Posted by Wade on December 08, 2003 at 13:55:31:
In Reply to: tuba advice needed posted by Lena on December 08, 2003 at 10:43:08:
For a brass quintet for your son. Get with the former band director and find four other kids of similar playing abilities (pretty important, mind you) that are friends or that get along very well (of paramount importance) and have them get together once or twice each week to rehearse.
Brass Quintet is a wonderful vehicle for learning and expression for a tubist, as they have much more of a stake in the final product than when playing in a full band. But they will need a good coach for a long time; maybe your friend would take on these duties for a small fee paid by the five sets of parents? Divided five ways, it would be a pretty negligible cost per child.
There is ample training material for this type of group. I would start with Band Method Books (whatever they already own would be okay at first) and move on to the Canadian Brass Book of Easy Quintets.
Caveats:
1. All five kids MUST be at each rehearsal, as it is hard to get anything done with 20% of the music missing per each absent child. Rehearsal time must be adhered to always. Maybe parents and coach can schedule on a week-by-week basis if you have five busy kids. But selecting fixed times and sticking to them works the best.
2. Parents must be very supportive as well, or the above caveat will become a problem.
3. The coach MUST find performance opportunities for the group. The group must have goals to work towards or the kids will eventually lose interest and stop showing up. One recital per semester is fine; Christmas and Spring recitals, just like the band, would be wonderful.
I have done this with kids from the local version of an All-State Band (Mississippi Lions' Club All-State Band) with great success. It was an aggressive bunch, to be sure, and was rewarding for me, as the coach. I charged no fee, and we got free access to a local Band Hall when we needed it. It was fun for me, and a real major challenge to the kids, as we worked on a wide variety of music that was pretty difficult.
Try it. There is rep out there for this ensemble the is at the proper level for your son and his friends.
Any five brass instruments make a brass quintet, but the instrumentation that is considered standard (and has the most music from which to choose) is two trumpets, a french horn, a trombone, and a tuba.
I wish you the best of luck and hope that you find an easier means to get experience for your boy. But if not, try my suggestion. It is a bit of work initially, but, much like Little League, everyone just gets into the habit after awhile and it sort of runs itself.
And if you do form up a brass quintet, please let us know abut the experiences had by both you and your son.
Merry Christmas
Wade Rackley