Re: Band Literature and the Tuba Player


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Posted by Matt Walters on July 28, 2001 at 22:45:37:

In Reply to: Band Literature and the Tuba Player posted by Katy Jablonski on July 28, 2001 at 14:23:54:


Hey Katy,
Back in West Virginia, I used to help some band directors do exactly what you want to do.
Short Term: Recruit from the flute section. Find a mediocre flutist (typically female) who craves a little more attention and who is also a bit feisty. With some extra attention from you and a local tubist, you can have an asset in no time. Once her girlfriends see that she is hanging and having fun with guys (typical brass players), you will have started something. Flutists tend to be the most competitive (attention hungry, "I want to be first chair. I'm better than she is."). So you look for an occasion when an existng tubist does something well and you hand out a compliment about tubists (Not the individual, understand?). Then in the next flute sectional you drop a line like, "Sure wish I had a few of you sharp flutists to help out the tuba section. Oh well."
Longterm: you need to recruit back in the middle school band. The trick is to have a "cool" kid be seen playing the tuba. No geeks or old guys are going to convince other kids that the tuba is cool. If one of your existing tubist is one of the "Cool Kids", find a way to get him or her seen having fun playing the tuba in front of the middle school kids.
A friend's wife recruited me to help out a middle school kid get ready for all county band audition. Well, he was handsome lad and all the girls went crazy for him. That was enough to get that low brass program going in the middle school and high school.
Oh yeah, it was the middle school teacher planting seeds and asking if any kids wanted to try different instruments. It seems that in many school districts, the older R.O.A.D (Retired On Active Duty) teachers just want to teach clarinet, trumpet, flute, sax, and drums. Shame! If your middle school feeder teacher is lazy, you will have to actively recruit each year.
Music: Find and buy up any copies of the Kuhn-Cimerra Method for Tuba. That book teaches just exactly what you need to get a tubist up and functioning in your school band program.
With the addition of private lessons, it takes about 3 months to have a viable tubist added to your section. I wish you well.
Matt


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