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One of the few times I was paid to play with a band was way back when that "New Sousa Band" was a thing, and that fellow came to Memphis. Other rare times are when I'm asked to play in community bands - because all their tuba players (or the ones who they rely on to carry the band) are on vacation, and they might surprise me with an honorarium afterward.

Most of the orchestral pieces - that actually use two tuba instruments, whereby one of them is not labeled tenor tuba - would sound just about the same with only one tuba instead of two. More and more in my personal experience - when movements or portions of some of those pieces appear on concerts, there is no second player hired. At a Halloween pops where Mars was slated, both parts were on my stand, and of course I covered the tenor tuba part (euphonium) because - otherwise - those solo passages are not played by anyone else, and everything in the bass tuba part is covered by trombones and string basses.

I'm slated to play an extremely challenging symphony (two tuba parts which feature passages which might be found in tuba concertos) by an English composer in March, whereby both parts are very challenging, and I still have no idea if they plan to hire a second tuba player. The two parts sort of look like the composer might have been thinking of E flat and B flat instruments, but they aren't written in octaves. The upper part is really fast and difficult to count stuff mostly in the staff (though up to G-flat ABOVE the staff) and a little bit below, and the other part mostly does it around the bottom of the staff and down.

When I am hired to play patriotic concerts, it's always symphony orchestras and (likely unpaid) choruses.

I like tuba players a whole bunch, but I'd rather be chatting with them at a restaurant or while repairing their instruments. I used to really try to make a point of participating in the local Christmas tuba things, so I could visit with and chat with all the other local tuba players, but - these days - there's just too much risk of having one's car stolen or getting shot.

To be clear, I'm not denigrating band music. Band music is hard, and involves constant playing - much as with string bass, and - even when motion is slow - sustaining low pitches at forte for four bars requires some thought/pacing, a really vibrant embouchure, and actually a bit of athleticism. Playing in bands is a whole lot of fun, but having a whole lot of fun playing in an orchestra - and also being paid - is just as much fun...
...tacet pieces: I can always get some communication obligations taken care of with these newfangled phones, or I can stop by local band rooms and check on repair or sales needs with directors, or I can even cruise local pawn shops for deals on instruments, tools, and other things.

There are working tuba quartets. I think the TubaMeisters in San Antonio played 40 gigs last year, all of them (or nearly so) paid.

The only tuba I’ve ever owned that paid for itself was the Yamaha 621F I played in that group in its first year.

Not exactly a permanent full-time job, but definitely a plus sign for those participating in the gig economy.

Rick “but, yeah, only pay gigs these days are with brass quintet” Denney

All-tuba ensembles might qualify as the exception that proves the rule.

Pretty hard to get any paid gigs tubaing around here, what with the Coast Guard Band guys and the retired Coast Guard Band guys being 1st/2nd/3rd/4th call. Mostly Christmas and Easter stuff, but there is a pretty diverse live music scene that I'd love to get my toe in the door. Art Hovey does a good job of doing that.

I suppose - if it's okay to mismatch verbs and nouns, my observation about Rick Denney's claim is that there are a working tuba quartet.

Around here, I think it would be a pretty hard sell. San Antonio is a huge city and with a very large entertainment/tourism industry.

I did get paid to play my baritone horn today, and well enough to cover the drive there and back - as well as the gig. Including the hour drive there, the hour drive back, the forty-five minute rehearsal, and the hour and a quarter service, I guess I made about $70 an hour, and maybe there are still people who aren't paid quite that much hourly to work in fast food places, but I can't be sure about that...(??)

bloke "okay, I guess I'm supposed to call it a 'euphonium' "

bloke wrote: ↑Sun Aug 13, 2023 1:32 pm
bloke "okay, I guess I'm supposed to call it a 'euphonium' "

