Posted by TubaRay on November 25, 2002 at 11:28:29:
In Reply to: Levels of Playing posted by Collin on November 23, 2002 at 19:18:35:
Your original post and the questions you posed set off an excellent series of responses. I especially liked the thoughts concerning listening to great players and emulating them. As a school band director(and part-time professional tuba player), I believe I can speak from a couple of perspectives. I would like to address the competition side of your question. To be more specific, let's talk about how you are judged when you go head to head with other players in school competitions.
When I judge on panels(here in Texas, these are usually 5 person panels), I find that members of a panel may have different priorities as to what is most important. I, myself, tend to place the highest priority on the sound. Of course, if the player doesn't do a reasonable job playing the notes and making music, then playing with a great sound won't save the audition. I find that the typical school band director either doesn't know what a good tuba sound is, or is simply more impressed with a tuba player with great technique. Sometimes my emphasis on sound makes me the lone voice in judging a player to be the best. Believe it or not, judging panels can be all over the map in an audition. This is not usually true, but there are times when I wonder if we heard the same audition.
Most commonly, if we have heard approximately 20-25 players, the panel is usually in reasonable agreement on the top two or three, and on the bottom four or five. It is in the middle where things can be quite "interesting."
I know I have rambled a little, but suffice it to say that tone usually, but not always, plays a major role in how an audition turns out.
To close, let me remind you of what Ted stated concerning the two most important things--tone and reading. I believe in the adult musician world, these are probably the two most important things.
Ray Grim
The TubaMeisters