TubaForum.net

Please take note that due to the Gewandhaus orchestra tradition, only F and B-flat tuba are to be played at the audition!

I guess if you need a CC tuba for college, you won’t be applying. Good luck to everyone.

https://www.muvac.com/en/vacancy/gewand ... Pju8YS5dPw

russiantuba wrote: Sun Oct 05, 2025 7:39 pm

Please take note that due to the Gewandhaus orchestra tradition, only F and B-flat tuba are to be played at the audition!

I guess if you need a CC tuba for college, you won’t be applying. Good luck to everyone.

https://www.muvac.com/en/vacancy/gewand ... Pju8YS5dPw

Guessing the first part to advancing in the audition process is being able to pronounce the name properly. I took 4 years of German and that’s still a mouthful to say. I wonder if the yearly stipend includes all the sauerkraut you can eat?

tofu wrote: Sun Oct 05, 2025 11:34 pm [
Guessing the first part to advancing in the audition process is being able to pronounce the name properly. I took 4 years of German and that’s still a mouthful to say. I wonder if the yearly stipend includes all the sauerkraut you can eat?

I’ve always heard it as “Ge-vahnd House Orchestra”, but that’s a guy who grew up southern who took no German—they are an amazing orchestra

I heard them play Tchaik 5 and Mendelssohn Italian Overture when they were on tour in '78 - '79.
still a Communist/Soviet satellite country.

The tuba player was and older man and played a B&S Symphonie F tuba.

I was way up in the nosebleed seats but I'm certain that the trombonists were playing the traditional German-style trombones (with the F-attachment rotor mounted several inches back from the playing slide receiver...such as this:
(clear/bright sound...less effort / more clarity / sounded like trombones, instead of sounding like English baritones being overblown)

Apparently German orchestras are indeed strict about that BBb and F only thing; I heard from my teacher that the tubist in Berlin Phil wanted to use CC for something and they said no! I like that it's one less choice to make as far as which horn to play things on. Those B-tuba excerpts are fun!

Jarret McCourt toured Mahler 7 with them and he played his 6/4 Nirschl CC

Like a lot of German orchestras, and unlike a lot of American orchestras, they want Meistersinger played on F tuba.

Mark wrote: Mon Dec 29, 2025 7:23 pm Like a lot of German orchestras, and unlike a lot of American orchestras, they want Meistersinger played on F tuba.

Damn right. They're lots of things, but they're not silly.

AvrTuba wrote: Sat Dec 27, 2025 8:22 pm Jarret McCourt toured Mahler 7 with them and he played his 6/4 Nirschl CC

The audition requirements are very clear--when European orchestras tour and members don't tour (or vacancies), substitutes often use their own personal equipment. Also, there is potential, that after hearing a 6/4 York Style CC in their group, the audition committee likely wanted to clarify their wants and desires in the applicant when posting this.

bloke wrote: Mon Oct 06, 2025 1:36 pm I was way up in the nosebleed seats but I'm certain that the trombonists were playing the traditional German-style trombones (with the F-attachment rotor mounted several inches back from the playing slide receiver...such as this:
(clear/bright sound...less effort / more clarity / sounded like trombones, instead of sounding like English baritones being overblown)

Also -- the snakes.

IIRC, fancier snakes were used when times were good, less fancy snakes when times were tough, and if it was East German... verboten besides a minimal amount of snakes not to be fancy, but to keep appearances.

I had a chance to buy a German trombone like that (with a NICE fat kranz, fancy snakes, great shape) from a music shop in NYC back when I lived there. It was fun to play, and listed as "bass trombone", which the bell size supported that classification, but otherwise it was more like tenor-bass. I liked it a lot, but as a tuba player, I doubted if it was worth buying.

I think it cost about $800, and I nearly bought it, but decided to think about it. I talked to a trombone friend if it was worth buying, and thought he said "don't buy it, even if it was the last one on Earth." Woof. Saved myself $800 and a lot of hassle there.

Some time later, I came to find out he actually said "buy it, like it was the last one on Earth." It's been about 15 years and I've never seen another one.

Not like it would have been suitable for regular use, but still...

Whoops.