Music School Drop Out: A story of a Girl and her Tuba Part 1

Part 1

The obsession with music probably started in my mother’s womb. My mom was a teen mom, a music geek/nerd, and her class valedictorian. She was pregnant during the last semester of junior year till the second half of her senior year. She preformed and tried out for NH All-State Band and was successful. Her primary musical instrument was euphonium or baritone horn. She obtained the John Phillip Sousa Music Award at her high school. Knowing my mom played her euphonium during pregnancy convinces me that my music obsession started in the womb when hearing her play.

It was no great surprise to my family and local community when I started to play euphonium for my elementary school band. The only person surprised by my choice was my band director who thought I did not know what the instrument was. However, after discovering that my mom had played the band director was very accepting of my instrument choice.

Besides learning to play musical instruments at a young age; I started to listen to a broad range of music at a fairly young age. I continued to listen to all genres of music throughout my life.

In middle school I started to play the tuba. At the start of 6th grade the band was without a tuba player. When the teacher asked if anyone was interested in playing I jumped at the opportunity. The audition to play the tuba lasted less than five minutes. From that point on I started to audition for technical level bands and get judged on solo performances. The obsession had kicked in.

I started private lessons with a talented female tuba player in 7th grade. I felt lucky to have a female tuba player as my teacher because I had someone to talk to about feeling discriminated against for being a female low brass player. She helped me overcome a lot of the baggage that comes with being a female low brass player.

It wouldn’t be until 10th grade when I would start to experience the worse harassment for being a girl and playing the tuba. It was the first time I was told by a music teacher directly that a girl could simply not play tuba because girls have a weak embouchure. I was instantly offended and fought to prove the teacher wrong. The teacher was not my high school music teacher but was the new middle school music teacher. I made all-state band 9th, 11th, and 12th grade and marched during 10th grade in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as a part of a band called Tuba Titans.

During middle and high school I learned many instruments. Trumpet, trombone, oboe, bassoon, baritone saxophone, French horn, and bagpipes are a few to name. I attended band camp as many summers as I could so I could get all the knowledge and experience I needed to go to college for music education. Many of the instruments I learned I learned at summer camp.

In 12th grade everything seemed to change. My world was flipped upside down by allowing other people to influence my life decisions. The biggest mistakes/regrets of life happened.