Posted by tubagoo on August 31, 2000 at 06:41:04:
In Reply to: The Current State of Jazz Tuba Playing posted by MG on August 31, 2000 at 01:30:49:
Quite a bit of groundwork has been done, by the people you mentioned and others; the anonymos tubist in the trenches doing the gigs. Of course, the lion's share is still in the dixieland community. There is no shame in dixie (that's one of the reasons I started to play tuba), but I gather from your message that you are looking at straight ahead jazz, rock/funk, and avante garde jazz on the tuba.
You are probably enroled as a classical tuba performance major. I recommend that you take a look at the jazz major curriculum and add as many as those classes as you can.
As a Instrumental Education major(legit euphonium as primary instrument) I was welcome in the jazz fundamentals classes (kind of a remedial combo class), jazz piano/theory/harmony class, and at the weekly informal jazz jam on friday afternoons and ultimately in a weekly combo. I also played trombone in the concert jazz band(do you play any bass trombone or bass) and went to many of the jazz recitals and clinics.
All of these extra classes won't be a waste of your time. They might count as small ensemble credit, large ensemble credit, piano credit, recital credit. Also, any EXPERIENCE with other musicians (especially those better than you) will make you a better player. The experience you can get in college is one few places to get practice playing in ensemble.
Start thinking now about what you might be doing next summer. Disney hires a couple of college tuba players each year, so do a couple of the paramount parks. More likely you will have to create your own avenues, like those that have set the ground work, and put together your own combo with tuba as a member of the horn section and the rhythm section.