Posted by Kenneth Sloan on November 05, 2003 at 13:51:15:
In Reply to: When students should buy a horn posted by Doug Whitten on November 03, 2003 at 22:33:47:
In my opinion, you should kick start the "own your own tuba" movement by appealing to the needs and desires of the middle-of-the-road student. The very top students will (eventually) have their own ideas about what they want, and will have specialized needs. They will need advice from you on what to purchase, but those are not the students you should be trying to motivate. Instead, concentrate on the benefits of owning your own tuba for the average member of your studio - the player who is most likely to havae a non-performance job after graduation and will "only" need a vanilla BBb tuba for use in the commmunity band.
Next, consider your preferences and your connections. Within the constraints outlined above, what instrument will fit most easily into your program AND be useful to the majority of your students after graduation? What connections do you have with a supplier? Can you offer a good deal to the student who is ready to accept your suggestion that he should own his own tuba, but is not ready to make any real choices. Present them with an offer they can't refuse.
Can you somehow (through the college) arrange a reasonable financing plan, on the grounds that this is an eduction-related purchase?
The idea is to make it as painless as possible, and as "obviously a good idea" as possible. And, again, aim your efforts at the middle two-thirds of your studio. The bottom sixth may have too much resistance, and the top sixth will probably have special needs that won't benefit from economies of scale (although, once you get rolling, a studentn who purchases a "vanilla, studio-approved" tuba as a freshman may later want to trade up. Their used tuba will be a good purchase for an incoming freshman. Eventually, you might want to become a "market maker" here and get into the business of buying back "starter tubas" when your top players trade up, cleaning them up, and selling them to first-time buyers.