Posted by Rick Denney on February 11, 2002 at 10:57:35:
In Reply to: Re: Re: tuba charity posted by Joe Baker on February 11, 2002 at 10:12:03:
I agree with everthing Joe said, as usual.
To Joe: It wasn't Roger Bobo, but Arnold Jacobs who won the audition to the Curtis Institute at age 15 using an Eb tuba with the fourth valve taped down and the other slides adjusted. He played the Carnival of Venice.
And this to the fellow Joe was responding to: I had it the best of anyone in my high school. I got to play the relatively new King fiberglass sousaphone. I didn't have a fourth valve until my senior year, and then only for the last four months of school, on a borrowed instrument. I did get occasional opportunities to borrow a Besson student-model 3-valve tuba, but the sousaphone was probably better. This was in a reasonably well-funded big-city school district in a state known for pretty good band program support. I did not own my own tuba of acceptable quality until I bought it myself, at age 26. So, you have a ways to go before you can really think of yourself as being behind.
Finally, I would suggest hard work on your other classes, too. The more you know about all sorts of things, from English to history, the easier it is to get jobs that will make your dream come true sooner.
Rick "trying not to sound like his dad, and failing" Denney