Posted by Matt G on August 30, 2001 at 06:40:40:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: German F theories posted by j somewhat argumentative/inflammatory this time s on August 30, 2001 at 01:47:43:
Joe,
I somewhat agree with you and somewhat Jay. Jay has a point that tuba players should be trained as "ensemble" players first and solo players seconds. Possibly mistakenly he uses the symphony orchestra as his primary reference. Also, band, quintet, and other money generating ensembles should be mentioned also. I would be willing to bet that a good non-jazz trained tuba player who does not have a full time gig would generate most of his money in the quintet realm. But on your side, our schools do not prepare students, in general, to generate a comfortable living playing the tuba. If they wanted to do so this is what I would propose they do:
1) Make all tuba students perform in an orchestra, band, brass choir, small mixed ensemble, brass quintet, dixieland/jazz/mainstream group at sometime during their four year stay. This would begin to round out the experience of the music student.
2) Make them take improvisation/jazz theory courses to make them work on: memorizing "heads", playing a decent solo over even Bb blues, playing a two beat bass line, and "walking" a four beat bass line. Who knows how many students can even do this now (not many I'd guess).
3) Make them learn all viable doubles to a performing level. Maybe not to a "virtuoso" level, but at least a "not embarass yourself" level. A tubist should be able to play: euphonium, bass trombone, tenor trombone, electric bass (very well), and upright bass. This way when they enter the real world, they won't have to turn down all of those possible jobs because they can't play anything other than tuba.
4) Make them take basic business management/marketing courses. This would help them: manage time, manage money, and be able to promote themself and network in a constructive and effecient manner.
I think if these four steps were taken, the average tuba player would exit their undergraduate lives with a good chance of making a living. When it comes to master's and doctorate work, specialize away. Unfortunately, our four year institutions are too busy teaching them the proper use of a twelve tone row, which doesn't seem to be popping up on a lot of Britney Spears albums. I know that had I gotten this experience instead of slowly trying to learn it while doing a non-music job, the chances of being a freelance player would be far greater. But, I don't think academia will ever allow this "common-sense" and "real-world" learning to ever really hit our upper level learning institutions. By the way, I know there are tuba instructors out there who promote these types of things, but the problems lie far above there positions. I think 99.99% of the instructors at colleges/universities would agree with a curriculum like this.
Matt G