For the tuba, yes "big trumpet", okay I buy that. "French horn", mmm okay, but bigger and right handed valves, no complaint. "Close, it's a tuba." And yes, many times explained sousaphone-tuba family tree.Worth wrote:When: Commuting to work onto an Air Force Base. Taking my Tuba in the Cronkhite bag through the gate in my back seat. Additionally, lugging it on my back into the building (to avoid sitting in my car all day in the FL daytime heat).
Confused with what: I was always concerned someone would unknowingly think it was some kind of suicide backpack or IED. No one ever even blinked an eye.
Just a few years out of the military, I was traveling with my tenor trombone, in a very slender case with shoulder strap. Passing a window in the airport, I could help notice that I had held the strap just like my M-16 rifle. This is just weeks after 9-11. I felt "obvious".
Out and about with my euphonium is a different story....
Fred Mertz (or a reasonable facsimile): "What's that instrument"
Me: "A euphonium."
Fred Mertz: "Not it's not. I played that in high school."
Me: "Oh, yes, a baritone horn."
Fred Mertz: "Yes, right. Now what's the difference between a baritone horn and a euphonium"?
Me: "Two thousand dollars". (Accurate at the time. Of course, now it could be either much more than that, or much much less?)