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Hello all!

Well as a dad, I am happy to say my 9 year old daughter wants to learn how to play the tuba. I'm curious if I should find a 3/4 size tuba or a euph to teach her on first? What do you all think or have you experienced in teaching a young person. The mouthpiece size is what concerns me, not the size of the horn so much.

Euphonium has a lot going for it for a beginner. A lot of practical considerations such as just carrying the thing around, let alone blowing on it, would top my list. They are also fun to play and can sound beautiful. You can get a decent one for a modest amount (mine came from Ebay, an restored antique). If she wants to move to either trombone or tuba as she grows, she will have the pump all primed when the time comes.

I have a background teaching older students 12-13 all the way to 17 year olds. In my experience, some students can switch from one instrument to another and they have great success. But more students struggle in changing instruments and change back. I tried starting students all on small common instrument(ie flute, clar, trumpet, trombone) then moving to all the instruments. I now much prefer students starting on what they want to play, and what they like. They try harder and don’t have that feeling of “I wish I was playing that”.

For you, if you have the ability, put an euph and a 3/4 size (or even a tornister, or stumpy type from Wessex maybe) in your kids hands. Have them make some sounds, with help. Have them pick which one they like better.

To me teaching music has as much to do with motivation to play as playing ease. If it is way too hard to play the instrument(ex putting at 6/4 bat in at 12 years hands which is ridiculous to me) they will not have success; also if they are learning euph just to later play tuba they may loose motivation.

One other option, for my private students, not band class students. I start them in small Eb tubas. It is a good compromise for me, I had a small beater 3/4 for the first couple years then kids bought big comp horns or contrabass horns.

Take the info you like....

Ray

Start them on what they want to play. I played euph for a long time but always wanted to play tuba. When I got the chance I took it and haven't looked back. It can't hurt to be fluent in both, however. I still enjoy euph, but love tuba.

Get a 3/4 CC tuba, start on that so she doesn't have to switch later...

Tuba

Part of the appeal for the tuba is playing the tuba parts -- at least for me, that bottom bass part is simply what I hear when I hear music, always been that way. The euphonium is nice enough, and I like listening to it... but to play it, with it's melodies, countermelodies, harmony, etc... I simply don't enjoy playing euphonium parts at all.

If she wants the tuba then go with a 3/4 tuba if she can handle one.
As a side my school did not have tubas for students that young. We used euphs (hard to avoid confusion with the students learning euph but doable) and taught them out of tuba books. That avoided having them have to learn to read the notes down an octave later. Good Luck!

I'm a band teacher and I've done it both ways (switch or start on tuba). So I guess the answer is that it depends. My best tuba players are ones that I switched from other instruments (trombone and baritone), but that's probably because I knew the kids' personalities, motivation, dedication, and knew they would go for it.

Personally, I wanted to start on tuba back in 5th grade, but our school didn't have one available (or so I was told. I now believe that my band director, rightly so, thought I was too small and started me on baritone/euphonium), but I was always planning on playing the tuba. I switched in 7th grade and have continued to love it ever since!

So, as has been said, just let her try both. The more success they can have, and the earlier they can have it, the better off they'll be. Happy honking!

if it is possible to try the tuba first and see if she can get the low notes out and sustain a note at least 4 beats, then try tuba. If she really struggles with that then try the euphonium route. I have taught kids both ways and it usually is about a 50/50 chance with kids being able to get down to the low BBb. and also some students just can't hear the difference between the low pitches and have no idea which note they are playing. The really little Yamaha and Jupiter tubas a re pretty small and manageable.

kk

Tuba

Students are the most motivated when playing the instrument that they pick and speaks to them. Number one question parents always ask me. What's the best instrument for my child to play, my answer the one that they choose to play.

Ooorrr........, a nice EEb. There seems to be a nice range of good players available at good prices in either new or used condition.
A "full" sized one would be as light as a 3/4 BBb and easy to play and might well never need replacing.

I seem to remember at one time students were started on an Eb tuba because of the smaller size.

it's simply not going to end up being that appealing to very many females.
Put her on violin or voice first.
Tuba as fallback.

Baritone saxophone. (Well, kind of seriously, I've seen at least one little girl with a fixation on bari sax, I'm told it could be due to watching The Simpsons. She'll forget all about the tuba when she gets an earful of the bari sax. Unfortunately, even smaller saxophones are ill suited to normal little girl proportions.)

But seriously, I think bort gets it - tuba is a bass instrument, baritone is melody. If she's a bass player, she'll manage to play the tuba one way or another.

TheGoyWonder wrote:it's simply not going to end up being that appealing to very many females.
Put her on violin or voice first.
Tuba as fallback.

.Funny that! Isn't there some girl with a gig in Eagle Town who beat the crap out of a lot of boys to get the job???????

Ken Herrick wrote:

TheGoyWonder wrote:it's simply not going to end up being that appealing to very many females.
Put her on violin or voice first.
Tuba as fallback.

.Funny that! Isn't there some girl with a gig in Eagle Town who beat the crap out of a lot of boys to get the job???????

The exception is not the rule.

it's simply not going to end up being that appealing to very many females.
Put her on violin or voice first.
Tuba as fallback.

This is a poor idea, over half of my private tuba and euphonium students are girls, and all are great players. I hope you are joking about your idea, otherwise you should not be commenting on things you have no idea about.

Flute, clarinet, violin.

If she really wants to play tuba, then get her a tuba. A small one maybe, 3/4 Eb. When she wants a bigger tuba, she can just get a bigger Eb. Lots to pick from. I recently went this route myself as an older tuba learner. You can start with a cheap one (rent, or used under $1000) to see if she likes it, and then upgrade.

Meanwhile, make sure she hears a lot of examples of stuff other than oompah you can do with a tuba, like replacing an electric bass in a band, add a microphone, pedals, and effects, street bands, Tubachristmas, etc.

TheGoyWonder wrote:it's simply not going to end up being that appealing to very many females.
Put her on violin or voice first.
Tuba as fallback.

Probably that's intended as humor, but just in case:

I had exactly the opposite thought. Tuba is not the traditional "girl" instrument so a girl expressing interest probably really wants to play it and possibly is going to be proud to be a girl playing it. Don't disrespect her by making her settle for euphonium. (But plant the seed they are a good double when the time comes.) (my sister played tuba)