Posted by Brian Frederiksen on September 09, 2002 at 15:52:35:
In Reply to: Student-A Dilemma posted by Swami on September 08, 2002 at 21:49:35:
Way back when during my college days there were a few women violin students who refused to play in the orchestra. The reason, their teacher told them they should ONLY practice to be a soloist, not to be one of those many violin players in a symphony. Seems these were the type that prcticed their butts off on concertos, won a few competitions but couldn't play anything else. Always wondered whatever happened to them but I would bet they are not making a living as soloists.
So she has a friend who seems to have an influence but the standard repretoire for strings and tuba are two different animals. There may be a chance for a solo career on a string instrument but it is rare in the tuba world. One exception is Harvey Phillips but he played everything, orchestra, band, jazz, commercial gigs and whatever. Soloists of today such as Pat Sheridan have played outside the solo world, in this case, the Marine Band. I remember hearing him as a student at Northwestern and if there was a tuba student who should be only playing solo material, it was him, but he became a Marine for a while.
Sounds like you have a problem here. With all the tuba players in the world, maybe we can get along with one less. Maybe she should be a string player!