Posted by j somewhat argumentative/inflammatory this time s on August 30, 2001 at 01:47:43:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: German F theories posted by Jay Bertolet on August 29, 2001 at 22:08:56:
Come-on Jay,
It's equally silly for hundreds of colleges and universities across the U.S. to offer tuba "performance" degrees and to base them (as very many do) heavily on the ability to play 30 or 40 half-page long ditties from "the greatest hits of orchestra tune tuba parts", as a living wage job in this field opens up on average once every two years in this country and virtually never in any other country...and what about those who play music that is not written down on sheets of paper? Of all of the musicians in the world that make a living wage playing tunes, who do we know makes the most money and (sorry) perhaps are the most creative? Those who stand up and perform "their" stuff, instead of stuff written down for them previously by others (yes, all "popular" music included here - absolutely). In the world of tuba, this exists to some extent in the jazz (though certainly not popular) realm - though small, I would wager than more tuba playing money is earned in this country playing jazz than by counting substantial rests and playing with three very loud trombonists at ends of orchestral pieces.
As far as wasting time with those admittedly-dreadful-for-the-most-part-with-a-few-shining-exceptions solos, it is far more likely that a persuasive tuba guy might be able to talk someone into giving them a few bucks to plod out a mediocre rendition of the Haddad Suite, than a sterling (acappella) execution of "The Ride...", don't you think?
***********
Joe "You know that I've played just about every type of gig imaginable and that I completely and unconditionally respect your job, your position, and your achievments, but it is in reality a very very specialized job, and not mainstream enough and certainly not available enough to enough people to justify taxpayers funding degree programs in how to try (and 99.99% of the time fail) to get a job like that for thirty years of one's life" S.