Re: the right tuba for a youngster


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Posted by Mike Ross on December 19, 2000 at 17:53:27:

In Reply to: the right tuba for a youngster posted by John E on December 19, 2000 at 17:08:05:

Step1 : Figure out what you want the tuba for:
- Is this the tuba I hope to take me through University and into a symphony job?
- Is this the tuba I expect to last a life time and give me lots of fun as an amateur?
- Is this tuba only for the high school years, after which I may sell and progress to something different, depending on what I want to do (tuba or not tuba) then?
(other possible options exist)
Step2: Check the archives of this bulletin board and the TubaEuph mailing list (I think it's at EGroups - accessible through Yahoo anyway) - this question gets asked often.

Step3: Figure out what's out there.
- Brasswind, Tubastore, Dillon Music, and Baltimore Brass (apologies to Tony Clements and Joe S. - don't remember the names) all have pretty good web sites and/or catalogs that can give you a pretty good idea of what's around from the manufacturers and at what prices for a place to start.
- Watch E-bay for a while to see what tends to show up used and what the prices seem to be. Compare to the new prices and the brand names you see at the shops listed above.

Step 4: Try to get to a store that stocks some new and/or used tubas and try some examples of makes that have caught your fancy. The common reasoning is to "play 'em all" until you find the one you love, but this may not be practical for geographic or budget reasons. In any case, the more you play, the better off you'll be.

Step 5: Above all, stay well away from cheap Chinese and other imports you see on E-Bay and elsewhere. Trying to list the brands would be useless, since they constantly pop up under new names. My rule of thumb is that if the price sounds too good to be true and/or the shops I listed above don't stock it - stay well away.

Oh, and I forgot step 1A : Figure out what key of tuba you are interested in. This will depend quite a bit on what you intend to do with it (i.e. Step 1)

And above all else, check lots of archived messages and hang around on these BBS's and lists for a while. You can learn A LOT about the atate of the tuba world by reading lots and writing nothing.

Mike "Did I get the story right, fellas?" Ross


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