Did you ever stop playing? (Or, Life 101.)

[Chriss2760]

Recently, I had a conversation with a member of our town band who had stopped playing for a time due to a difficult marriage/divorce situation. Now that it is over he has returned to playing and plays with a passion that he never had before. He absolutely loves getting his horn out and playing (even just rehearsing.) My own experience is somewhat similar; I stopped playing when I got married and decided to raise a family. I resumed playing 13 years later (10 years ago) and have enjoyed every minute since. It makes me wonder how many of us are out there that have experienced this, and is there anything we might be able to offer younger players in the way of advice if they are considering such a change of life?

[Hank74]

What I could tell the younger players is that whlie choices have to be made with regards to family and other priorities, there can always be some time with music. In our particular case, playing the tuba.

I can tell you that as someone who has just begun his fourth decade, but has only played tuba for three years, I do wonder what did I miss in not playing sooner. For instance at either high school or college. I was doing other things at the time, but always loved the tuba and wanted to try it out. Finally in 2002, things fell in place and I haven't regretted it since. Tuba playing gives me something to do when I'm bored or have some free time. It also reinforces what music in general is like when I listen to any song on the radio.

To all the young people reading these posts, particularly you high school and college students, don't stop playing tuba! I've tried to encourage friends of mine who were former tuba players to get back into the pool.

I can't tell you how much I love this instrument and how much I want to learn more about it. I'm having so much fun now that to simply get rid of the tuba entirely would be something I can't fathom.

So while some of you might have some stresses and pressures in life, remember that music is supposed to soothe the soul. In our case, that would be the tuba.

Hank74

[Dan Schultz]

Man... THAT sounds familiar! I quit playing in 1967 when I left the Navy... and I didn't pick up a horn again until about eight years ago... AFTER a much-needed divorce (for both of us!). My first wife would NEVER have tolerated my having THIS much fun! Now, I try to encourage high-school kids to keep on playing after they graduate. The community band I founded about five years ago welcomes younger musicians. And, Oh Yesssss.... the new wife is a sax player!

[kegmcnabb]

My story is much the same. I played throughout junior high and high school. Continued in college as a Music Major (although not tuba performance), got out of college and….POOF….no more tuba. The lack of a horn does that to you, as some of the TubeNetters above have stated. Worked for many years as a professional bassist…rock, jazz, orchestra pop concerts…and as an actor/performance artist. About a year ago, when the theatre I worked at didn’t need me onstage for a show, I ended up in the pit on bass, but there were some great tuba parts, so I borrowed a tuba and remembered just how much fun the instrument is. Immediately joined the local community band, which allowed me to use one of the high school’s horns for rehearsals and performances, but didn’t allow me any real practice time, so…I bought my first personal horn at 45 years of age…a great little Marzan that I have come to love dearly.

So while some of you might have some stresses and pressures in life, remember that music is supposed to soothe the soul. In our case, that would be the tuba.

Quite honestly, the tuba has become my daily meditation. The half-hour to forty-five minutes that I spend playing through band music, old solos, and method books allows me to relax in a way that no other activity allows. I am still not as good as I was in college (not like I was great, even then) but I am improving again and loving it. Have recently started learning on a little Amati Eb and loving it just as much as my BBb.

[Lew]

I stopped playing in my sophmore year of college. I was an engineering major and just didn't think it was a priority at the time. Over the years I had mentioned to my wife that I enjoyed playing, but never bothered to do anything about it. 18 years after having stopped, my wife gave me an IOU for a tuba for my birthday. She had wanted to buy me one, but after doing some research (pre-internet) she decided that there were too many varieties for her to pick one out and surprise me.

After some searching, I bought a new King 2341 (this was the 2 piece model at the time). I was in a music store buying valve oil and started talking to the sales person who mentioned that the community band he was in needed a tuba player. I showed up a few weeks later, after re-learning some of the basics, and have now been playing for 12 years.

