Got any funny tuba stories from your college days?

[Jperry1466]

The day I almost had to have the other shoulder replaced - may be of no interest to anyone but me and Dave.

Posting this at the suggestion of an old University of Kentucky tuba mate and friend who is also a member of this forum, Dave Gilbreath (another one of "Rex's boys" as he calls us. In 1973, I was a grad student at UK and thought I was done with marching band after graduating from college in Texas, but my scholarship said otherwise. So I became the oldest marcher on the field at the advanced age of 22. In this particular pre-game show ritual, the flying "K" was moving pretty fast down the field, and at a certain spot, we all do a quick "to the rear". One time, Dave, who was 4 steps directly in front of me turned about 4 steps too early. You can see from the pic that Dave is no small guy (he was given the affectionate nickname of "Moose" by the rest of the band) and seemed to me to be about twice my size. I managed to avoid the collision by a sliver of air but had visions of broken bones and other body parts. We've laughed about this over the years, but neither of us ever forgot. I'll let him correct the story.

[arpthark]

@Jperry1466 I'm a Kentucky alum as well, about 40 years later than you, so one of Skip's boys as opposed to Rex's.

I was in the marching band for two years. Of course we still did the "Block K" at games, but thankfully I avoided any collisions.

The funniest stories probably aren't appropriate for this forum, but I had very many good times with the folks in the tuba studio, especially the members of my quartet, and some of them are lifelong friends and many are doing great things now.

After hours tuba quartet rehearsal at the fine arts building (yes, the same one as you were in, @Jperry1466 and @davidgilbreath ; the building is from 1948 and still kicking!) often devolved into chaos and shenanigans. I'll leave it at that.

We had a key to classrooms that we would use as rehearsal space. Occasionally I would abuse this privilege by going in after we had rehearsed and scrawling nonsense on the white board: "LOST CHICKEN: if found please call [tuba quartet member] at [phone number]." They were a good sport about it. I need to ask him if he got any dates from that, or if anybody actually found a chicken.

Occasionally the fine arts building would be locked and our swipe cards to get in wouldn't work. That necessitated a wiggle through an open ground floor classroom window. One time police got called on us for this, and we explained the situation. They ended up unlocking and locking the door after us on quartet rehearsal days. But boy, we thought we were in trouble at the time.

The tuba storage room was sort of the hang out spot for tuba players, and we would practice in there when we could. But it was across the hall from the music theory classrooms. Warming up in there at 8am often resulted in an annoyed knock from aural skills classes. Oops.

So many great memories, good times and excellent music making. Sometimes I miss that freedom and that immersive environment.

[Three Valves]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness....

[bloke]

Funny stories from that era don’t involve any tubas, and I’m not sure that any of them are protected by any statutes of limitations.

[York-aholic]

Funny stories from that era don’t involve any tubas, and I’m not sure that any of them are protected by any statutes of limitations.

Was that you? I thought you looked familiar!

[ronr]

U of Minnesota Marching Band, mid 70s visit to Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City (the night before we played for the Dexter Drednaughts HS football game, but I digress). We were doing the halftime show when, honest to god, I caught a corncob in the head.

[bort2.0]

Many funny stories. None that I'm willing to share here. Also, quite a few that I don't remember, am told are true, and disbelieve them vehemently.

College...

[windshieldbug]

A colleague of mine was playing a tuba alone piece on a student recital. Another member of our studio was listed in the program as his accompanist. They stage was bare but for two chairs. They both came out, one with his horn. He played the piece. They both stood up at the end and took a bow. It was then I was starting to realize what I was in for as a tuba major.

[bloke]

The most amazing, entertaining, astonishing, and hilarious recital (during my kolij atendunce) was a masters degree trumpet recital...extremely talented player with an extraordinary sense of humor (both whose playing and sense of humor were fueled by alcohol).
...too much remarkableness and hilarity to type about, right now.
Sometime - when in-person - any of you can ask me about it.
====================
I have to go back out to the dungeon - now - and finish those despicable YBB-641 tubas.
I do NOT want ANY of the individual instruments (in the pile-O-repairs, out there) to still be there on-nor-after Thnxgiving Day.

[iiipopes]

I was a grad student at Mizzou from fall 1982 until spring 1986. I was a souzy player in Marching Mizzou the last year (1982) before they banished us from the field between the end zone and the track to the stands. We stood to the side to play instead of sitting in the temporary bleachers. I had watched the place kicker all season so I knew his range. At one point in one game, it clicked. As the team lined up to kick a field goal, I shucked off my souzy, ran around behind the bleachers, and positioned myself. A student "manager" was there, and I just grinned at him. He knew. Here comes the football. I was in exactly the right position. I caught the field goal, tossed it to the student manager, and that is my big NCAA-I Big 8 Conference football moment.

[Finetales]

When I was at IU, one of the tuba majors had this van:


It's made the rounds on the Internet a few times, and if I remember right he briefly experienced a small amount of fame from it. Kept the tuba van even after he stopped playing tuba.