Posted by Frustrated on March 10, 2002 at 23:03:52:
This post is rather long, but I feel that explanation of the situation is needed in this case.
Here is the situation:
I am a high school senior, intending to major in music at a college/university. I currently play in the schools "top" band, which obviously deals with the more difficult music. The school has provided me a BBb Miraphone 186 in decent condition that has served me well. However, I have recently purchased my own CC tuba. The purchase of the CC tuba was based on the suggestion of my private instructor as well as tuba/euphonium professors teaching at the schools that I am interested in attending. All of these professionals have told me that I should invest in a horn as soon as possible and begin playing it as soon as possible. So, as I said above, I purchased a CC tuba.
The problem comes with using my new tuba.
I recently arranged a meeting with my high school band director to discuss my tuba situation. I explained to him that I had recently purchased a tuba and that I would really like to use it in his band. Everything was fine until he asked how the one I purchased was different from the tubas the school provided me with. The first thing I explained was the cosmetic differences. The particular horn that I purchased is a 4 piston, 1 rotor compact sized CC in silver plate...very different from the school owned 4 rotor Miraphone 186 BBb tubas that are not silver. After I commented on the cosmetic differences, he decided to clarify his question by saying "I don't care so much about the cosmetics...more about how it plays." This in where I had to tell him it was a CC tuba. He tried to relate to switching to CC tuba by talking about his experience with C trumpets, which is really not the same. He did ask me about fingerings, at which time I told him that I play off the same concert pitch music and just use different valve combinations. He recalled his difficulty in learning C trumpet, and said that he would rather I didn't play it at school but that I should practice on it at home.
So...I've purchased a new CC tuba that I can play at home, but can't "really" play, as in all of the time. It seems that playing BBb at school would not be very logical since I would be playing a CC at home and at my lessons. I do like my band director, I do have respect for him, and I do understand that I did go seeking his opinion.
Any thoughts on this issue?