While I was away from playing I had other things in my life that were more important. The main thing is to be aware of what's important to you and make conscious choices. Part of that process is not letting the arguments of others around you change what you know to be right for you. If you do you will just resent them for it.

[Stefan]

I am in the opposite situation from all of you. I have been playing tuba since high school - so that's about 18 years now. In those 18 years I have studied pretty seriously off and on. Of course while in college(undergrad and grad), I practiced constantly and had regular lessons. Out of college - I am a band/orchestra teacher - I have been off and on with my level of practice and my amount of playing. About 2 years ago I was in my top form as I was practicing about 5 hours a day and taking some pretty intense lessons every 2-3 weeks. But then my wife and I decided to move and I have not been able to get that level back. These days, I pretty much have completely lost all motivation - I even sold my F. But I don't think I have lost all hope. Still, it's a struggle to feel like I am getting anything out of it anymore.

I don't know how much sympathy this will garner (and I am not looking for it). But when I saw this thread, I thought this would be a good place to post about it.

Stefan

[elimia]

I quit playing the horn at the end of my junior year of college. I was in college wind ensemble really just to have access to the school horn. I wasn't a music major and couldn't afford the investment, graduating jobless and all. After dropping the horn I really felt a musical void in my life and tried picking up bass guitar. Guitar just wasn't for me - I felt no connection to the instrument. So 8 years later (still not really being able to afford it) I took on debt and bought a horn. Very glad that I did and have loved it ever since.

[Rick F]

I quit playing the horn for 33 years.

I was in the Air Force, 1966 - 70. Played in the Drum and Bugle Corps @ Keesler AFB in 1966 while attending 50 weeks of electronics and radar school. When I left Keesler, I just stopped playing. After the Air Force, I got married and a job with the FAA. Between work and raising a family, I never had to time to play. After retiring from the FAA with 31 years svc, I all of a sudden missed playing. Been back to playing now for 4 years and loving it.

[tubatooter1940]

My high school band director was former director of the Hollywood Marine Band.He got me a tryout for the director of the Washington Marine band when they played Mobile.I was to call when I completed Marine boot camp and I did but the needs of the service come first and they needed aircraft electricians for the Viet Nam war.I enjoyed working on planes but lacked the talent to troubleshoot circuitry so they made me the company scrounge.Marine air had so little money that the only way to keep planes in the air was through nefarious means.I had to find tools and parts,somehow.
When I married I told my wife I played tuba and trumpet but alone,a horn could not serenade her very well by itself.With her first paycheck from her first job,she bought me a Harmony guitar.I took two lessons from the local music store and then took the book home and started learning tunes.
Three months later,I slugged up at a local bar and played guitar,trumpet and trombone six nights a week for 20 years.At age 39,with two kids in high school and no health insurance,I got on at the post office as a rural carrier.I was so burnt out on top 40 music,I took three years off.
Started hearing some great tunes and began learning some to play for friends and family and wound up doing a guitar/vocal act in beach bars and aboard boats.My plan was to pick and grin part time when I retired from the post office but I got my hands on a tuba and met John Reno and now I play tuba/guitar/vocal with John Reno and the Creekers.
Our objective is to play fun gigs.We figure if we're having that much fun the money will come.We are working on our second c.d. and our schedule is really picking up.We are true to our prime directive.Fun gigs only!
Dennis Gray
www.johnreno.com

[Pippen]

Add me to the list of those who left college and POOF...no more instrument.

I played french horn all of the way through HS and college and only picked up the baritone during my last semester because a friend coaxed me into filling a spot in the second band for fun and that was the end of my french horn career. A few years later I was teaching science and not very settled with it and decided to pursue going back for a music degree. Only I was too far into my master's degree in education to abandon it so I did only what crazy young people do and continued teaching full time while completing my master's degree in two years at he same time studying euphonium with the instructor there at the university. My instructor loaned me a beautiful Willson and when I finally reached burnout stage and quit I couldn't afford to take it with me.

