Eggshell Treading...

[Billy M.]

Ok, so Christmas has come and gone and an ensemble I'm in has come back to rehearsing (sweet, I love etudes but I needed something new to play to keep from becoming bored).

While in, a fellow player sat down with his brand new horn.

Backstory: The youngin' was playing on a good Czech horn that his church let him use but had continued to ask my opinion on horns and what to buy... I thought I was wise to tell him if he wanted to pursue music as a career that he should talk with his future instructor about what would be worth purchasing (we all know that our tubas are an investment). I encouraged him to not be too quick to jump on a purchase because hindsight and buyer's remorse are terrible things to haunt someone.

So in he comes, excited as could be that his parents had purchased him a brand new tuba: a intermediate top-action BBb.

I congratulated him on his new horn (I wasn't able to do something like this when I was his age) but had to exercise self-control to avoid being an absolute kill-joy after he told how much they spent on it and where he'd done his research (:: sigh :: misinformed non-tuba playing educators). (He told me how much and all I could think of was the number of different very high quality used horns he could have searched out, tested, and bought)

Now my dilemma is this: I know he'll continue to ask my opinion and for help wherever I can give it (outside of lessons) and I know that I'm not going to lie to him. When asked, how does one the broach the subject that his parents made a practically uninformed purchase and where would you recommend going from there?

Like I said, I'm not gonna lie to the kid but at the same time I don't want to lead him on to thinking that his horn purchase was a step forward for what he wanted to do.

[Dan Schultz]

I wouldn't say anything. Hopefully... his parents got the horn on a rent to own contract and can just turn it back in if interest wanes.

As long as the fellow and his parents are happy... that's all that counts at this point.

[bort]

I agree, I wouldn't say anything.

Worst case, how many more years until he starts to apply for/go to college? Not THAT long, right? Maybe let him try your tuba as well, and he can see how it plays (much better), and he can form his own opinions? Life moves a lot faster at that age, and things have a way of correcting themselves.

That said, I've seen some kids make great tuba sounds for horrible instruments. This guy's situation might not be ideal, but it's not totally bad.

[CNCBrass]

Tell him he is very fortunate that his parents are in a position to provide him with a tuba of his own. Many parents are not in this position. Also tell him to practice his a$$ off on this horn and be the best he can possibly be. Encourage him to learn and apply good habits in his playing. These are the most valuable things he can learn now that will apply to any horn whether or not someone else thinks it is a good horn or not.

DH

[swillafew]

Don't ruin the student's parade, get them to wring every bit of potential out of it. I complained about a horn once, and it was the wrong thing to say, believe me.

[MacedoniaTuba]

Tell him he is very fortunate that his parents are in a position to provide him with a tuba of his own. Many parents are not in this position. Also tell him to practice his a$$ off on this horn and be the best he can possibly be. Encourage him to learn and apply good habits in his playing. These are the most valuable things he can learn now that will apply to any horn whether or not someone else thinks it is a good horn or not.

DH

+1 for this. And a huge + for blokes words about spending bunch of money on stupid things like fast cars,drugs,alcohol and etc.
When i told to my boss and all my friends that after washing dishes for 4 and a half months for 12 hours per day,every day,i am going to buy a tuba they said you are crazy,better buy a car or whatever. I don't think I'll ever regret for that.

[Kevin Hendrick]

If you're talking about "paying around $7000 for a Yamaha 321", a whole bunch of people do that every year.

"We" can't save the world...and (except for its un-trendy configuration) it's not that bad of a tuba.

Not bad at all -- I played one for several years in high school (it had just gone into production at the time!) and did very well with it.

Don't ruin the student's parade, get them to wring every bit of potential out of it. I complained about a horn once, and it was the wrong thing to say, believe me.

Well said.

[roughrider]

If you're talking about "paying around $7000 for a Yamaha 321", a whole bunch of people do that every year.

"We" can't save the world...and (except for its un-trendy configuration) it's not that bad of a tuba.

A ton of people blow much more on casinos, gas-station lotteries, dorn/strippers/whores, cig's, beer, cannabis, crack, hypochondria, show-out clothes, thirty-thousand-dollar-millionaire-tote-the-note cars, etc., etc...

once again: See line 2, above.

I am one of those people who purchased a Holton/Yamaha 321 from a renowned "mid-south dealer" on this very site. It is a fine tuba and you know what? The more I practice the better it sounds and it serves me just fine as a member of a really good community band. As for the above "problem", I would follow the advice of "Tuba Tinker" and just let them enjoy the moment. If this player really sticks with the tuba, he'll learn soon enough that the sound he makes on it is what really matters as opposed to "more expensive must be better"!

[royjohn]

Billy M.,

Back to your original question, I think I kind of know where you're coming from. I'm not a tuba expert, but I do know something about trumpets. When on the trumpet forums, it often seems to me that people are hung up on new from the local store, when I see that there are used horns which are undervalued gems. I also tend to be a person who wants it as cheap as I can get it, even if this means looking around a lot or buying off craigslist and fixing it up, etc. As such, I seem to feel compelled to try to convert people who are living in a whole different universe. I have a need to tell them something, but, upon reflection, they don't have a need to hear it and don't listen to it.

So I would say this is a psychology question as well as a tuba question. What is he really asking? It quite possibly isn't "Did my parents get me a great tuba or make a bad decision?" It might be "don't you think this is a great tuba for me?" So it could be that it's fruitless to tell someone something which they aren't ready to hear. This kind of situation is frustrating for me, maybe for you, too. I don't want to lie, but I also don't want to waste time telling someone what they don't want to hear and destroying my relationship with them in the bargain. I like the "well, it's probably not what I would have bought . . ." and then segue into some question on which you could be of help. "Let's trade horns" would also work, and it will tell you whether this person is psychologically prepared to know that your horn plays better than his. If he doesn't remark on that, then he refuses to perceive it or just doesn't play well enough to sense it. Either way, he's just not ready for what you want to tell him.

With young people, I always find it frustrating that they are often not ready to hear what we want to tell them. My former foster son is visiting us and his grades, which used to include a couple of D's and F's each semester, are now A's and B's. he used to have all kinds of excuses for this, but when I asked about the improved grades, he said, "Well, I decided I really would like to try college, so I am putting in more effort." This led to a discussion about possible careers, which he is now ready for, but wasn't before.

Sorry this is so long . . . I think the relevant questions are "What is this person really asking for?" and "What is this person ready to listen to, work on, etc."

Good luck, I'm sure you can teach him something, even if, at present it isn't "gosh, we made a stupid purchase!"

[royjohn]

The inimitable Kiltie Tuba wrote:

This is highly subjective to PERSONAL taste.

You can't make a blanket statement by claiming that one instrument plays superior to another. If this was true there would be one model of tuba - this is not the case.

Well, perhaps that's something you should address (or are you addressing him?) to the OP, not me. I was talking about the OP and his young friend and both their personal tastes and whether the OP should communicate his opinion to the young friend.

As to the objective truth, I'd have to agree that there is almost none in tuba preferences, if you want to get technical. However, as a practical matter, there are horns where it's a matter of opinion (such as glorious sound, but suspect intonation which you have to work around) and horns where a majority of players would agree that they are just dogs (such as not so glorious sound, not such great mechanics and lousy intonation).

Not looking for a fight here, and willing to concede that until there's an International Scientific Tuba Metric Society Rating Scale, there's nothing but personal taste. It's just that sometimes a lot of persons agree on their taste and sometimes not.