"Your begginings" as a good Tuba Player

[tubatooter1940]

Sometimes waiting for music to come to you doesn't work.If you want a position,you may have to create it.Get with some of your band buddies and form an ensemble to play any music you consider saleable.You may have to staff it,reherse it and book it yourself but you can make good music and earn a little cabbage.
tubatooter1940

[Arkietuba]

A few years ago in high school (I'm now a college freshmen)...my 10th grade high school director told me that the community concert band needed a tuba player and I had just made All-State so he thought I could handle it. I remember the first rehearsal I went to...90% of the musicians were over 50 yrs old (we even had a euphonium player who was close to 90). I was the only tuba player in a 100 piece band. Those were great times. Now in college I have a few groups that I'm in ranging from a quintet to a full tuba ensemble and now we're working on a brass ensemble for Phi Mu Alpha.

[tubeast]

Tubachris,

see if there are ensembles in your local area that could make use of a fine tubist. In Germany, there are lots of "trombone choirs" (literal translation for a group of maybe 4 trumpets, four trombones, and a tuba, usually lacking the latter, performing in church). In my experience, most of the time it´s the tubist that´s missing. People tend to be extremely grateful for signs of cultivated sound
From there it was a short way to go to brass quintet, and that´s where (some) money and (a lot of) fun were.
Maybe you can find other ambitioned musicians at school or in parishes to team up with. Church usually provides a pool of information on other people´s interests.
Good luck and keep it going

Hans

[tofu]

When I was in HS we formed a small group / trumpet,trombone,tuba,drums & a clarinet/sax player. We primarily played Dixieland, but added polka's, big band swing scaled down and even things like college football fight songs.

We started out playing at nursing homes for free (the old people were thrilled and I never remember a gig where they didn't on their own pass the hat). We got to play (and improve in a live audience situation) as well as got our name around. Pretty soon we were playing & charging for private parties, weddings and anniversaries, old car meets, car shows, business conventions and company meetings, things like the Knights of Columbus & conventions etc. and really making pretty good money.

Check out what a DJ charges in your area and charge that. Split 5 ways for a couple hours work for HS kids is pretty good money. Plus you would be amazed how many cans of free beer you can stuff in a tuba in its case;-)

We loved & primarily played jazz, but you will be amazed how much people would go nuts with the polkas. Nobody admits to liking polkas but it still never fails to amaze me how you can liven up a dull gig by getting folks out on the dance floor. With the above instrumentation you can cover a wide array of music.

We played all through college and usually did one - two gigs every weekend. In summary we had a ton of fun, made better money than working at a burger joint and really honed our craft. If you can round up a few guys you can do it to.

Good Luck!

[chevy68chv]

My highschool band wasn't very good, so I started playing with a youth orchestra and other community bands.

[winston]

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[Leland]

My mom got me into the brass quintet she was playing in at church, and a month or so after that I started playing in the community band that both mom & dad were already performing with. After that, I'd fill in with other groups that my parents were associated with (sometimes on tuba, others on trombone, euph, bass drum, cymbals, snare, etc), or found sightread-on-stage gigs with another band, or whatnot.

I had just as much fun, if not more, doing those things than nearly anything I played in the academic world. Music ain't only for students (despite what Plato said).

[JayW]

well I was extremely fortunate to have a band director who is an advocate of community groups. When I was a sophomore he invited me to sit in on a community brass band he conducted after my constant nagging him about it.. Through that group I slowly started to network and soon found myself being invited to play all over by the time I was a senior. I am very proud to say that i am still a member of several of those groups/ensembles.

Be as ACTIVE as you can be. Dont wait for someone to ask, but try to act on your own and people will recognize that, appreciate it and hopefully you will find your musical experience grow from it.

[ken k]

Sometimes waiting for music to come to you doesn't work.If you want a position,you may have to create it.Get with some of your band buddies and form an ensemble to play any music you consider saleable.You may have to staff it,reherse it and book it yourself but you can make good music and earn a little cabbage.
tubatooter1940

I have tried that on many different levels, only one person, a trombone player was acctually serious about it, but everyone else is lazy about it. I'll keep tryin though. Its just hard tryin to find some kids who would want to spend time, and energy forming a group. I got one trombone player, all we need is 3 more people, and im set. None of the other tubas feel like doin anything either. I guess I'll just have to wait till college to that.

