Michael S. Milnarik

Tuba Stands

2009-06-09T21:17:00.000-07:00

Have you ever used a tuba stand? What is a tuba stand you ask? It's basically a tripod that has a holder on the top that you can rest the bottom of your tuba on while playing. Actually some companies call it a "tuba rest."

Honestly, I have to admit - years ago I thought "tuba stands are for wimps." Yes, I know, very shallow. My mind changed a number of years ago while playing in a wind ensemble. A colleague in the tuba section was using a tuba stand. I asked why he was using it. He explained that he had had some trouble with his knee and the tuba stand took the pressure off and made it much easier to hold the tuba. I asked if I could try it and I was hooked!

Although I don't use a tuba stand all of the time, I do use one fairly regularly. A tuba stand reduces body tension. You don't have to physically hold the tuba on your lap, you can rest it on the stand and very easily keep it in place. This reduces the tension in your playing hand/arm, helps to reduce tension in your other arm making it easier to adjust slides while playing, reduces tension in your legs, and your upper body. I found that it was easier to breathe and MOST IMPORTANTLY....

my leg no longer hurt! Because of my height it was difficult for me to put the tuba on the chair I was sitting on while playing and by putting the horn on one of my legs it was at the correct height for me to play. The problem this caused was that it would rest on my leg and I began experiencing leg pain around the spot where the tuba had been placed.

In many situations we do not have control over the chairs that we sit on for gigs, rehearsals, music lessons, etc. Ever sit on one of those plastic "wedding chairs?" Yeah, me too. They're flimsy, they're awkward, and they are angled so that you have to sit "in" the chair. They do not promote good posture when playing and it makes everything just a little more difficult. With a tuba stand you can adjust the height to match whatever chair you are "stuck" with.

A lot of tuba players spend money to have their leadpipe adjusted to fit their height. With a tuba stand you can just adjust the stand.

I know that there are tuba players out there that just simply don't like them. That's okay. For me it just makes sense...less tension, adjusts easily to various chairs, makes page turning easier, and no leg pain. Works for me!

Methods of Shipping a Tuba

2009-05-30T22:36:00.001-07:00

Recently there was a discussion on one of the tuba bulletin boards about the methods of shipping a tuba.

I've shipped a significant number of tubas and euphoniums through my business TubaStudio.com In my experience the best methods of shipping a tuba are through AMTRAK, Greyhound or a trucking company. This advice is all based on personal experience and will vary from person to person.

AMTRAK has been the absolute most reliable. They will put the instrument on a wooden pallet by hand and then the entire load on the pallet gets wrapped in heavy duty plastic so that it doesn't shift while in transit.

I've used Greyhound on a number of occasions for both shipping and receiving. For the most part I've had great success with them. However, there are a couple of things that can happen with them...

1. If you want it to arrive on the scheduled date at the scheduled time the bus is supposed to arrive at your recipient's station you need to add PRIORITY shipping to it. That means if there are crowded buses with a lot of luggage it won't get bumped to the next bus, and the next bus, and the next bus.. etc. Priority shipping is a bit more expensive but it's the way to circumvent the bump process.

2. Again, I've had some great experiences with Greyhound BUT there is also some serious incompetence at various stations. I had a problem last year with a tuba being shipped to me in a very large washing machine box. The tuba wasn't shipped via priority shipping, the tuba wasn't arriving when it was supposed to and no one would answer the phone at the Boston South Station terminal. I called Greyhound directly and they told me that this is an ongoing problem with the Boston and New York terminals. They are so busy there at times, and understaffed, that the employees have a tendency to stop answering the phone. When I did finally get someone on the phone they couldn't properly track it, but they gave me the stations that it would have gone through so that I could call each of them to see if it was sitting there. I called all of them and it wasn't at any of them. I kept trying the Boston terminal and they'd keep telling me (when I could get them on the phone) that it hadn't arrived and they couldn't put in a formal request to track it until it was "missing" for 30 days. At about day 28 I went down to the Boston terminal (after just getting off the phone with the same employee I dealt with before having him tell me "I told you we'll call you when it comes in.") When I arrived the cage surrounding their work area was locked while the person was down at the buses. There is a hallway that goes around this cage. I went around the back where I could see into a window to their back room and there was a HUGE box sitting there. When the employee (a different one from the one I spoke to on the phone) got back he checked the computer and nothing came up. I told him I had seen a very large box in his back room, and asked if he minded taking a look at it. He did. It was the tuba. It had arrived almost three weeks prior and no one had checked it in! He told me that there were some real lazy people working there. So this can also be a problem.

