Posted by Bill on January 20, 2001 at 14:43:14:
In Reply to: loans for instrument purchases... posted by broke-tubist on January 19, 2001 at 16:35:17:
I want to extend my sympathies to you and the plight in which you find yourself. I was not able to buy my first decent tuba (it was an Amati and it was very good) until I was 32 years old and had been working to support myself for 16 years. I had a horn (Eb) my father bought for $1 from Sexton High School from thet time I was 8 until I was in Junior High. Then and through Senior High I had school instruments. I got a minor symphony job with those horns but was not allowed to major in tuba when I went to college (this is
back in the 1950's) so I made do with a monster Sousaphone from another school surplus sale. Finally, I bought a brand new Amati model 69 and then another Amati F (by trading in a fine old string bass I had).
With the sympathy goes an uncertainty about whether or not you are expecting too much from life too early. My son won more than $20,000 in scholarships and competitive prizes with those two Amatis and completed his music major, Summa Cum Laude, Performance Major, with them. Perhaps you can make do until you earn the horns (or the portion of them needed for a down payment). I keep thinking of Harvey Phillips CC Conn and Arnold Jacobs York and his awful auditon at Curtis with an Eb Sousaphone. I know that horns are not so cheap now as they were 40 years ago but the minimum wage was only $1/hour then and I didn't hear you say you are supporting a family, either. It takes will and dedicaton, but it can be done.