Re: Re: T.U.B.A. ?


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Posted by Sean Chisham on March 15, 1999 at 10:52:31:

In Reply to: Re: T.U.B.A. ? posted by Kelly O'Bryant on March 14, 1999 at 23:24:21:

It would appear that many people see T.U.B.A. as simply a quarterly publication. For many people this may even be true. What percentage of the membership actually attend conferences and benefit from the new commisions? I would guess it to not even be a majority. For most people T.U.B.A. is simply an expensive magazine.

Well, $40/year for a quarterly magazine subscription is expensive for those folks. Now, I can't imagine the costs and time needed to make it a monthly subscription. There would be 3 times the costs and raise a need for 3 times as many articles. This ain't going to happen. So how do you convince people that T.U.B.A. is worth investing in? Well, I believe a website is one good route to take. With it, the organization could keep people up to date on what is happening and what the mission of T.U.B.A. really is. I am not talking about an OCR copy of the charter. I am talking about marketing the things the organization has it's hands in, such as new works and conferences.

It is sad to say that a vast majority of tuba and euphonium players know little about the TUBA Press. The works themselves are wrapped in plain colored covers and laid flat at conference tables. It is a harsh reality that eye candy sells and creates interest. If the TUBA Press could be incoorporated into an online store then the increased sales could be directly contributed to TUBA. The shopping thing may be a stretch without paying someone to build it and maintain it, but the idea is to take more advantage of the Internet. The TUBA Press suffers from a severe case of lack of marketing.

Back in the good ole days, when wheels were square and no one had even heard of a modem, the Journal was just about the only source of information for our specialized field. Today, we have instant information. I can remember having to wait til the Journal came out to read about who won which job and what the latest inovations were in instrument design. Now, I just post a question and get a response the next day. The T.U.B.A. website must be maintained by someone more proactivelly. It could be a powerful tool if taken advantage of, AND it is mucho cheaper than sending out several thousand mailings.

Many people have no idea of the conditions of instrument design and the musical library and the lack of recognition of the tuba and euphonium as a viable instrument prior to TUBA. Alexander, Miraphone, King, and maybe a Meinl Weston were some of the few choices in instruments back then. Due in part to the ITEC's, the manufacturers became more involved with musicians and the instruments started to progress. Today we have instruments which are actually a pleasure to play on, instead of a test of mental stamina to work with.

Compositions were also almost non-existant. We had the Hindemith and Vaughan Williams, but little else. Take a look at the copyright years of tha majority of the tunes you like to play, which were written for our instruments, and you will probably see a date past 1973. TUBA did and does make a difference.

How did TUBA make a difference? Mostly due to people like Harvey Phillips and Daniel Perantoni and others who got out there and instead of talking about change, ambushed the composers and instrument manufacturers. New compositions came out and new instrument designs happened. The publication was designed to keep the membership up on what kinds of innovations were taking place.

Is TUBA the same type of organization today? I am not sure. Why am I not sure? Because no one seems to touting the effectiveness of TUBA like Harvey Phillips used to. He was and still is a flamboyant spokesman for the art of music we like to call tuba and euphonium playing. The organization seems to have lost a little steam and is mellowing out. This could be due, in part, to having won a few of the initial battles. It could also be that the original excitement derived, in part, from desperate necessity has started to dissipate with the aging of some of the original proprietors.

In any event, TUBA is more than a magazine. It is an organization which has instituted advancement in the past, and will hopefully do so in the future.

sean



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