Returning Player Advice

[unclemustash]

Hey there, longtime lurker, new to posting!

I grew up playing and studying privately but wasn't able to major in music performance (or even minor in it with my undergrad schedule). I got back into playing ~3 years ago and its been by #1 stress reducer/passion project/fun hobby. Over the past few years I have played in a handful of small groups and started subbing regularly with local orchestras. In those groups, I am just about the only non-music major which is obvious based on my current skill level. My tone has consistently improved with regular practice but I don't feel like I am advancing as a whole player.

I feel like I am kind of 'stuck' in my senior year of high school and was looking for guidance to improve what I am capable of playing. I also feel I lack a deeper understanding of music theory. I looked into the music program at my local CC and it conflicts too much with my job.

What's the best way to make music knowledge improvements as an adult? I definitely can seek out private instruction (online or in person). I also have a good amount of free time to do some serious practicing. (practicing now consists of a long warm up, etudes, stuff I'm playing for groups, and fun things too).

TIA for the advice!

[Mary Ann]

I bet you can find an online self-paced theory course.

Private teacher who is not only a good player (whom you can imitate while learning) but also a reputation for actually being able to teach as opposed to coach. (most private teachers I have had at all levels are the type who will give you an exercise to do that you cannot do without the technique you need to do it, but they give you the exercise without telling you how to do the technique. So that's what I mean by teaching instead of coaching. The actual teachers are very hard to find. Do not go study with a grad student; they are learners, not teachers.)

Depends on what your deficits are -- range, tone, embouchure, air supply?

I did not play brass until i was 45. Tuba came about five or six years later -- and I found that pattern when trying to learn, that there many coaches out there but very few teachers. So I'm not a returning player but was a newbie.

[arpthark]

I have a master's and (almost) PhD in music theory and taught it in high school and college for nearly 10 years. Shoot me an email if you want some lessons or to chat about what you are looking to improve on. I've done a lot of tutoring at all levels. beanhillbrass at gmail dot com.

[bloke]

Here's a blunt suggestion which is only meant as a sincere helpful suggestion:

If you actually do have a mustache, I would encourage you to either choose the mustache or choose tuba playing.

People will read my post here and argue against it and contradict it. Whatever.

[tokuno]

Here's a blunt suggestion which is only meant as a sincere helpful suggestion:

If you actually do have a mustache, I would encourage you to either choose the mustache or choose tuba playing.

People will read my post here and argue against it and contradict it. Whatever.

Perhahpsh he'sh one of thoshe shcottisch Sean Connery typesh and he's alsho inquishitive and compelled to find anshwersh, so he's uncle musht ash questionsh . . .

[LibraryMark]

Here's a blunt suggestion which is only meant as a sincere helpful suggestion:

If you actually do have a mustache, I would encourage you to either choose the mustache or choose tuba playing.

People will read my post here and argue against it and contradict it. Whatever.

Agree 100%. My low range really opened up when I got my mustache above my upper lip. Wish I had known this in college. We were all about Tom Selleck 'staches then. Now that I am old enough to not really give a hoot what I look like, I trimmed it up and have not looked back.

[GC]

It all depends on the person. Most of the guys I've played with the last decade have no problem with lip hair. If I skip shaving two days, my pedal register dies. Three days, I can't hit a simple low Bb. It's whatever works for you.

I'd rather keep my facial covering as a public service, but . . .

[Tubeast]

In the early 90s, I had this videotape (yeah, I´m THAT old) of a Roger Bobo masterclass at Riva Del Garda, Italy.
It had been produced and broadcast by ARTE, a French/German coproduced culture TV channel.
Young Heiko Triebener was among the post-grad-participants, as well as two very promising and VERY young undergrad students from Budapest, Hungary, one of whom was Roland Szentpaly.

There was a lot to learn from THAT one, since they filmed the actual classes including warmup, etudes and solo-work.

You might want to check out Chris Olka´s youtube channel, too.
Great insights and a series of useful "etude of the week" - type public lessons with demonstration of great playing.

I have nothing to contribute to in-person-lessons, sorry.

[bloke]

MUSIC THEORY:

Back in the 60's, there were only a few lead sheets available for top-40 songs, they were expensive (like $1.75 in 1960's money - on an 11-year-old's budget...close to $20 in 2024 dollars), they were issued after the songs were no longer top 40, and (disappointingly) they were inaccurate/simplified.

I taught myself to pull chord changes, melodies, guitar solos, and bass lines off of 33/45 rpm records (as the records cost less than the lead sheets)...My "budget" was probably fifty cents of "allowance", and 5-to-10-cent redeemable pop bottles I could collect from the curbs and dumpsters, and (admission) I would sneak my Dad's mower out of the shed and cut grass for people.

My knowledge of "music theory" was limited, but my ability to "hear" - over time (via struggling/doing/remembering/recognizing similiarities) became less-and-less limited.

When taking "kolij"-level theory classes, I could already "hear" and was familiar with everything they were teaching OTHER THAN the NAMES of everything. It was really easy to (simply) learn the names of everything that I already "knew". Dreaded "dictation" was laughably easy, as things that they were asking us to write down were far simpler than guitar solos, or interior keyboard figures mixed in (and not as loud as other instruments)...plus: they were playing stuff (for us to write down) on a real piano - rather than my attempted to pull rock charts from a record player with a worn needle and a 5-inch speaker (with rubber cement on it, to enhance the bass).

Based on my own experience, I would recommend working on dictation at home (with digital recordings now making it so very easy to stop/start/back up and even slow down at pitch).

Once you're able to HEAR what all the "music theory stuff" discusses, the "music theory stuff" discussion can then BEGIN with you immediately understanding everything to which music theory seemingly puzzling/bewildering/mystifying) stuff refers. Otherwise (at best), you likely will only understand "music theory" on paper, but not the sounds created by the things "music theory" discusses...with (then) "music theory" remaining a very dry and mostly meaningless study endeavor.

I'm not "gifted". People who claim to "not be able to do" what I'm able to do are the same sorts of people who say they can't swim or can't ride a bike.
It does take longer to sharpen one's ears (as described above) than to swim or bike-ride, but it can be done at leisure. Hearing what's going on (to me) has ALWAYS been far more valuable than knowing what all of it (in the "classical" music realm) has been formally named.

PLAYING:

You already know how "good playing" sounds. Work towards making good sounds. Teachers can help a bunch (particularly pointing out oversights and via demonstration (as it's probably best to find a good teacher who is also a remarkably good player), but these are things that they cannot do:
- get in your head (to completely understand your cognitive/emotional views of what you yourself are working towards accomplishing)
- see inside your oral cavity, lungs, etc.

All of the physiological subtleties of "great" playing are going to need to be dialed in my you - via the feedback that listening to yourself (analytically, but not scoldingly) offers.

...or (as with another long post I submitted this morning) ...
"yada-yada-yada"