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I was speaking in more general terms. There just aren't that many non-HBCU bands that play loud, hip-hop songs, but things are changing. Most bands have a very set, very traditional, and all-too-often predictable stands set. UCA is one that is outside the norm, though that's only become the case in the past few years. UCA Tuba, you should be old enough to remember when we used to grind away on whatever LSU had been playing 20 years ago

I actually have been around and can tell a real difference in the quality of the performance and precision of the stands music. The point I was making is that, in general terms, the field show is probably what people care about most b/c that's what you put the most effort into. The stands stuff is the fun part, the icing, the gravy... it gets you through the tough parts and gets you connected to the game even more. But if I'm going to sweat it out on concrete/asphalt throughout the week, I'm damned well more concerned about how well the show goes than how well I can play "I'm On A Boat" - no offense

Stands music, show music - each plays their part, and each is an important part of the gameday experience.

Anyway, sorry to derail the thread, folks. Move along, move along.

Yeah, I mean the half-time show is the main deal as far as what we do. I'm just like both parts equally...and that probably makes me weird since most of the people in band don't come from a tradition of playing your butt off in the stands as well as the field. Not that schools don't try that, but it seems in Arkansas, the main focus of high school bands is the "on field" experience and my high school was pretty much that way, but we tried to out play every band in the stands and we had to play every UAPB wannabe in central Arkansas (who will remain nameless as to not p.o. anyone).

I've been around a few (5) years and remember the days of "National Emblem" and all of LSU's library and some random song here and there. There is a place for traditional songs but I think you need to incorporate the newer stuff so that all of the fans enjoy it.

I agree with everything you said with exception of not worrying about the stands stuff compared to the show. I make sure our tuba section sounds just as good on that stuff (even the rap stuff that only has 2 notes in the bass part) as we do for half-time. Plus, since I wrote most of the newer stands stuff...I want it to sound just as good so that could be a big reason why I worry about it more. Also...it's just the way I was brought up in my marching band. The "battle" between the bands took place in the stands.

Oh, and no offense taken...I agree with you on pretty much everything.

And from the very first post in this thread:



So you say you only called him dumb for suing the band (and it's not even the band he's suing. It's the university.), but in your first post, the one that got this whole thing going, you called him dumb for trying to catch a pass that was out of bounds.

Which way is it? Do you always talk out both sides of your mouth, or can you just genuinely not remember what your stance is?

If you wanted to just gripe about the columnist, hey get after it. I think I already said he went overboard. But by calling the player dumb for running out of bounds and then saying something like this (as you did):



then you turn it into a direct Band vs. Football argument, not Band vs. Douche Columnist.

See where I'm coming from here? It sounds like a whole lot more than just wanting to gripe about what the guy wrote. You're either backtracking, or just really bad at conveying your thoughts.

Wow, playing valuable antiques...... maybe we can move you guys up to Vietnam era tubas.....

Beary Manilow,

I respect you, really I do but you twisted some of my words. I never claimed that this football player "infringed on the band's area"...and I never turned this into a football v. band argument either...simple as that.

I said I played football and I LOOOOOOOVVVVVVVEEEEEE football!!! I'm in the band and I plan on persuing a career as a college level music teacher so I obviously love that too...but I know the "bands place" on Saturday.

Anyways, did I call the football player dumb? Yeah, but you added other stuff to that sentence and claimed I made other arguments based off of nothing......I don't appreciate that at all. No, he's not actually suing the band but this columnist is saying that should happen and you seemed to agree with that...and I took offense to that since it's not the band's fault that he got hurt...

Woah! Let's not do anything irrational!!! haha

We are trying to replace a few tubas at a time but that's kinda stopped the past 2 years. We have 2 "new-ish" horns that are 3 years old but they take some abuse and there are 2 ten year old ones and then the rest of them are from the 50's and some barely play at all. It's costing us a lot of money to repair them 1-2 times year and it makes more sense to buy new ones...but there is only so much money the school can give us for that and it's barely enough to buy 2 horns.

What does a suitable tuba for marching band cost these days?

How many do we need?

Ebay has new tubas for $700 - $2000. Don't know if they are what the band needs, but I don't think I would notice any difference.

I think this is more of what's being talked about.


Either way, midrange is about $4500 or so?

I think this type of TUBA is the best. Might cost a bit, but worth every penny.

Anybody know how many would be needed?

How about a BMB fundraiser for instruments at a football game this fall? Maybe PCC or UCAF can find matching donation money.

The tubas that we purchased 2-3 years ago were about $4500 each and they came with a case (not sure if that was separate from the $4500) but that's about what it would cost today for a fairly good horn. These were Yamaha sousaphones and they tend to cost more than another horn of the same quality and if it were up to me we would get Conn 20K sousphones (not $20k...just the name of the horn) and they run about the same and are better IMHO but it's not left up to me and the Yamahas do get the job done.

As for how many we need...well, in general we have +/- 15 tuba players in marching band...some years more and some years less and we would need to get a few extra just to be safe, so a good number would be 20 just in case we get bigger or since we have a great tuba instructor now, we may have more tuba players come to UCA. We have 4 new-ish or good condition tubas currently. Another one is in good condition but it's tiny and sounds bad but it's playable...the rest are hit or miss and need to be fixed a few times a year so we would need at least 11 more horns and 16 more to be safe.

So a "good" estimate would be about $49,500-$72,000 to replace all of the 50-60 year old horns we have. Which isn't gonna happen with our budget...we have a Band Extravaganza in Nov-Dec and it's used as a fundraiser and this past year we displayed these horns and people couldn't believe we play on those after seeing them up close. On the field you can't tell since all you see is the big bell and they are still shiny...lol

I appreciate you guys' concern and research! I never thought I could get your average fan interested in the tuba to do some research...haha

I think many of us on this board want the band to sound their best. I don't think most of us know how much it would cost to replace those instruments, or have the budget to replace them when we find out, but we would like to support the band any way we can.

I think most high school bands have the same issues as the UCA band. My mother in law is a band instructor at a small school and has brought her kids to UCA for the band day and football game. Every one of those kids were overwhelmed by the UCA band and wanted to be part of it. That's huge ! If you guys can make that big of an impression on kids that will make them want to attend college, then I think we need to support you somehow.

Maybe UCAFANS.COM can provide the cost of one new tuba. Might take a while to get all the funds, but even if it was purchased next year, hey, it's good for a few years right?

I'll start with a match of $100. Who's next?