What age were you when you took up the TUBA?

brianggilbert · Post by **brianggilbert** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:11 am

Just curious to see what the general consensus is on this issue.

Personally I went:
4th gr - trumpet (after a highly unsucessful 2 weeks on clarinet, but that's a different story!)
6th gr- baritone
8th gr - tuba

tubatooter1940 · Post by **tubatooter1940** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:40 am

8th gr - tuba

10th gr - trumpet

12th gr trombone

age 26 - guitar

age 28 - vocals

tubacrow · Post by **tubacrow** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:45 am

4th grade guitar
6th grade trumpet
summer between 9th and 10th Grade Tuba
I have not looked back since

brianggilbert · Post by **brianggilbert** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 11:33 am

My school experience is much the same Greg - I wanted to play drums but was denied.

I ended up making my high school's indoor dum line and did that 10-12th grade playing bass drum, snare and quads. I ended up marching in my college's drumline (West Chester U) because the thought of playing sousie following my drum corps summer tours was too painful (I needed the break).

tuba-tobias · Post by **tuba-tobias** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 11:34 am

Began playing tuba at age nine, an EEb Lignatone (now Amati). Switched to BBb at 12, same brand. Chose tuba because my father was a tubaplayer.

KevinMadden · Post by **KevinMadden** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:19 pm

5th grade: Trumpet
8th grade: Euphonium
8th grade (spring semester): Tuba BBb
High School: Fall's in BBb, Summer's in G
Freshman Kolleje: BBb
Sophomore Kolleje: CC & F
Junior Kolleje: CC & Eb

greggu · Post by **greggu** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:29 pm

I started as a freshman in H.S., because I knew it was the quickest way to move up to higher level bands. I was an okay player then and thought about making music a career, until my dad straightened me out. (He didn't think it was a career to be able to raise a family on.) I took business in college and spent 10 years in the Army, and when my children started playing in school, I took it up again. (in my 40's)

Eric B · Post by **Eric B** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:56 pm

I started band in 6th grade. I wanted to play alto saxophone. After discussing it with the director, my dad said it was too big for me. I suspect the expense was too big for him. He told me I would play clarinet. I did well on that $50 wooden Noblet with cheap stock mp. I took up tuba in the Spring of my freshman year. The tuba player moved and I volunteered to take his place. My director gave me an introductory lesson and I worked alone until I improved sufficiently enough to join with the band. Within 6 months I made 6th chair in the region band, 1st chair the next two years and All-State as a senior. I have almost never regretted the switch. The exception...marching season...ugh!!!

Teubonium · Post by **Teubonium** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:41 pm

Piano Age 7

Cornet 3rd grade (with Dad. Started in school in 4th grade)

Baritonium 6th grade

Eb Tuba 8th grade

BBb Tuba 9th grade

Trombone 10th grade

Mark E. Chachich · Post by **Mark E. Chachich** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:40 pm

4th grade - baritone (tuba was my first choice)
8th grade - tuba and string bass (I still play both)

Mark

The Jackson · Post by **The Jackson** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:45 pm

Tuba - 7th grade
Actually playing tuba - 10th grade

Todd S. Malicoate · Post by **Todd S. Malicoate** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:12 pm

I started on string bass in 4th grade...never played in "band" until 10th grade (1st year of high school in my school system) when I joined the marching band to play electric bass at the request of the band director (it was pretty neat...had a guy march next to me pushing a cart containing the twin bed-sized amplifier run by several car batteries). I found that I liked band and the director enough to take up bari sax for the inside semester.

That director left, and the new one for my junior year wasn't interested in using the electric bass in marching band. So, I marched with the bari in a tuba squad (difficult axe to march with). I went to Interlochen the summer after my junior year and started diddling with tuba there with the assistance of Heiko Triebener and Dr. Jerry Young, who kindly checked me out a horn.

Senior year I just showed up and started playing tuba in the marching band...it turned out to be a great fit for me and "stuck."

DonShirer · Post by **DonShirer** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:52 pm

Played trumpet 'til junior high, then moved to a very small town which had enough trumpets but no low brass. My father borrowed a double bell euphonium for me but had to give it back after a year, and the music teacher dug up an old Eb hellicon, which after lots of rehab, I played through high school (and turned out to be the only orchestra tuba player in the entire county!).

ken k · Post by **ken k** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 11:08 pm

piano at age 6
trombone in 4th grade ~ 10 yrs. old though HS
bass bone and tuba in college.
ken k

justinbarleben · Post by **justinbarleben** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 11:11 pm

Euphonium (Baritone? whatever it was, concert bass clef)- 4th grade
Tuba- 5th grade (both tubas quit two weeks before the Christmas concert)
Bass Guitar/Jazz Tuba- 7th grade (tuba for the stuff I couldn't play on bass)
bass trombone- 9th grade (no jazz tuba in a REAL HS jazz ensemble, tenor chops were long gone...or never developed...)
now doing 3 All-State auditions (tuba, euph, voice)

Kevin Hendrick · Post by **Kevin Hendrick** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 12:15 am

Accordion - 2nd grade
Alto sax - 5th grade
Cornet - 7th grade (mid-year)
Tuba - summer between 8th and 9th grade

EQueg · Post by **EQueg** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 12:40 am

I actually started on the clarinet in 5th grade because my Dad loves it, but got really tired of being made fun of while walking to football practice with my clarinet in one hand and shoulder pads in the other...so I switched to the Tuba. Yeah, that'll teach em to make fun of me

JohnMCooper · Post by **JohnMCooper** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 12:52 pm

Started on trombone in 5th grade, added baritone in 7th grade. Started playing bass t-bone in 9th grade (jazz band) and euphonium in the symphonic band. Stuck with bass t-bone for many years after high school playing in local jazz bands.

In my mid 40's, some of the guys in one of the bands wanted to start a brass quintet. They voted me on the tuba part. Started off playing the tuba part on a borrowed Hirsbrunner Euph (wow, what a fine horn that was) until I found my 184.

I have since started bringing the tuba to the jazz band and played for a few years in the local community orchestra.

chipster55 · Post by **chipster55** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 1:18 pm

I played trumpet/cornet from 4th-9th grade. When I tried out for the HS band in 10th grade, I was told there were enough trumpet players in 11th & 12th grade and 10th graders weren't going to get to march, but tuba players were needed. The rest, as they say, is history; I played tuba throughout high school and had a lot more fun than if I had stayed on trumpet. Besides, whoever heard of a TrumpetChristmas??

Paul Scott · Post by **Paul Scott** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 10:06 pm

Started on clarinet in 1973 at age 10. Quit that and started Eb tuba lessons in 1975 at age 12; then switched to BBb in 1978 at age 15.
During all of this time I also played cornet and drums on my own.

I still think that starting young players on Eb is a good idea-it made playing the tuba quite natural at a young age. Small BBbs are ok but I think Ebs were better.