Dorky tuba player stereotype?

[MartyNeilan]

It would have been much cooler if he took a bow and knocked out the cameraman!

There was just something weird about that lady who builds mannequins - it looked like she was holding dismembered body parts.

[bort]

Well, at least he's not fat. We've broken through that stereotype. I'll consider it progress.

[Bigmanontuba]

Amen to that brass brother

[Moosecalibur]

now it's time to break the other stereotype: being REALLY tall

[tubaguy9]

now it's time to break the other stereotype: being REALLY tall

Speak for yourself...

[Bob Kolada]

now it's time to break the other stereotype: being REALLY tall

Speak for yourself...

Speak for YOURself!!

[TubaBobH]

Did you notice how he was holding the sousaphone with his left hand. It has been a while since I played a sousaphone, but I still remember that you can't just daintily lay your forefinger and index on top of the tuba and control it. It looks very unnatural, and it is not what a "real sousaphone player" would do. He is obviously just an actor holding a sousaphone.

(I can't believe I am taking the time to analyze how a sousaphone is being held in a commercial and then taking the time to comment on it. I think I have been on Holiday vacation a little too long. I gotta get back to work!)

[Dave Seip]

now it's time to break the other stereotype: being REALLY tall

I dunno, that sounds pretty painful.

[saktoons]

And as soon as he puts the mouthpiece to his lips, he knocks off his dorky hat. Why isn't he wearing a beret like the really cool sousaphone players do?

[David Richoux]

I am more amused by the average press report about tuba or Sousaphone players being something really "unusual!" I have an automatic Google search for both of those words running and turns up some amazingly stupid results. Some of the writers act like this is a bizarre (and until just now) unknown musical instrument.

It is not like there are many thousands of us all over the world, playing in all kinds of bands, orchestras or whatever for the last 150 years or so. It may be that the instrument is large; or not a trumpet, piano, or violin; or that it plays low notes - I don't know. A Bass Guitar or Double Bass plays the same notes, probably has about as many people playing them as tubas, but there are nowhere near as many strange reactions to those instruments.

Also, we aren't all Dorks, at least not all of the time, unless we wanna

[bearphonium]

Well, lets see...fat? Check. Tall? Nope. Dorky? Sometimes.

Our marching band made the local paper twice...both featuring pictures of the sousaphone player. I was calling it my best fashion accessory, 'cause that is the only way I'll get in there. The fellow who wrote the article that hit the front page was from the small town (Creswell) that was having its 100th birthday and dedicating its brand new city hall was just enamoured of the tid bit of information that the tuba player in the band (which was a paying gig that lends value to my borrowed middle school sousaphone, but I digress) was also the town deputy sheriff. The second was a story on the closing of our old "register of historic places" baseball stadium. I was sitting on the end, so I made a convenient contact. It helped that one of our guys hit a home run, causing me to cheer.

[dvtuba]

the other stereotype that i'm a little tired of is every movie/tv show/commercial/etc...they ALWAYS seem to depict the "fat guy" with a tuba solo. i guess you could argue that it all started w/ Jabba the Hut, but at least that was an awesome solo (and not really all that stereotypical since a lot of my non-musical friends didn't even realize that it was a tuba playing)...

i guess i understand the WHY of it all (the solo for the fat kid from "Hook" was awesome, too, and i suppose a clarinet solo wouldn't have made too much sense), but still...

[Rick Denney]

The fat-guy stereotype has its basis in fact: In the 6th and 7th grade, when kids are pointed to instruments, the big kids get pointed to the tubas, if nothing else because they can hold them up. I'm quite sure that's why I was (pleasantly) manipulated into choosing the tuba when I first showed up to join the band in 7th grade.

And you guys will need to go back a long way to find the relationship between tuba players and general goofiness. (A dork is a pejorative rather than derisive description such as geek, nerd, or goof. Granted, Dudley Laywicker, the sousaphone talent-show soloist in Hollywood Knights was both a geek and a dork, but he was cured of being a dork during the movie, but was still a sousaphone player.) Can When Yuba Played the Rhumba on the Tuba be anything but goofy? What about Beelzebub? What about Where's Officer Tuba? Was Dan Aykroyd being dorky or pleasantly goofy in My Girl?

