Playing tuba after a 25 year layoff

[tubajaredD]

Hello Tubenet. I recently purchased my first horn and I have had it for 5 months practicing everyday..scales, sightreading, improving embouchure, and constantly increasing technique. My instructor in the 80s was David Randolph and I was an advanced player in high school.

My teacher is a graduate student of Jim Self...Joe Jackson (USC). He has been fantastic.

I am attending college for the first time @ 45 as an Applied Music major at Santa Monica College. I am soooo nervous and I sometimes feel too old to do this but I can see constant improvement.

Can you Veteran tuba players give me some more advice to ease my nervousness...thanks.

[Dan Schultz]

I quit playing when I was 22 and resumed at 50. I thought I was pretty good at 22. But... at 66, I now feel I'm a better than I ever was. There's no need to push yourself to extremes or worry. It will come.

(pssst... this is the 'for sale' section)

[millingworth]

You have posted in Non-Music ‹ For Sale. You might do better in Music ‹ TubeNet.

I returned to the tuba after 50 years and am enjoying it. Have a look at
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=47155" target="_blank" target="_blank for some useful comments.

Mark I

[The Big Ben]

Hello Tubenet. I recently purchased my first horn and I have had it for 5 months practicing everyday..scales, sightreading, improving embouchure, and constantly increasing technique. My instructor in the 80s was David Randolph and I was an advanced player in high school.

My teacher is a graduate student of Jim Self...Joe Jackson (USC). He has been fantastic.

I am attending college for the first time @ 45 as an Applied Music major at Santa Monica College. I am soooo nervous and I sometimes feel too old to do this but I can see constant improvement.

Can you Veteran tuba players give me some more advice to ease my nervousness...thanks.

I'm 55 and had never played a tuba until I was 50. I played the trumpet and french horn in HS and a little bit in a community orchestra. I'm not in a group but still enjoying playing at home. I have a pile of music and etude books to keep me amused. The closest "real" tuba teacher is about 50 miles away so I haven't taken many lessons but seem to do just fine limping along.

My advice is to try to avoid the 'equipment game'. Get a horn and a mouthpiece, a tuner and metronome and music to play. That, along with a good teacher, should do you for awhile.

[tubajaredD]

Thank you all for your advice gentleman. And for advice I will post in the appropriate area.

[DonShirer]

Your'e doing things right, Jared. You have a teacher, and should be able to find ensembles to play with at your college or local community bands. I, too, stopped playing from college graduation until age 72, but I am really enjoying the activity in my retirement. It took some practice, but the lip did return. One thing you might like is to look up orchestral and band scores in a good music library (CA universities ought to be good sources for this) and read through the tuba parts of orchestral and band scores.