Tubas and fat people

[BopEuph]

I was flipping channels today and I came across Bravo and a special called "Great Things About Being Fat." One of them was the tuba. I'm not going to say much on the subject other than some of the best tuba players I heard were pretty small. When I was at the last ITEC, I met this little sixteen year old girl from Taiwan who couln't have been more than ninety pounds. She was a finalist in the young artist competition. However, it was pretty interesting to see that on Bravo.

Nick

[windshieldbug]

see: TubaJoe on BRAVO tonight

[tubajoe]

I'm not going to say much on the subject other than some of the best tuba players I heard were pretty small

I actually did talk about that exact issue on the show -- about how tuba players are not always fat (I'm not that fat -- although today I realized something... the camera does add at least 10 pounds... ) They decided not to use the interview (which was fine with me)

The interview was pretty lengthy, then they took a ton of samples of playing -- everything they could think of, which was nice that they used so much -- I was a bit worried as the playing samples were done in the interview TV studio, not a recording studio, and were done with a speaking mic setup, not a music one.

We talked a lot about stereotypes and this and that and how it's not always true, but the point of the show was to make fun of those stereotypes -- it's a comedy thing. A trumpet playing friend of mine emailed me right away and said "Joe, you just set the reputation of the tuba back 10 years."

I usually try to avoid stereotypical tuba stuff like the plague, but in this case playing on TV was just too cool to pass up, and the producers treated me really well. The cool thing is that they were totally intrigued by the tuba, and what it could sound like, they had no idea.

So, on the positive side of things, and as I always say: the door is wide open for us.

The part with the tuba playing behind Laura Flynn Boyle was pretty damn funny, I thought. That chick does need to eat a bit more.


All in a day's work for a tuba player, I guess.

[Dylan King]

Being fat and playing tuba has its advantages.

[Brassdad]

Fat, Dumb, and Stupid is no way to play the tuba....