Posted by Dennis Morris on December 05, 2003 at 14:50:17:
In Reply to: String Doublers posted by Paul T on December 04, 2003 at 17:03:36:
Guilty as charged, electric and upright. The amount of work I do on a certain instrument varies quite a bit. Sometimes a lot of tuba work comes along, sometimes a lot of bass work, sometimes a good bit of both.
I highly recommend a bass double for any aspiring tuba player! I think it gives you some valuable musical perspective. We all love the tuba, but there is a lot of great music out there that doesn't have a tuba part!
Difficult to explain, but I seem to think and react differently on tuba and bass. And some music seems to work better on one or the other.
It also makes you a lot more employable. A bit of advice -- if you have a usable double, make sure that everybody knows it! It is so easy to get compartmentalized a "tuba player" or a "bass player". How many times have I heard "Oh, I didn't know you played bass!" So whenever I'm on a tuba job I make sure the contractor knows I play bass, and vice versa.