I continued teaching and got married, followed in a few years by leaving my teaching job to stay at home with my kids. I've not regretted abandoning the music degree but I very much regret not returning to study euphonium once I'd bounced back from burnout. Even if I'd had an instrument there were periods of being an at home mom that I know I wouldn't have played but at least the option would have been there. I always kept my eyes open thinking I would run into an inexpensive used one but I didn't.

It's been almost 20 years since I finished grad school and happily for me my son started band this year and selected the baritone. I was a little concerned about his motivations but that only lasted until I saw him with it because it's a great fit. After what I went through I was bound and determined he was going to have an instrument of his own so when it became clear he was going to continue we bought him one. He doesn't have band every day so while my youngest is at kindergarten you know what I can be found doing . This works for now but when he has to take it every day I suppose I'll be Instrumentless In Illinois again...but I'll cross that bridge when I reach it.

[Chriss2760]

First, thanks to all of you who responded to my posting. There are many of us out here that are having a blast making music, now that we are back. For a lot of us it is better than ever, now that we have the time and resources (including supportive partners) to pursue our music fully.

There are some great insights on life expressed in your posts. Thanks again.
I enjoy your company here.

[scottw]

I suppose we all feel our circumstances are unique, but, reading this thread, they really are not. Mine are typical it appears: I got out of college, got married, got a job teaching band, had a child, ran a side-business, and gigged weekends doing weddings and shows on bass. But, where did the tuba go? I made a bit of money on the bass, but I never enjoyed doing it; I enjoyed the tuba! Twenty-five years later, it took the man who originally started me on tuba (age 11) to persist in getting me back to it, playing in a brass ensemble he played with. Ironic? Bottom line: I'm having a blast, playing with 4-5 bands.
To those just beginning my journey, don't buy into the theory that, with all the things that you face emerging from the academic cocoon, you just naturally have to give up the one thing you really enjoy!

[Rick Denney]

I stopped playing in my sophmore year of college. I was an engineering major and just didn't think it was a priority at the time.

That about sums it up for me. And the fact that because I had no working tuba, I had not practiced over the summer and did not pass the audition for the symphonic band at my university.

I picked it up again 8 years later after having been in the working world long enough to be able to afford it, and after I'd finished my night-class master's degree.

During the 20 years since then, I've waxed and waned. For a time in the 90's my playing was fairly minimal though I never really stopped. Before that period, I was playing every day and had professional gigs. Now, I'm playing as much as I can, which isn't nearly as much as i'd like, and sort of splitting the difference.

Rick "who still works and who also pursues other hobbies" Denney

[ABQtuba]

My story's a bit different. I played trombone 4th grade through high school. When I got to university, I didn't want to take my new trombone outside to march, so I played sousaphone through football season, then tuba in concert band. Halfway through college I quit playing actively. Twenty years later, after moving to New Mexico, I came across a want ad: "Tuba or baritone player wanted for German band. Must be reliable. Not much money. Helps if you're slightly crazy." I had a beat-up baritone I'd bought in a pawnshop back east, so I applied. The band really needed a tuba player and actually advanced me the money to buy my first tuba. Been playing with that band 26 years. I now play baritone in it, but tuba in concert and dixieland bands plus brass quintet. Really prefer tuba. Not sure why the fascination, but I've gone through 6 tubas so far. Wife wishes I had a less expensive hobby. But at leas she's glad I don't go in for motorcycle racing.

[DonShirer]

Suffered a tubectomy after college because of grad school pressure, and didn't take it up again until I retired (wife thought I needed something to keep me out of mischief). Now happily tootling away for the last three years (and still getting into mischief). Egad, I just counted up and realized that was 49 years without a low brass fix. Is that a record?

Don S.

[Tabor]

Suffered a tubectomy after college because of grad school pressure... Don S.

