The way we(tuba players) look

Ames0325 · Post by **Ames0325** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 12:31 am

Well I can't say I fit the stereotype but it is cause we play damn big instruments. When I said I wanted to play tuba, my band teacher looked at me like I was crazy. Teachers often hand big kids the tubas simply because they can handle them. Seriously those of us who are smaller have a disadvantage because it makes for both transporting and playing a bit more of a physical challenge.

Amy

Carroll · Post by **Carroll** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 12:41 am

???
http://www.music.wisc.edu/html/bios/stevens.html
http://www.uni.edu/drfun/FunderburkIndex.html
http://www.music.psu.edu/Faculty%20Pages/brownbf.html
http://www.silvercornet.com/long.html
http://www.uky.edu/FineArts/Music/facul ... _gray.html
http://www.baadsvik.com/
http://music.asu.edu/faculty/pilafian.htm

Dylan King · Post by **Dylan King** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 3:14 am

Yes, we do look like linemen.
Mellow Smoke Man
6'4" 330 lbs Raider Fan

My high school and even college coach at UCLA tried to recruit me. But I am much better at ping pong than football.

http://www.geocities.com/dylanking@sbcg ... aiders.jpg

So, did the Raiders make the superbowl this year?

The Impaler · Post by **The Impaler** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 8:52 am

You know the stereotype that all of us tuba players look like lineman? Why is it so true?

Because it's true. I played on the offensive line for my high school football team. Ten years later, I still hurt from it. Wow, am I glad I play tuba & euph!

Matt G · Post by **Matt G** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 9:09 am

I've seen all types.

Warren Deck, Gene Pokorny, Mike Roylance, and Chris Olka are all of an athletic/muscular build.

I've also seen beanpole-type folks good at the tuba and guys not much over 5-foot tall who were good.

Here is a page with quite a few tuba players:

http://www.oswego.org/staff/jladd2/web/tuba.htm

It does seem like a good percentage of the orchestral guys are well built folk.

I never played football, instead I wrestled in high school. In the highest weight class.

Here's a crappy pic of me...

Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting

On another note, how many of us own dogs...

I bet it is a larger number than the normal populous as well.

Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting

Tubaryan12 · Post by **Tubaryan12** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 9:15 am

college coach at UCLA tried to recruit me

ditto but exchange Tuskegee for UCLA

I am much better at ping pong than football

ditto as well...maybe we need a TubeNet Ping Pong Tournament

MaryAnn · Post by **MaryAnn** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 9:18 am

Ames0325 wrote:Well I can't say I fit the stereotype but it is cause we play damn big instruments. When I said I wanted to play tuba, my band teacher looked at me like I was crazy. Teachers often hand big kids the tubas simply because they can handle them. Seriously those of us who are smaller have a disadvantage because it makes for both transporting and playing a bit more of a physical challenge.

Amy

By the time I took up tuba all my friends were used to my doing weird stuff...actually it happened mainly because the brass band conductor needed an Eb tuba and she already knew I could pick up instruments fast. So I switched from the bass bone part (played on euph) to the Eb tuba part. Glad I did, too, because the very most fun is playing concerts and seeing the women in the audience start pointing fingers as I hoist the thing up into my lap....
I'm holding steady at around 5'3" and 100 lbs....only real problem is lung size, and I've started a serious quest to learn to circular breathe. I figure if Sam Pilafian tells me I get a good tone, that's sufficient encouragement for me to keep playing. You know, he's not all that big either....built like a fire plug but not much taller than I am.

MA, "Tuba Shrimp-a-Ruba"

Lew · Post by **Lew** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 10:00 am

I think the majority of tuba players (of course not all) are larger than average because our instruments are larger than average. When I was 6' 4" tall in 8th grade, when I added tuba to my cello playing, what other band instrument would you expect me to pick up? I would look silly playing a piccolo (although I know some very large flute players). At 6' 5" and 235 I think tuba fits me just right, although I may have to gain a little weight to fully fit the stereotype.

