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Dear Tubenetters,

I've been thinking alot lately about studying my Masters degree. I'm finishing my Bachelor of tuba this year in the Netherlands.

Normally I would have had clear thoughts on my study path, but now it's a complete blur. Should I stay with my teacher or leave him, those kind of questions..
I know I'll have to make my own decision, but maybe someone has a good suggestion.

I'm highly interested in the Jacobs methods combined with the studies of Michael Lind. If I'd lived some 30 years ago, I'd hoped to have some lessons from them.

Nowadays there isn't plenty of work in the Netherlands, so I don't mind traveling a bit. I've been looking around in Germany, but I don't really know the players/teachers over there. Except from the obvious names as Walter Hilgers and Jens Bjørn Larsen.

I don't know if I can study in the US, since I'm foreign.

I'm going to get some lessons here and there, to clear up my mind.

I hope someone can give some suggestions.

Greetings,

LG

[quote="LucGeraats"]
...I'm highly interested in the Jacobs methods... /quote]

Go study with either Dave Fedderly or Mike Grose. Both are in the U.S. but if you wants Jacobs teachings those are the two I would want.

The University of North Texas with Don Little would be a great option. Also, I know UNT works very well with international students.

Best of luck!

Hi Bloke,

Thanks for your honoust post.

I haven't been sitting around doing nothing, for the past years. I have my connections within. I'm using those now for test lessons.

I guessed that there would be some people around here with some good advice. Since I'm thinking over this for some time now.

LG

I spent a very short time studying with Bob Tucci in Munich. I wish I could have been there longer, but life moves on. He is very 'jacobs oriented' in his teaching and helped me a lot. I'm pretty sure that he's not affiliated with a University but he definitely teaches and has a lot of career advice about the European scene to offer.

Go where it's free- there are many different good teachers nowadays. I applied to many colleges back when I was trying to be a professional musician, and I got into all but one. All of them offered scholarships, and two of them offered me full rides. I wasn't a spectacularly good player, and my GPA /test scores were only a little better than average. I just put myself out there and met a lot of people, and they were impressed mostly by my confidence and professional communication. Go and apply to as many schools as you can afford, and play for as many people if you can. Even if you don't feel prepared, go play and pretend to be awesome.

I'm not a music major anymore, but I still found a school that will give me a free ride. My communication skills (taken from music) helped me a lot, too. To me, college simply isn't worth it unless you either have a full ride or are going into something that's in demand, like medical school or engineering school. I see college like a trade school, so I don't do the whole "college life" thing- I study hard and try to meet future employers. In my case I'm currently studying forestry, but I will probably also get a GIS certificate and possibly a pilot license.

I can't recommend the whole tenured teaching career route. Positions are getting rare, and the whole process looks like it is designed to remove your soul. Also, ask yourself if you're willing to actually teach people- I know I don't have the patience to do it. . . Some people really love it, but I'd rather get rich and retire before I'm 40 so I can sail around the world and become the most interesting man in the world. . .

Go where it's free

and they pay you to be there.

LucGeraats wrote: Should I stay with my teacher or leave him, those kind of questions..

Probably... I mean this with the following logic.. If after 4 years you haven't learned what you need to learn from one teacher, you're probably not going to learn more from the same person in the next 2 years. More likely than not, you've probably already plateau-ed...

Nowadays there isn't plenty of work in the Netherlands, so I don't mind traveling a bit. I've been looking around in Germany, but I don't really know the players/teachers over there. Except from the obvious names as Walter Hilgers and Jens Bjørn Larsen.

I don't think there's "plenty of work" in music anywhere in the world....

I don't know if I can study in the US, since I'm foreign.

Yes you can, but you need a study permit/visa.


______

If you want a better answer from anyone, you need to give us more info, or give yourself more parameters as to what ou want and why you want that in a school. Otherwise, I might as well just recommend you study at the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople.

What are your goals, where do you want to go, why Jacobs?, what's your budget....etc...What languages do you speak/read? etc.... All these things will affect our advice.

One other thought -- if it were me making this decision, I would pick a school where the instructor isn't spread thin as ice. There's a certain US city with a certain top-of-the-mountain player... who teaches at a bazillion different schools in that area. Yes, he's one of the best of the best, he's clearly in high demand, and he's extremely successful. But I wouldn't want an instructor who was virtually never around, or running around to everything else.

Maybe it's not as bad as it seems to be one of his students (maybe it's not bad at all?). But in my non-music graduate school experience, instructor availability is pretty crucial to student development.

bloke wrote:*or study plumbing, electrical, HVAC, or welding at your local state technical school and (again) take tuba lessons on your own dime with someone widely viewed as "great". No, you won't be able to play in any school's orchestra, but ONLY ONE TUBA PLAYER AT A TIME can do that at ANY school. Alternately, buy a nice PA amp and fine tune your knowledge of tuba orchestral rep by playing along with youtube videos (preferably those that show the conductor) and studying scores...

That's sort of along the lines of what I might end up doing in 20 years or so. I've got a decent non-music career lined up, and I've already received a lot of excellent music training. It would be easier that way, actually. I would just need to regain some muscular stamina and spend a year or two doing really high quality daily practice sessions. It would keep me from turning into a boring middle class office drone.

Heck, just go and make millions as an entrepreneur. Then, go buy an orchestra and appoint yourself as the principal tubist. It's easy, right?

Go study where you think it will position you best for a job following graduation. A master's in tuba is quite useless if you can't make a living playing tuba once you graduate. It is a very competitive job market for tuba jobs everywhere.

Some teachers are good at placing their students, they have a lot of connections with other players and universities... that's who you want.

Look at the young professional players in Europe, see who they studied with and that will help you narrow down your list.

Hope this helps.

Since you are in the Netherlands, have you studied with David Kutz? I'm pretty sure he studied with Mr. Jacobs. As has been mentioned, I would definitely seek out Bob Tucci. After working with Mr. Tucci, a good friend of mine got a position in Basel he has held for a long time now. Also, if I were in Europe, I would find a way to study with Alessandro Fossi.

I would think about seeking out these teachers and getting some lessons outside of school, and then see where that takes you. Then, if necessary, you could enroll in a Masters program.

Michael Lind did study with Arnold Jacobs in the 1980s. He made many trips to Chicago for lessons during that time frame. He also studied extensively with Harvey Phillips in the 1970s.

If your goal is to be a professional musician, as others have pointed out in different words, the real question is not who this teacher studied with, but what are this teacher's former students doing now? Is a meaningful number of this studio's former students working as professional musicians? There is no better predictor of future results than past results. Obviously, at the end of the day it is up to the student to do the work that gets the result. But having a coach who has helped hard working students meet their goals in the past makes a difference.