Given that Jabba the Hut was not exactly a goofy character, I don't see how the tuba connects to goofiness in that context. He also wasn't a dork. Much too evil for either. I suspect the use of the tuba for Jabba the Hut denoted ponderousness, and that isn't a stereotype but a simple fact, though it does feed the fat tuba-player stereotype.

Tubas can easily make people laugh. Why do we feel as though we have to fight that wonderful reaction?

Rick "who passed 200 pounds (the first time) in the 8th grade" Denney

[David Richoux]

Well, lets see...fat? Check. Tall? Nope. Dorky? Sometimes.

Our marching band made the local paper twice...both featuring pictures of the sousaphone player. I was calling it my best fashion accessory, 'cause that is the only way I'll get in there. snip

I have been on the front page of the Sacramento Bee with my Sousaphone twice (Sacramento Jazzfest coverage) and in many other photos taken at our performances around the world. The bell painting draws a lot of attention, but that is what it is there for!

[The Big Ben]

I once saw a video of former Chicago Bears player William "The Refrigerator" Perry jumping from the floor to a tabletop about 30" high and back to the floor again and do it ten times in rapid succession. Fridge was weighing almost 350 lbs. at the time.

If people realized that the tuba could be agile and mobile as well as providing the solid bottom for a polka or Dixie band, I would be happy as a tuba player. I played a series of tuba solos for my family this Christmas and they were surprised that the tuba could sound beautiful as a melody instrument.

Dorky tuba stereotype? I can live with it and it sure is fun showing people what the tuba can do when given the opportunity. I love showing a YouTube of Wynton Marsalis doing 'Carnival of Venice" and then following it up with Oystein Baasvick. Jaws drop. Kinda like mine did when I saw The Fridge kip up onto that tabletop....

[TexTuba]

Well, let's see:

I was put on tuba in 6th grade because I was fat.
I continue to be quite fat.
I get REALLY dorky when it comes to tuba-related stuff.
I can drink with the best of them.
I enjoy spending time with musicians...even better if they're tuba players!
I know I'm getting into Heaven because I took pity on a sax player and married her...

[Mister JP]

Good discussion, but I'm in the same boat as TexTuba... keeping the sterotypes alive

I stand 6'4"
I'm currently weighing in at about 280 (in my avatar pic I'm probably 40 lbs lighter)
I didn't date until college - because I'm so awkward with women
I drink quite a bit (well, I'm also Irish, so double whammy there)
I also love comic books (graphic arts is my 9-5)
favorite sport: Bowling
Married a clarinet player

[David Richoux]

Good discussion, but I'm in the same boat as TexTuba... keeping the sterotypes alive

I stand 6'4"
I'm currently weighing in at about 280 (in my avatar pic I'm probably 40 lbs lighter)
I didn't date until college - because I'm so awkward with women
I drink quite a bit (well, I'm also Irish, so double whammy there)
I also love comic books (graphic arts is my 9-5)
favorite sport: Bowling
Married a clarinet player

Check
Check (+/-)
Check (only tuba player in High School, so that is obvious.)
Check (but I am Scotch-Irish and Cajun so that may be a Triple)
Check (Industrial Design with Graphics Minor)
Bicycle Racing
Married a music fan who cannot play any instrument...

Destined to Eternal Dorkdom?
Probably - ( for example - see my collection of Tuba Kitsch in the ClipArt section )

Proud to be a Tuba Player?
YES!

[tubashaman2]

.

[David Richoux]

Is it just me, or does the sousaphone only have one tuning bit, if any at all...seems to be an actor to me.

True that - looks like none or maybe one bit, possibly. Also, the horn is resting on the furthest part of his shoulder - looks like it might fall off in a second!