getting those graduate degrees. I got that advice in the 1980s, and my advisor used to tell the whole group, "none of you play enough piano, including the piano majors". Things have tightened up a lot since then.