Why did you like the tuba?

Leland · Post by **Leland** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 11:25 pm

I really don't remember which came first -- so here are both of my stories:

Sometime after my first season of drum corps and learning valves on baritone (I had been playing trombone exclusively), my mom asked if I wanted to come to church quintet and maybe play tuba.

At about the same time, we were short of contra players, and I was asked to try out a contra during "hell week". I played some notes on it, and the low brass instructor says, "You sound pretty good, wanna switch?" I keep skirting the question for the next two days, until finally, "Oh come on, you're gonna play contra -- start learning the drill."

I really don't know why I stuck with the bass brass after that. I didn't even march sousaphone until college. The tuba has a lot going against it -- it's big, heavy, unwieldy, the butt of many jokes, and doesn't even get the most interesting parts (the euphonium, on the other hand, often gets the best of all band parts -- melody, countermelody, and low brass features).

I think it comes down to the sound. Nothing more. There's just nothing else like it.

Well, there's also the fact that other tuba players seem to be the easiest to hang around with, too.

THE TUBA · Post by **THE TUBA** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 1:01 am

All of the students interested in taking band class had to "audition" for their instrument at the end of the fifth grade year. When I say "audition," it basicly means try out an instrument or two in front of the middle school band director, and he will advise you which one to pick. You can choose three instruments to try out on. I wanted to play drums, so I put that as my first option. After that, I wrote down trumpet, because some of my friends were, and then, just to be funny, I wrote tuba. After the middle school band director asked me to repeat a few rhythms for him with drumsticks, he quickly decided that I was not fit to play the drums. I then buzzed on a trumpet and baritone (our middle school assumed that 6th graders were to small to play a real tuba). The sound that came out of the baritone sounded better than that of the trumpet. I read the tuba parts, and switched to playing a "real" tuba the following year.

tubeast · Post by **tubeast** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 2:56 am

I joined a youth band as flugelhorn / trumpet player.
We get three years of band-sponsored lessons and kinda goofed around during that time.
Two years later I took private lessons, working seriously for one year.
(IÂ´d say practising 6-7 hours a week is good enough for a kid with no competition or honor-band to go for, and no inclinations towards a pro career).
Technique and sound improved, but range didnÂ´t. So there were three things that led me to the real thing:

- At that time we had a charismatic and talented tuba player in band, and I stood in awe at what he could do with his horn, both in band and as a soloist.
- My private teacher was a music ed major, his primary instrument had switched from trumpet to tuba.
- My Dad had a collection of brass instruments that featured (among many others) a raw brass tuba and a helicon, hanging at the wall of our living room.

So one day during vacation I picked up the tuba and â€¦ cleaned it!! Just because. I know IÂ´m weird.
Of course I fooled around a bit on it and just fell in love.
That was about three months before final exams for Abitur (German type graduation is not just finishing 12th grade, we have final exams in 13th).
I got drafted for military service right after school, and as I spent most of my spare time practising in the basement of our barracks the horn kept me away from beer-guzzling with my peers, I even saved my money for a visit to my host family in the US!! (Most colleagues in military ended up owning less money after service than they had before)

Uncle Buck · Post by **Uncle Buck** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 11:41 am

A year or two before I was old enough to start beginning band, I attended a high school marching band contest where my sister was marching. When I watched the high school band from my school district perform, I was mesmerized watching the tubas in the band. (I believe they were fiberglass sousas.) I thought they were the coolest looking thing I had ever seen.

My parents tried to talk me into a different instrument, but I was a pretty stubborn kid. When I started beginning band and got my tuba, my bus driver wouldn't let me bring it home on the bus. Because of that, the band director switched me to baritone for a while. I was doing OK on that, and I think the director was inclined to leave me there, but I was persistent and eventually got switched back to tuba. (It took me several weeks before I stopped playing everything up an octave in the baritone range.)

Joe Baker · Post by **Joe Baker** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 11:57 am

Someone asked last year what we tell people when they ask why we play the tuba. My answer then, which I'm standing by:

I tell them "because I like knowing things that very few people know". They ask, "what things?". I just smile.

