Posted by A Guy in Virginia on July 25, 2001 at 14:28:16:
In Reply to: Re: more on "getting my parents to buy tuba" posted by yet me again.... on July 25, 2001 at 13:36:15:
Chill, dude. Nobody's out to get you. In fact, we are all on your side.
You want a new tuba, and you are looking for any reasons you can find to make it the right thing to do. Everybody does that to some extent. But don't break the rules before learning them--if you present the school horn's small size as a reason why you must buy a new horn, then you might get some argument, especially from us big guys who also play small horns.
If you say that the only new horn you can get is a PT-6, then you'll get even more complaints, and here's why: You aren't old enough for a PT-6. You may not realize it, but a PT-6, like most large professional horns, isn't necessarily that easy to play well. You might struggle big time just making sounds on that instrument. Would you give a Forumula One race car or a top-fuel dragster to a beginning driver? Of course not. The guys who drive those cars learned in less radical hardware before they gained the skills to control all that power. It takes years. Some of us never get there.
Really, the folks on this group have your best interests at heart. Here's why: Some have been in your shoes, or their offspring are currently in your shoes. Others have gained some good amount of wisdom in many years of surviving on this dangerous planet, and that wisdom cost them a lot to get. Yet they give it away free for the asking. That's nice, isn't it? Some of that wisdom says that if you get everything you ask for from your parents, then you won't know what to do with yourself in a few years when the world gives you nothing of what you ask for. It can be a rude awakening. You may have to sell that PT-6 just to eat, or to buy groceries for your kids. There are folks on this list in that situation, too, folks with good educations and work habits.
You aren't too young to start understanding these principles, and if you back off on your expectations and work within the limits set by your parents, you might not get what you want, but you will probably get what you need. Several folks have outlined schemes for doing just that. Listen to them!
One of the fellows I play with in a community band is a pretty good player in high school. He plays a school horn. I usually play a York Master, and the other day I mentioned to him that for the outdoor concerts we were doing my Miraphone might be better. He looked at me with some surprise, and said, "You have a Miraphone?" Yes, that "lowly" Miraphone was a horn beyond his dreams. It never occurred to him that in many ways the York Master might even be better. So, consider yourself lucky that you can dream about a top pro horn.
But if you really want to get good--good enough to really need something like a PT-6--play the school horn and get your parents to buy you lessons from the local orchestra pro. He'll most likely know within a few lessons lots more about what you really need than your band directors, and he'll have many good ideas about how to get it. He'll help you sell the idea to your parents, too.
Wanting something is okay, but be honest with yourself. Don't persuade yourself that you need something when you really don't. And don't hold it against us if we tell you that. That's why you asked, isn't it?