Posted by Scott on June 07, 2001 at 18:15:53:
In Reply to: Re: Re: University posted by Jeremy on June 07, 2001 at 16:11:25:
You can study tuba at 99 percent of the universities out there. Don't give up on colleges, either.
I was talking to Richard Strange (formerly conductor of the Arizona State band, where Sam Pilafian, one of the most sought after tuba teachers in the country teaches) who said that your undergraduate years are for getting a good start, your masters allows you to work with a particular teacher more, and it's important that your doctorate is with the best teacher in the country. So absolutely look hard for the right tuba program, but I would suggest be as concerned (if not more) with the music department as a whole as you are with the tuba teacher.
As for checking the websites, that's a good start. The websites should have bios of the teachers and more importantly their e-mail addresses. Contact the teachers and most of them will be more than happy to talk to you, and some of them will even get you in contact with people in their studios. If you can, visit some of the campuses, sit in on some band/orchestra rehearsals and you should definitely narrow down your choices. At that point you could ask questions here and you could get a lot more out of the answers.
E-mail me privately if you want to discuss this further, I'm currently in the search for a graduate school, so I'm going through the same thing. Sometimes people don't even know where to start looking and I could help you here, but the archives are full of recommendations for good schools.
Scott