Liberty Mo · Post by **Liberty Mo** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 10:28 am

As long as you can still fit inside a sousaphone, I would say your a typical tubist. When this becomes difficult or impossible, you become a Flag Corps member....

Matt G · Post by **Matt G** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 10:36 am

Liberty Mo wrote:As long as you can still fit inside a sousaphone, I would say your a typical tubist. When this becomes difficult or impossible, you become a Flag Corps member....

LOL

That is funny, but derogatory..

But sometimes very, very true.

Tabor · Post by **Tabor** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 1:05 pm

Well, I had 136 tackles my senior year of High School on the defensive line....

-T

Matt G · Post by **Matt G** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 1:48 pm

Doc wrote:
Hey Gilchrest,

I don't know about that "athletic build" stuff. If you had said "gorilla" or "silverback" I would have stood up and been accounted for. I never was the "jock" type. I enjoyed playing tuba, playing golf, and drinking beer much more than playing football. I rarely watch it on TV anymore.

Doc (who's certainly not that athletic anymore)

Next time you go to a store that sells men's suits, ask about the "athletic" cut and you'll see where I'm coming from.

Captain Sousie · Post by **Captain Sousie** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 2:02 pm

I myself don't fit the stereotype. I am 5'8" and weigh 175. One of my best sousaphone line players in college was called Itty-Bitty. She was about 5'2" and weighed 85 pounds at her heaviest. She could pump as much good sound as both of her 6'3"/6'6"-250 pound plus section mates. Her air capacity was not as big but she figured out how to make up for it.

I'm out,
Captain Sousie

Edit,
By the way, for those of you who don't know. Put the word 'tubist' into microsoft word and hit the spell checker.

ThomasDodd · Post by **ThomasDodd** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 2:21 pm

tuben wrote:Well, without getting into this too much, we ALL don't look like linemen.

Robert Coulter (6'1" 160lbs, mo)
Georgia Brass Band

5'9" 145lbs. Marched (big King sousaphones) with a great player who was 5'4" 135lbs, and he could slide as easily as most of us march straight. I swear he could get his shoulders behind him. We called him Gumby

ThomasDodd · Post by **ThomasDodd** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 2:23 pm

Captain Sousie wrote: By the way, for those of you who don't know. Put the word 'tubist' into microsoft word and hit the spell checker.

Not the first time they have been guilty of stereotypes...

Tabor · Post by **Tabor** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 2:56 pm

r8chl wrote:Where I went to grad school, there was a young woman who was all of 5' 0", and possibly 110 lbs. She carried around a Hirsbrunner on her back that appeared about 2x her size....

Yes, but how many tackles did she have?

-T

Captain Sousie · Post by **Captain Sousie** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 3:01 pm

Fortissimosca wrote:I'm still curious, a student teacher in the music department at my high school said that there's a specific "tuba player haircut?"
Anyone concur?

Yes, a big fro like mine.

Sousie

Tabor · Post by **Tabor** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 3:05 pm

r8chl wrote:Where I went to grad school, there was a young woman who was all of 5' 0", and possibly 110 lbs. She carried around a Hirsbrunner on her back that appeared about 2x her size....

Yes, but how many tackles did she have?

-T

hurricane_harry · Post by **hurricane_harry** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 5:09 pm

my high school consists of me 5'9 150 and another player 5'7 170 plus the high school across town that consistes of tall sticks who play tuba. i had not known of this stereotype untill i had attened my first western regional rehersal. (i got first chair

) it was a line of 8 guys 6'+ husky guys and me. if you wanna see us breaking this stereotype goto a DCI competition and look at the contra lines. course thats whatcha get after a summer of DCI

dopey · Post by **dopey** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 5:21 pm

i miss the stereotype by build and haircut.. guess im playing the wrong instrument!

Im about 5'11 and 160 lbs.. not a big guy. As for hair up till a couple days ago I had longer hair, very curly(natural). which is how I normally have it except when I want it shorter (Summer, or in this case my job)..

I play soccer, rather than football.