Posted by Tuba Freak on July 05, 2002 at 18:26:27:
In Reply to: Rehearsal Horror Stories posted by Larry Zaidan on July 05, 2002 at 17:32:13:
I, also, have wanted to do great bodily harm to people who think a whole lot less of my instrument than I do. Once when I was playing a gig with my Dixieland group a few years ago, it seemed like whenever I set my upright tuba down on its bell, the piano player kept walking on the bell! When I got after her about it, she didn't seem to think she was doing anything wrong! It showed to me that she had very little regard for the money I had tied up in my horn!
Just this week at a rehearsal, a young trombone player, in the community band I'm playing in this summer, at breaks, etc. kept walking by and bumping my antique helicon horn into my chair! The first time, I said HEY,WATCH IT, the second time I went over to him, a little hot, and asked him if he would like to pay me what the horn was worth. The band director knew the kid and said that he probably didn't realize what other's instruments were worth and didn't care whether he was watching out for them. I told the band director that if this kept up, I wouldn't be playing in the band any longer.
I'm sure that owners of other instruments than tubas also feel the same way as we do. But why is it that our horns are always the ones that get walked on?!!
The problem, with airing our gripes here on the web, is that the people who should see how we feel about having our horns abused will not be reading these messages.