But there ARE things that we understand that most people don't. I don't think most people realize just how much the bass of the band matters. The trumpet players may be the stars, the middle brass the moon, the woodwinds the whispy clouds, the percussion the thunder; but we are the night sky. Without us, the drama could play out, but no one would very much notice. There's a control thing, sure; but a band without the bass is like a painting without a canvas.
_______________________________
Joe Baker, who thinks all tubists know this, and very few others.

Biggs · Post by **Biggs** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 1:12 pm

Who says I like it?

Leland · Post by **Leland** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 1:39 pm

Biggs wrote:Who says I like it?

Hehe...

I also jokingly say, "Well, some people get a big object to 'compensate' for something... we play tuba to 'accommodate'."

tubatooter1940 · Post by **tubatooter1940** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 5:38 pm

Tuba was my first instrument and coming back to it after a career as a trumpet/trombonist/vocalist was like coming home.I like it best.Tuba gives me the range and speed I wish I had on other instruments.Tuba makes me happy!

ThomasDodd · Post by **ThomasDodd** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 5:41 pm

Hank74 wrote:What I wanted to ask here is what convinced you that the tuba was the instrument that you should go. Would it be the low sound, large size, the idea that people will see you play in a band, etc.?

Why do I love my wife or kids?

Why do I like the cars I do?

Talk about questions with no answers.

Tubaman485 · Post by **Tubaman485** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 5:50 pm

A long long time ago, I went to a chicago symphony concert with Arnold Jacobs playing the tuba. I cannot remember the concert now but I parents always tell me that I was so blown away by his amazing sound that I decided I wanted to play tuba and come 5th grade I started. I love that deep, dark, fat sound that you can get on the horn.

JB

Biggs · Post by **Biggs** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 1:25 am

In all seriousness, I love how the tuba is an instant conversation piece/starter. Especially with hot girls.

winston · Post by **winston** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 2:35 am

Dylan King · Post by **Dylan King** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 8:36 am

I was a fat kid. I knew somehow I'd end up playing the fattest instrument in the end.

TexTuba · Post by **TexTuba** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 9:58 am

I didn't like the tuba at first because I didn't know what it really was. I was put on it when I first started band in middle school. To be honest I didn't start liking the tuba until my senior year of high school. How lame of me...

Ralph

tuba kitchen · Post by **tuba kitchen** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 1:22 pm

1) I was very shy in the 7th grade and could hide behind the tuba.

2) the tuba stayed in the back of the band room and did not need to be transported home, i got a sousaphone with stand from the school so I could practice in the basement

winston · Post by **winston** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 4:24 pm

drandomtubas · Post by **drandomtubas** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 7:53 am

I played the flute for three years and hated everything about it. I loved music, but the other flutists were obnoxious. I hated sitting in the front row, and I didn't like the sound of my flute.
I was initially attracted to it because it wasn't a flute.

A year or so later I really sucked and wasn't really having much fun. I was thinking about quitting, but I went to a music camp for the summer... I heard the most amazing kid, MY age, playing 'The Bluebells Of Scotland.' It was the first time I had ever heard a good tuba, and I completely fell in love.

Brassdad · Post by **Brassdad** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 9:22 pm

As I am musicly impaired I'll pass my sons' story along. At least how he explained it to me.

We had just returned from 3 years in Okinawa Japan. My sone was entering middle school and had to take a performing art. Sith graders couldn't play intermural sports as they were deemed too small (he stood 5'8" and tipped the scales at 130lbs). His voice was changing so he didn't want to be in the glee club, the drama classes were full, that left band. THe teached had him try as many instruments as he wanted. He tried all the brass and a few wood winds. Not much joy on getting reeds to produce much beyond sqwaks and squeeks, but the brass was another matter. I'm told he got good sounds out of every one he tried and the teacher said he could choos ANY that he wanted.
My son picked the Tuba.
Did he like the looks? The feel? The fit? No...it sounded like someone letting a HUGE FART!!!

zeman23 · Post by **zeman23** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 10:30 pm

barry guerrero wrote:It's big and expensive, and I can't make much money playing it

After THE SOUND, I think those may be the main reasons why i love the tuba.

-Zack Zeman

TubeNet

Why did you like the tuba?

Marching contest

Re: Why did you like the tuba?