This sounds familiar, but I'm glad I've started playing again. I went to a smaller college for undergrad work, so I could be in everything. When I took an assistantship in opera, it seemed that nobody wanted me to play the tuba. The voice teacher said that it would mess up my breathing, the tuba teacher at the University told me to stick with singing...looking back at it, I probably didn't have enough time to do both. I was really getting serious about singing as a career, and needed a good 6-8 hours per day to get there. If I wasn't practicing, I was working and if I wasn't working, I was studying.

It was nearly three years that my tuba sat in the corner, untouched. Then, I broke out the tuba and started practicing again. After a week or two, I realized that playing the tuba was just way more fun than it even was before.

[Chriss2760]

Oh yeah. Who doesn't have regrets....

Welcome back, Wes. (Who once was lost, but now is found...

[punk_tuba]

i quit tuba to go to college as a physics major.
i didn't last one semester......til i dropped out......and began playing again.
now i'm accepted as a music major for the fall semester.

i definatly learned a life lesson that i need music to be the focal point of my life.

[windshieldbug]

Ok, here goes...

I actually come frome "both sides" of the fence. I was lucky enough to get a pro gig (minor symphony) right out of school, and a very flexible software gig to keep me renumerated in the style to which I was accustomed. Unfortunately, I had a very expensive, and eventful hobby. I drove my Porsche into the side of Pocono mountain during a race, and spent a while in a coma. Since then, it's been seven years of rehab, which included having my left lung opened and scooped out for pneumonia. I started playing again about six months ago in a community band. I can't fill my big horn (heck, now I'm challenged by my old Mirrorphone 184), and the enjoyment of making music is a very different experience, but it is enjoyment just the same!

So for others:
1. Don't race cars
2. If you have to quit for a while, when you can, GO BACK
3. There are plenty of places to play AT ANY LEVEL
4. The experience may not be the same, but IT'S STILL MUSIC and STILL ENJOYBLE!
5. JUST SAY YES TO MUSIC©

[TubaSteve]

I would say that my story is not unlike many others here. I started playing tuba in 7th grade. I had played trombone for two years, but they needed tuba players and I decided to switch. Best decision that I made. About the time I was in 9th grade, my sister found an all brass Reynolds Contempora Sousaphone at a garage sale for $10 with a case. (I now have two of them) I played it I played through high school, for marching and pep bands as it could really outplay the fibre glass Holtons that we had at school. For concert band, I played a Reynolds Contempora recording bass in 10th grade, but moved up to a Meinl Weston model 20 in my junior year. That's when I really started to appreciate the Meinl Weston horn. After high school, there wasn't any avenues for me to play that I was aware of. I went for 10 years without playing much but some christmas tunes and reading through some of the old books that I had. Without being able to play in a group, there was truly something missing. My mom passed away in April of 1989 and I needed something to clear my head. I had heard that they were starting a community band at a local university here so I decided to go check it out, sousaphone and all. When I got there, sure enough, the other tuba player was playing a brand new Yamaha professional silverplate BB. The concert was also in 1 week. Well I joined anyway, and then decided that if I was going to play, and with the reminder of how short life can be, I was going to buy a quality new horn. I purchased a new Meinl Weston model 25 two months later. I started playing with a 30 piece brass band locally that really played some fun music. A few years later I was invited to play with the local summer pops band. That was and still is a blast. We play great music with some really great musicians. The comminity band is still in place, and I still play with them, but the music selection is stuff that not enjoyable to play or to listen to. It is much too "wind ensemble" like, and many of the players are just there to keep their chops up while waiting for pops to come around. If I could find another group, I would pass on the community band. Along with the Meinl 25, I have another 3/4 size BBb that I purchased at another garage sale for $25, along with the two sousas, and another Eb tennor tuba that was given to me by a friend. I also have an Olds 4v euphonium that I like to play christmas tunes on. My wife wishes that I collected something smaller, but oh well. I sure enjoy playing and would surely miss it if I layed off again.
Steve