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For students, the obvious answer is ask your teacher. But what about when your teacher is not a tuba player and does not know much about different brands? I have a few different horns in mind from the forum, Mack, Dillon, BBC, etc. and asked my teacher, a trombonist, today. His recommendation is a Besson 995 CC that the tuba player next to him in symphony plays; however, they are hard to come by used and are out of price range new. Should I just wait until a Besson comes up or buy something I like now?

After the "ask your teacher" response, I would say "try before you buy." I played several in college and then owned a few I bought on the cheap (unseen/unplayed, knowing I could fix them up and sell them when I was done).

It was among those "cheap" horns that I found I really liked Kings, and that's what I've got now. So much depends on player preference, that people on here (or anywhere) can really only tell you what works for them, then it's up to you to find what works for you.

Have any of you had experience with a teacher who is more adamant about a certain brand over another? I've tried a few different horns so far and have favorites at different price points, but he hasn't been a fan of them when I mention it to him. I have to take lessons these next two semesters because of a scholarship even though I'm not a music major, so it's not easy to just go ahead a buy a horn I like when he has had nothing good to say (even though he's not a tuba player and hasn't played any of them).

Edit: I should clarify that he is a spectacular teacher in teaching brass and musicality, it's mainly this one issue. Maybe I'm blowing it out of proportion, but I always hear that it's important to listen to your teacher's recommendation re: instruments and don't want to potentially ruin this relationship.

I had rather the opposite. The teachers cared about what I could do, and the horn was seen as incidental in the process. One teacher gave me an unforgettable rant when I complained a bit about horn he provided for one lesson. Turned out the little horn was Warren Deck's own instrument years before. It didn't hold Warren back, and you can imagine the rest.

It's good business to respect the teacher, and they have recommended one horn they like. There a lot of good choices besides that one; ask around and look for good deals.

It's probably easier to tell us all this stuff, than it is to tell him, right? If he knows that you can't swing a Besson 995, and he insists that nothing else will do anyway, then I don't know what to say, but I hope it isn't exactly like that. You have to give it to him straight. Maybe he can ask the symphony tuba player for some other ideas - you might not get your Mack answer out of this, but who knows.

A Besson 995 is a lot of tuba for two semesters of lessons. Surely to heaven he can see that. If not, I don't know what to say. That would have to be a mighty fancy scholarship for the tuba to not eat up an irresponsible percentage of it.

bloke wrote:

Michael Bush wrote:A Besson 995 is a lot of tuba for two semesters of lessons. Surely to heaven he can see that. If not, I don't know what to say. That would have to be a mighty fancy scholarship for the tuba to not eat up an irresponsible percentage of it.

If scholarship money is flowing like water, though, "a tuba" (at least) can be sold in the future in exchange for currency or something of value.

In comparison, "having taken the courses Curriculum and Instruction, Classroom Leadership & Management, etc..." doesn't seem to have a tremendous amount of liquid value.

Unfortunately for me, that class is not offered. The scholarship money, while substantial, is also not "deep as an ocean" Besson big. I'm talking with him later today about ordering and trying a tuba, Eastman specifically, and hopefully he will feel ok with that considering Eastman now owns shires and quality has 'not' gone down.

I guess I am a bit of an oddity when it comes to buying tubas.

I never asked my teacher(s) what to buy or sought out their "approval" of my equipment choices. I looked around A LOT, listened to a lot of different players actually *playing* their tubas (not just talking about them), decided on the sorts of sounds I liked/disliked, looked at what successful players were playing all over the place, and tried out A LOT of tubas from many brands and at many price points...but ultimately I decided that since it was *MY* money and *I* was going to be the one playing it, I was going to buy what *I* wanted and what I could afford, not what someone else told me to buy. I felt capable of picking out my own instruments and have no regrets about my "non teacher" approach to buying tubas.

The end result is that I've owned five tubas, including the two that I still have. I have enjoyed all of them at different points in my life and have bought/sold them over the years because my own needs and tastes have shifted, not to please anyone else.

Just food for thought.

Thanks for the help and advice everyone. My teacher and I have talked with the symphony player who echoed a lot of you: get what I sound good on, regardless of brand (or key). So now the search for the perfect tuba *for me* begins.