AMTRAK is my preferred shipping method. Nothing is perfect, but they've been the best and you can insure your shipment for a lot more than Greyhound will allow. AMTRAK let's you insure up to $10,000 and Greyhound sometimes only allows a maximum of $300! The Boston station allows $1,000. Greyhound varies per station. I've never had a horn arrive damaged when shipping through AMTRAK, Greyhound, or a trucking company. I've received horns damaged through FedEx, UPS, and DHL. These companies move things around by conveyor belts and items fall off.

I have also had tubas and euphoniums shipped through FedEx, UPS, and DHL arrive successfully without a problem. If you don't have an AMTRAK or Greyhound station near you a highly recommend a trucking company. As long as the instrument is always packed properly this is the next best alternative.

The key is packing the instrument properly. The cost of packing materials compared to the value of the instrument is minimal. It would be better to use a bit more packing material and pack it properly than dealing with a damaged instrument.

Not everyone has an AMTRAK near them, which means that I have to use other methods when this is the case. Greyhound is pretty common, but sometimes there are no Greyhound stations in nearby. The trucking company is your best bet in this case. Actually some businesses prefer the trucking company method first.

Here's my ranking and experience...

AMTRAK = Never a problem - never a damaged instrument.

Greyhound = Some problems - never a damaged instrument.

Trucking Companies = Never a problem - never a damaged instrument.

FedEx, UPS and DHL = Some problems - have received damaged instruments from all three.

GOOD LUCK!

Cosmopolitan Tuba Euphonium Workshop

2009-05-25T22:29:00.000-07:00

It's getting close once again for the Cosmopolitan Tuba Euphonium Workshop! This is a highlight of my entire year! Of course there are almost two months until this year's camp, there is a lot of preparation that goes into the camp running successfully.

This year will be the first year that we will be using our new name - Cosmopolitan Tuba Euphonium Workshop. For the first three years we were the Northeast Tuba Euphonium Workshop, and although we got interest from many areas of the country it sounded too limiting - so I made the decision to change it. The name change has certainly been a good move in many ways, one being that it does not need to be held in the Northeastern United States any more. The workshop could be moved to anywhere in the world!

The workshop will be held at Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts. It is an absolutely gorgeous setting for making music and learning. The college is right across the road from the Atlantic Ocean!! Check out the photos on the camp website http://www.c-tew.com

This year will also be a bit different because Endicott's new Visual and Performing Arts Center has opened. What a fantastic facility! We are truly excited about using this new building!

At this time we still have room for one more tuba player and some more euphonium players. If you are interested, or know someone who might be, please email the camp through our website ASAP and we'll get things rolling. http://www.c-tew.com

In addition to myself and Roland Froescher, euphonium (Switzerland) the guest artists for 2009 will include...

Matthew K. Brown, tuba (Pennsylvania)

Tuba Player with the Rodney Mack Philadelphia Big Brass

Adam Frey, euphonium (Georgia)

World Renown Soloist

Matthew Murchison, euphonium & tuba (Pennsylvania)

Solo Euphoniumist with the River City Brass Band

Innovata Brass

Dr. Fidgety Dixieland Jazz Band

Cosmopolitan Tuba Quartet

(Roland Froescher/Adam Frey, euphoniums & Matthew K. Brown/Michael S. Milnarik, tubas)

Also, back again this year will be two of my former students:

Patrick Nyren - euphonium assistant (graduate student of Brian Bowman at the University of North Texas

Mary MacKinnon - tuba assistant (graduate student of Dan Perantoni at Indiana University)

...and more to come! Check the website for updates!

My first blog post...

2009-05-25T22:15:00.000-07:00

Well, like the title says, this is my first blog post on blogspot. I've done some random stuff on my website, but I've decided to make it official and use this as my blog area.

I would like to make this as useful to others as possible. So if you've got a topic that you'd like me to comment on, drop me an email and let me know. I will post some information from time to time that I hope can have a positive impact on those that read this.

Rather than ramble about nothing particular - thanks for reading and I'll be back soon!