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Okay, here's one that should get some tongues going...
My son is in college, he has an F. Schmidt BBb and a St. Petes 209N CC (prototype) tubas.

His professor is telling him that if he is REALLY interested in performance he should cash out these tubas and buy a B&S CC horn.

I know there are those who have stated you don't need a CC tuba and cite plenty of pros playing BBbs.

But what are the thoughts here?

Not a bad idea. If nothing else, I like it when people have a reason to not question things, or to not think they need an explanation.

Not necessarily a B&S, but a good quality CC. Bag those other horns, especially the St pete.

bloke wrote:1/ Everyone has an opinion.
2/ Every single make/model of tuba and style of playing will be defended by someone here.
3/ B&S offers several models of CC tubas.
4/ Is the professor a good chum of a Michigan tuba outlet?

1...Yup!
2...Fur Sure
3...Didn't say which one, other than rotary
4...Have to find that out.

Brassdad wrote:Okay, here's one that should get some tongues going...
My son is in college, he has an F. Schmidt BBb and a St. Petes 209N CC (prototype) tubas.
His professor is telling him that if he is REALLY interested in performance he should cash out these tubas and buy a B&S CC horn.
I know there are those who have stated you don't need a CC tuba and cite plenty of pros playing BBbs.
But what are the thoughts here?

Is junior currently a music major, and if so is he performance, real world education, or performance disguised as education? Does he understand the futility and self-propagating horror of a performance degree? Either way, is he practicing umpteen-illion hours a week and playing in as many groups of as many different styles as possible? If not, he doesn't need any new horn at all and if he is, he can be perfectly fine with what he has because he's playing it!!!!
Ask the "professor" if he will push to help junior get a grant for a new horn. If not, bah!!
Which model is the Schmidt (assuming it's a VMI)- the rotary or piston? They're both equally acceptable horns, though I much prefer the way the rotary one plays over the piston even though I am always the exact opposite with other horns. That rotary VMI Bb is a SWEET horn!

The only benefit I see to a performance degree over education is the increased lesson time and the decreased woodwinds classes. Lessons in or out of school and playing in as many groups as possible is a perfectly good substitute for music school. Then again, it's also much cheaper and doesn't have that TUBA PAPER at the end of the tunnel.

Is he memorizing Sousa marches, popular quintet pieces, popular solos, learning jazz/dixieland improv, walking bass lines,...? If not he's not cut out to be a performance major and if SO, he doesn't need it.

Sell the St. Pete, take that current and future "CC" money and, if he's serious about focusing on music as a livelihood, get him a solid but affordable bass guitar and bass trombone. I'm a hard core bass tuba guy, but for people with more traditional musical tastes a nice Bb tuba, bass guitar, and bass trombone is a hell of a setup. Passable piano, tenor trombone, and tenor sax (all the easier if he plays Bb tuba and bass trombone) wouldn't hurt either. There's a fair amount of gig opportunities out there in rock bands and the like for horn players.

Also, make his punk *** learn treble clef (C, Bb, and Eb) and some basic theory. Anything other than basic theory is unnecessary for someone who wants to play instead of write and has a solid grasp of his horn. Most of the crap I learned in theory I already knew from playing over the years; all I didn't know was what they were called.

---Sorry if that was a bit choppy, I kept going over it. ---

Brassdad wrote:Okay, here's one that should get some tongues going...
My son is in college, he has an F. Schmidt BBb and a St. Petes 209N CC (prototype) tubas.

His professor is telling him that if he is REALLY interested in performance he should cash out these tubas and buy a B&S CC horn.

I know there are those who have stated you don't need a CC tuba and cite plenty of pros playing BBbs.

But what are the thoughts here?

Hmm...how about fingers typing?

I find that kind of thinking to be garbage. One, IMHO, going the route of performance is not a viable option anymore. That train passed decades ago. With that fact in mind, It really doesn't matter what kind of horn one has. If it gets the job done for your son, more power to him.

A few semi-related thoughts:

-- I doubt your son needs BOTH a BBb and a CC tuba, so you should probably sell one anyway.
-- If this is an F. Schmidt 3301 piston tuba, isn't that just a stencil of a B&S PT-2 anyway??
-- If the above is true, then this is a BBb vs. CC thang, and not a B&S vs. other brands thang.

bort wrote:A few semi-related thoughts:

-- I doubt your son needs BOTH a BBb and a CC tuba, so you should probably sell one anyway.
-- If this is an F. Schmidt 3301 piston tuba, isn't that just a stencil of a B&S PT-2 anyway??
-- If the above is true, then this is a BBb vs. CC thang, and not a B&S vs. other brands thang.

Yes it is a 3301.

What is this teacher's agenda with B&S? This kind of nonsense, and I'm sorry for the rant, really gets me going. This, to me, is no different than a car salesman telling you/your son, "If you're REALLY serious about getting from point A to B, you need to get a Corvette." But because we have this holier-than-thou mentality with tuba teachers, most students do not think twice.