Buying My Kid a Tuba Reprised -long


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Posted by Atlanta Tuba Dad on February 26, 2002 at 18:13:23:

This is a repost of a post I made about three days after the thread went cold and I wanted to see if anyone had comments before it dropped off the board.

Interesting thread, this, as I also bought (with the help of his grandma and great grandpa) my now-HS senior son his own tuba last summer. He'd been playing since middle school and had made terrific progress using the schools' horns. As he had an interest in continuing with the instrument, which I wanted to encourage, and as he seemed to have some talent, the numerous tubas I was seeing on eBay gave me the idea of purchasing him a horn, if for no other reason than to allow him to spend more time practicing at home.

So I broached the idea (as you might imagine, he was not at all negative about it!) and I (a musicial idiot) began to educate myself about the various types and sizes of tubas, as well as the huge range of prices and qualities. I was thinking originally in the $1500 range and as I learned more, I came to realize that it probably made more sense for us to purchase the best tuba we could afford, not only to assist him in becoming a better player as he entered his college years but with the feeling that a quality instrument would retain its value to a greater extent. I would appreciate any comments regarding this point.

Even in a city the size of Atlanta, we could find few dealers who inventoried quality horns. My son is a pretty sharp kid and he greatly assisted me in my tuba education. We both gained a tremendous amunt of knowledge from this board and we eventually purchased a silver Getzen CB50 from a musician in Nashville who advertised it here on TubeNet. (The fact that my grandfather, mentioned above, knew the seller's late father well made the transaction even more pleasant. As a complete aside, one of the seller's ancestors was the governor of Tennessee when that state seceded from the Union at the start of the civil war. I just love history!)

I need to thank both Mary at Getzen, for answering a number of questions I emailed her (as well as for sending the kid gratis a Getzen T-shirt which he loves), and Dave Zerkel at UGA for play-testing the horn we bought. Dave is a terrific teacher and person as well as a real credit to the world of tuba. The handful of lessons my son has taken from Dave have increased the level of his playing noticeably IMO. And without Dave's advice about the horn we bought and tubas in general, I would probably have not written that big check. As you experts will know, we spent a few bucks more than $1500 for the CB50.

I want to also say that the many, many unselfish and helpful posters on this board have contributed materially to my son's growth in the tuba realm. The tuba has a bright future if the encouragement given young players here is typical of the tuba community as a whole.

I'm not going to embarrass my son (any more than I already have!) by naming him, as he lurks a lot here and posts occasionally. I'm certain there are some of you reading this who know him.

My apologies if anyone considers this post over-long or off-topic.





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