Maybe if im lucky, I'll get a gig down at the local resturant, lol

somday, somday

-tubachris

OK you have a trombone player; start playing duets. don't worry about getting trombone & tuba duets, just get any duet books and write the parts out in bass clef. If you get some pop duets add a drummer and you have yourself a band. Before you know it you will be into arranging and writing all kinds of stuff. That is what happended to me. I started a duo with a sax player we do lounge lizard kind of stuff but it is fun (and we get an occassional gig at a local restaurant!)

You just have to start doing it. Be creatve and you will come up with some great ideas (and unfortunatley some that will not work too, but htat is part of the learngin experience) Once some other kids see what you are doing they may be more interested in joining. Also call a band director at a neighboring school and ask if there would be any good brass players there who might be interested in starting a group. often it can be difficult to get 5 quality players on the right instruments at one school. keep plugging away.

ken k

[Carroll]

One of the things that has permeated all of the responses has been persistence. I have a gigging euphonium quartet... we just kept after it. But I also teach at a very small, rural school. We have 300 students in the entire high school, and it is the only school in the county. We have 30 kids in the band. I have one trumpet player who was itching to play more. He already played in Marching Band, Concert Band and High School Jazz Band. He would come sit in with the Jr. High Jazz Band. Then he started playing "Taps" at funerals and memorial services. This put some coin in his pocket and attracted the attention of other kids. Now we have regularly playing brass groups (a quartet, a quintet, and a sextet) and a woodwing quintet. Kids are always putting together duets and trios and going out to play somewhere. If his persistence can pay off in a town without a traffic light... you can do it where you are, too!

[Joe Baker]

************ LONG POST ALERT ***************

You've been warned.

If you just want more playing opportunities, and aren't particularly concerned about making money right now, make yourself available to churches for special music. Put together a mailer to send to ministers of music. Explain that you play tuba, and are looking for opportunities to play, and that you will provide your services without fee. Either enclose a CD recording of yourself or direct them to a website where they can hear your playing. Send your mailer to local churches, starting with "pretty big" churches (not the biggest, because they already probably have a tuba guy; not the smallest, because they probably never do anything where they can use you).

Some of these guys won't even open the envelope; but you may get a couple of invitations to play. These playing opportunities may or may not be musically rewarding; at first that doesn't even matter. You will have been heard by some local players. Be sure they see you behaving like an adult, dressed appropriately, and very disciplined and self-controlled. During breaks, let them know that you're looking for more playing opportunities. Have a simple business card with your name, "Tuba", phone number, and email address on it, ready to hand to anyone willing to take it.

Also, any all-city/all-region/all-area/all-state type band gatherings are extremely important for building relationships with other good players. If you hear a really good trumpet player warming up, and his t-shirt tells you he's from a nearby school, go over and talk with him. Tell him you noticed his playing, and hoped he might be interested in something you and your trombone player friend are doing. See if he knows a french horn player. Or a good clarinetist.

If you do play in any sort of all-whatever band, try to make a good impression (as both a musician and a mature, polite young man) on the director. My youngest, a 15-year-old trombone player, played in the Knox County (TN) Honor Band last week. The director happened to be my director in the East Tennesse Concert Band, a very good community band. He had never met my son, though, so he was unaware of any link to me. But my son played well and behaved well, and the director was sufficiently taken with my son's playing and demeanor that he invited him to join the virtually all-adult band (in a trombone section not particularly short on trombones, I might add). This director is also very well connected (he's a retired director of bands from a local university), so a referral from him in a couple of years may even help my son win some scholarship money. Of particular note: my son was NOT the best trombone player there, though he is playing very well these days. But in addition to good solid musical skills in a variety of styles, he showed poise, the right balance of confidence and humility, good manners, and a willing attitude. Anyone can learn to triple-tongue; some people never learn to be gracious.

In short, take advantage of every opportunity to connect with other musicians, and conduct yourself in the most professional and mature manner possible when you do. Learn to play another instrument, or even percussion . Never turn down any opportunity to play, even if it doesn't sound like fun. Learn to play chord changes. Buy a fake book. Sing! And be really, really NICE to everyone! Oh, and follow Rick Denney's first law of playing: first, do no harm. If you can't play that very exposed embellishment, leave it out! Even if someone notices it missing (unlikely, really) that's better than EVERYONE noticing it messed up!

BTW, once you're a little more established, you can send out another mailer to those churches, reminding them of your availability but letting them know that, due to the demands on your time, you are no longer able to play without compensation (if you want; for me, playing in church is purely an act of worship. I make my living elsewhere, so if I ever am payed by a church, I endorse the check and drop it in the offering plate. But I'm not suggesting that everyone else should do that, and certainly not suggesting professionals should do so).
_____________________________
Joe Baker, who went through a similar process when he moved to a new area a couple years ago.