Following the TUBENET Forum over the last 6 years, I never thought it would go this route....
If you have read this forum for six years, you have seen me respond to "what tuba should I buy" and "what mouthpiece should I use" questions hundreds of times each. Let me poke fun at the silliness of it once in a while. Those who see where I'm going with my extremely rare and admittedly obscure jokes either back away politely or join in the fun. No humor is appreciated by everyone, and those who don't see it or even try to understand it need to be laughed at so that they will get a clue. Sorry it had to be you this time. It isn't just a joke, after all. It does have a point, and sometimes the point bites deep. The purpose of obscurity is to force those who are confused to explore it further. I didn't say I was good at it.
In the last two days, I have said that being a bona fide member of the TNFJ is NOT A COMPLIMENT. It is NOT a badge of honor. It is NOT an achievement. No qualifications are required, and that's the problem. The only requirement is having a keyboard and an ISP. But those who are undeniable freaks know the disease, being fellow sufferers.
Sometimes, it seems that folks ask questions to avoid having to think, or do real research, or take lessons like they should, or go to a conference, or arrange a trip to a store, or try to gather their own experience. Then, they expect a bunch of middle-aged fat guys (literally or figuratively) who don't know them and have never heard them play to make it easy for them. How is that not worthy of derision? What the heck to we know? Even if we are top pros, how could we know what's best for one guy who asks a broad question and leaves out the most important bits?
And then there are those who answer authoritatively with information they do not themselves know to be true. They are as fun to laugh at as the clueless guys who ask the questions in the first place.
For example, "What tuba should I buy? I'm really, really good. I like my St. Pete, but I hear the Thor is good. Should I buy a Thor?" The question is impossible to answer, but it's no worse than this answer, "My teacher has a Thor and it ROCKS!" That answer goes beyond mere unhelpfulness. Yet, in the face of such exchanges, many still try to cut through and say something useful, though they risk doing so to people who 1.) often don't want to hear it, and 2.) are unwilling to abide anyone snipping away the foolishness to get to the heart of the matter. Sometimes I think we are idiots for doing it, and probably worse than the guy who just parrots what (he thinks) his teacher says.
The smart ones either toss in a fact or two, or just sit back knowing that the clueless will someday get a clue, or the won't, probably unaffected in that conclusion by anything that might be said to them.
That's why we are a jury of freaks. All of us.
And the tide of similar questions keeps rolling in.
That's what Tubenet has come to.
Rick "not expecting anyone to understand or agree with this foolishness" Denney
