Posted by A PLAN on August 31, 1999 at 18:36:30:
In Reply to: HOW#%$!(AT)#%$ CAN YOU AFFORD TUBA$$$$$$$$$ posted by anonymous on August 30, 1999 at 20:21:31:
1. Spend a few dollars and buy a copy of "The Richest Man in Babylon". Read it and understand it. Don't just borrow a copy. You will want to reread it.
2) Work and save as much as you can towards your tuba.
3). Put as much money to work for you as you can. You want a $13,000 horn but that seems to far out of reach? Then get there in steps. That means buying a used $2000 to $3000 name brand tuba that will do for you. If you are asking that question, you are at a point in your life where an inexpensive tuba will do you just fine. While you are learning to play the horn, you can earn some money giging with it and some good playing experience at the same time. Yes, you may have to learn a few extra alternate fingerings or to articulate more clearly. But that's not going to hurt you in your early college years. Just as a house mortgage may let you have some equity for what you would have paid in rent. An inexpensive tuba can more than pay for itself with gigs. And ay also appreciate.
4) Keep saving for your next tuba. When a better tuba comes along at a great price, buy it! If you bought a name brand horn and took care of it, it will likely be worth what you paid and then some. Put that and some savings towards the next tuba. You are going to save some of that gig money, aren't you?
5) You can work up to those dream horns with time. Trading up is a common way for those of us without silver spoons to get nice tubas.
Remember, no audition was ever so close that the horn decided the outcome. Big question to the list. Do $15,000 tubas win the gigs, or is it the fact that a rich kid can spend more time in the practice room while others have to spend time flipping burgers to pay tuition, room and board to a cheaper state school that may not have a low brass specialist? Anyway, you don't have to buy $15,000 in stocks to start investing and you don't have to spend $15,000 to start playing the tuba.