Posted by Steve Dedman on March 09, 2001 at 12:24:56:
In Reply to: Please help out this mom! posted by Tuba mom on March 09, 2001 at 00:44:53:
A few other options:
If you live near a college or university (especially a smaller college), check with the music department to see if they have any spares to loan or rent. It'll surprise you how many horns gather dust in the attics and basements of academia.
Check with other middle/high schools in the area/region. Most band directors will bend over backwards to help any music student, even if the student isn't one of theirs.
Check out this link: www.tuba.is.de
That's the Dutch Tuba Site. Don't let the name fool you, there are links to a lot of music stores in the USA. Sean has links to some shops on this site as well, but these shops are more geared towards us tuba junkies that pay more for our horns than our cars. The Dutch Tuba Site has links to many stores that aren't really knows as "tuba shops". If you can find a decent horn at one of those shops for a really good price, perhaps you can convince the band director to purchase the horn for the school program. Then your research has not only helped your son, it's helped several more players who will come after him.
Like others have said, I would shy away from purchasing an instrument yourself until the tuba bug has really bitten him and there's no turning back.
Good luck in your search.
Steve