Vacationing with a tuba?

[tubasaz]

Weril 680J...

[Dave Hayami]

The family took a 30 day, 8800 mile rv trip the summer before my stepsons first year in HS band. We packed 2 Yamaha 102 BBb horns and practiced both inside and outside of the RV in almost all of the 27 states we visited.
When I was in college, I packed my 186CC and practiced inside my tent in Yosemite. My friend, out on a bike ride could hear me practicing across the valley and enjoyed the looks of other campers trying to find out where the sound was coming from.(silly vacation 2 weeks before juries) When I worked at a mountain camp for the YMCA(7,000ft above sea level), I brought along a sousaphone to play revile. Have fun.
dave hayami

[Tubajug]

It wasn't exactly a vacation, but I was a scoutmaster a few years ago and brought a small Eb tuba to our week-long camp. The best opportunity I had to play it was when we had to "bug out" of camp and spend the night in a high school gym due to tornado warnings in our area. I played a few tunes to keep the kids entertained before lights out. I also played taps at bedtime (another leader came up to me later and said that his two favorite songs are "taps" and "The Star Spangled Banner" and that my "taps" was one of the best he's heard. That was certainly nice to hear!) and reveille in the morning.

The tuba was small enough to toss in the van, light enough to carry with all my other gear., and fit under my cot in my tent. I had a good time and got lots of good comments from people! After our "bug out" most people recognized me as the "tuba guy." Fun stuff!