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The "her" you are refering to was probably Gloria Vagi. She's the band director at Pioneer Middle in Cooper City. Her son is a tuba player, but he's either finishing up at Interlochen this year or in college, I can't remember.

The FYO is a GREAT group. The Symphony is very good too, but you can hear the difference between the two. The Orchestra is just a little more refined. I've not yet heard the Top Brass, though.

All of the divisions rehearse at Nova University School (where I teach) on Monday's. The program is HUGE! There are something like 400 participants when you add up all the divisions and performing groups. It's great to hear so many people, playing music, but you can also get lost as a tuba player. The top two groups play real music, and that means the chance that a piece won't have a tuba part. You may find yourself going to many rehearsals only to sit and do nothing for most of them. On the other hand, you may have tons to play. It's all luck of the draw!

Good luck! Let us know how you did.

TUBACHRIS85 wrote:Oh, I'm not getting mad about it, I was getting concerned about it. Maybe, but I don't expect to be playing any major tuba pieces any time soon.

Even orchestra works that are tuba friendly can have lots of non-playing sections. When they do, just sit back and admire the muscianship of the strings, etc.

As an example, Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony as some fun tuba stuff in the frist movement and some fund and challenging stuff in the fourth movement, but absolutely nothing in between. However, the second movement is one of the most beautiful string works I have ever heard.