The Heartbreak of Modern Air Travel with Large Instruments

[tubatom91]

I cant even imagine how to transport a harp! I feel sorry for them every time I see the moving one. The two harpists in the youth orchestra I'm in are two very petite girls, I feel bad when I complain about lugging my tuba around.

[eupher61]

I cant even imagine how to transport a harp! I feel sorry for them every time I see the moving one. The two harpists in the youth orchestra I'm in are two very petite girls, I feel bad when I complain about lugging my tuba around.

so, help 'em out, Tom...score some points, you never know...

[sloan]

' nice idea, but no matter how specifically requests regarding "set-up" might be, most all rental instruments suck.

bloke "who feels particularly sorry for pianists"

Well, it's all about priorities, costs, and benefits.

For pianists, over a very broad range of competence, all pianos have the same "setup" - but they all "feel" different. Players learn from an early age to deal with it. When they get good enough, they might start paying for custom tuning. No one asks why the airlines won't allow them to carry on the piano as hand luggage. Name 5 pianists who ship their personal pianos on tour.

Harps seem to me to be right up there with pianos.

Double-basses seem right at the balance point. It's hard to imagine a shipping container that is strong enough and convenient enough to ship by air, even if many folk wrap them in a blanket and toss them in the back of the station wagon (it gives the driver an armrest...). On the other hand, if you tour, and your ensemble does not supply bearers, "rent-a-bass" is a great idea. No hassles with: "what key", "how many strings", "silver of lacquer", "long whole step or ..." IN A PINCH, any bassist ought to be able to turn in an acceptable performance on just about any reasonable instrument offered up by the rent-a-bass folk. But...bring your own bow, no?

Anything smaller than a tuba (and many small tubas) works well within the constraints of air travel.

So...contemplate the poor tuba. 4 keys, 4 different NUMBERS of valves (not getting into what the valves actually do) with multiple variations on where the buttons are. Small enough that the owner thinks of it as "luggage" and big enough that the airline thinks of it as "freight".

It seems to me that the successful tubist who tours frequently (yeah, all 5 of them) would benefit from playing a vanilla configuration guaranteed to be available in any town large enough to have an airport.

Question: how do "drumsets" travel?

[Tuba Guy]

I don't think this should be such a problem. I work with different tubas as often as I can so that in case I need to do something on a horn that isn't mine, I would be able to still pass it off as a good performance. Of course, I love my little tuba, but I always keep my transpositions and ears up. I know which notes and combinations I need to adjust slides on for mine, but when using someone else's horn, I can adjust to it quickly enough.
Even this week, my tuba is getting a sonic cleaning, and so I'm borrowing my teacher's PT6. After a couple of scales, I was able to figure out relatively where tuning was on the horn, and pull off a good rehearsal. I don't think that we should be so glued to one single horn, and that we should learn to play "tuba", not "this tuba."
All of that being said, I think that as a tuba community, we should all be willing to share instruments like in the rent-a-bass thing. If a tuba player comes to the area, and doesn't have a horn, I think we should share let them borrow an instrument. Say what the quirks of the particular horn are, take a security deposit (to make sure they don't run off with it), and let them go about their playing.

[TubaRay]

All of that being said, I think that as a tuba community, we should all be willing to share instruments like in the rent-a-bass thing. If a tuba player comes to the area, and doesn't have a horn, I think we should share let them borrow an instrument.

Speaking for myself only, I might be willing to lend a tuba to someone I know and trust, but there is no possible way this would happen with someone I don't know. It is simply not going to happen. And, yes, I know this makes me a mean person. I belong in the same category and Wade, and others, who were simply born mean. In fact, I have been working on that skill for years, now.

[lgb&dtuba]

All of that being said, I think that as a tuba community, we should all be willing to share instruments like in the rent-a-bass thing. If a tuba player comes to the area, and doesn't have a horn, I think we should share let them borrow an instrument.

Can I borrow yours?

Seriously, I'd loan out my toothbrush before I'd loan out my tuba. No, I'd give you my toothbrush. I can afford to buy another toothbrush.

I don't let people I've known for years borrow my tuba. I wouldn't even consider loaning it to someone I didn't know. It has been my experience that when you loan anything out there's a good chance it will get damaged somehow or lost and the borrower always has an excuse for why it wasn't their fault (like that somehow absolves them of responsibility). And why they should not or will not pay for repairs or replacement. No matter what they said when they borrowed the item.

As far as "we should all be willing to share instruments", you want to share yours, go right ahead. The rest of us will make up our own minds.

[1895King]

I have a good friend who is in the Air Force stationed in D.C. who comes back to Montana every couple of years. All he has to do to use my 186 is ask.
About 20 years ago our Statewide Symphonic Band played at the Northwest MENC convention in Seattle and as I had a pickup, I got to haul all of the tubas and the baritone Saxophone over and back. I couldn't do that again as I don't have a topper on my current truck.

[Tuba Guy]

As long as someone is responsible, and can be proven as such, then I think there is nothing wrong with lending someone a tuba. One of my colleagues and I have an understanding that we can borrow the other's horn whenever necissary as long as that person isn't using it. And my professor lets me borrow one of his horns whenever mine is in the shop (right now, I get to use the kickass PT6).
If you need to borrow a horn in the Stockton area, let me know. Long as you are responsible, I won't have reservations about it. Of course, why you would ever want to come to Stockton...I don't know

[Rick Denney]

If I ask myself honestly, of course I'd be very careful about whom I would loan or rent any of my horns. But we do have a "referral" system built-in right here on the TN. I'd trust someone with good credentials/recommendations from "known" folks here....

I suggest that Tubenet might not be the best means of determining such. We only get a view of people from one direction, especially with the vast majority of folks who don't post often.

I have loaned instruments to people I met online, but only for use at events I was also attending (perhaps with a different instrument). The folks on Tubenet to whom I would loan instruments without reservation would be those who I have met and found trustworthy in the three-dimensional world. Some I have known for years and trust absolutely, but that trust was earned outside Tubenet. I would expect no less in return.

For example, let's say a Tubenet luminary borrowed one of my tubas and put a bit dent in it. Then, let's say that person is apologetic but doesn't have the insurance or the money to make it right. What do I do? Declare him untrustworthy on Tubenet? Send him daily duns by PM? I just don't see how Tubenet can practically serve this purpose. And how would I have known from reading Tubenet that he didn't have the resources to be responsible for his accidents? Lots of good guys don't, especially in the music world. I would rather stay friends with them by not putting them in the position of needing more resources than they have.

The alternative would be to create a business of loaning instrument, charge for it, and then use the proceeds to cover my costs, including buying my own insurance.

Rick "thinking this is a job for free enterprise" Denney