Posted by Doug Whitten on January 05, 2003 at 12:40:08:
In Reply to: Re: Re: 181 F? posted by Mark L. on January 05, 2003 at 02:42:57:
I guess that if the university has decent CC or BBb tubas to loan, then buying an F is a viable option. But, you will still eventually have to buy a Contrabass.
After college, the wide majority of players will not be in a major orchestra or pursuing a solo career and most of their playing will be in community bands and other amateur/ semi-pro situations. For the real world of tuba playing, a good 4/4 contrabass tuba will be the preferred instrument. This includes people who majored in tuba performance. Having both an F and CC tuba is great, but if I had only one, it would be the CC.
I know that there are schools that maintain a decent inventory of high quality tubas, but they are definitely the minority. Usually, Universities have only BBb tubas because that's what most non-music performance majors play. Many will have a few CC tubas that have been repaired numerous times and haven't been checked out in years. The point is, it is very rare for a university to have a high quality CC for check out. Decent BBb tubas, on the other hand, are quite plentiful.
Mark, I am by no means saying that you were wrong to get an F tuba. But for most people at most universities, a contrabass tuba should be their first purchase.