I had an older gentleman come up to me after our last community band concert of the season and tell me how wonderful it was seeing a "bass horn" like mine. His father had one like mine (King 1240 recording bell) that he sold 75 years ago, when this gentleman was 5 years old, and he wondered if it was his father's old "bass horn." Unfortunately no, but still got a kick out of hearing that old verbiage, and chatting with this nice man.

arpthark wrote: ↑Sun Aug 13, 2023 1:48 pm I had an older gentleman come up to me after our last community band concert of the season and tell me how wonderful it was seeing a "bass horn" like mine. His father had one like mine (King 1240 recording bell) that he sold 75 years ago, when this gentleman was 5 years old, and he wondered if it was his father's old "bass horn." Unfortunately no, but still got a kick out of hearing that old verbiage, and chatting with this nice man.

My high school band director recruited me to play "bass horn", and he was a "bass horn" player himself. Come to think of it, I qualify as an older gentleman now. How did that happen so fast?

For about 10 years, I was a "lone wolf" being the only adult tuba player in town, as well as the only tuba player in a nearby town community band. When something was happening at the local university that the students couldn't play, said university would pay me to play. After that 10 years, the university had enough students to hire a real tuba teacher, and a number of retired musicians, several of them tuba players moved into that other small town and joined the community band. Almost overnight, we went from a single tuba player to 8-10 at every concert. Most of them play in our local tuba-euphonium ensemble. We play a lot of unpaid gigs and have a great time doing it. Sometimes we are paid money; other times we're paid in food.

I play in a community band with three other tuba players; all young bucks who are more interested in making noise than making music. I exaggerate, perhaps a little. I just drop out on most of the quiet stuff until I get the pleasing look from the conductor. It’s nice to be appreciated!

There are at least 15 or 20 tuba players (active or lapsed) at my ~14k employee company. One of the software developers on my team is one of the lapsed ones, and I'm the devil on his shoulder trying to talk him into buying one and getting back into playing.

The Brute Squad wrote: ↑Mon Aug 14, 2023 8:54 am There are at least 15 or 20 tuba players (active or lapsed) at my ~14k employee company. One of the software developers on my team is one of the lapsed ones, and I'm the devil on his shoulder trying to talk him into buying one and getting back into playing.

Sounds like it's time to organize a company tuba ensemble!

donn wrote:All-tuba ensembles might qualify as the exception that proves the rule.

That was sorta my point. How many gigging tuba quartets are there? Two? Three?

Military bands make a better exception.

Rick “preferred being the only tuba before tremor” Denney

bloke wrote:I suppose - if it's okay to mismatch verbs and nouns, my observation about Rick Denney's claim is that there are a working tuba quartet.

Around here, I think it would be a pretty hard sell. San Antonio is a huge city and with a very large entertainment/tourism industry.

I did get paid to play my baritone horn today, and well enough to cover the drive there and back - as well as the gig. Including the hour drive there, the hour drive back, the forty-five minute rehearsal, and the hour and a quarter service, I guess I made about $70 an hour, and maybe there are still people who aren't paid quite that much hourly to work in fast food places, but I can't be sure about that...(??)

bloke "okay, I guess I'm supposed to call it a 'euphonium' "

A city needs a strong German/Czech heritage to support live polka music, especially if it’s a novelty act. Yes, San Antonio is such a place.

But lots of places have a heritage of some sort that a quartet can exploit as a novelty act. The TubaMeisters do include at least a couple of parody country and rock tunes, plus no shortage of long-hair music. The first step is understanding that it’s a novelty act.

And considering all the time spent writing arrangements, etc., it took a long time for the true hourly rates to exceed those of fast food employees.

Rick “t’ain’t easy” Denney

I was thinking about a small civil war group. There's still a lot of that stuff going on. At least around here.

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I was in such a group when I lived in Dallas, but we only had one tuba. The director was a tuba player, but he didn’t play in that group.

Rick “but we were indeed paid” Denney

“I like tuba players a whole bunch, but I'd rather be chatting with them at a restaurant or a while repairing their instruments“