Does anybody have any suggestions about switching from clarinet to brass? I want to play low brass for marching band next summer, but I'm not sure where to start. Thanks!

Sousaphone is the best way to go the task of carrying it around is not that easy but the enjoyment and sound of the marching tuba is great. Plus it is louder than the baritone!!

I wouldn't recommend switching from woodwind to brass if you've played along time, but if you're still a beginner It would be alright

Tubas rule. they are the section that always has the most fun. you should go for it.

Disregard the name. I'm a tuba now. You could actually go to tuba first. Or you can go to Baritone BC then tuba.

I played baritone for one semester before moving to tuba

I made a profile just to answer this question

I play in a very large Marching Band(200 Piece) and one of the 9 sousaphone players from the last 2 seasons. Last season a player dropped out of the sousas, a clarinet player returned from vacation and took the place of the absent sousa player, after adapting to the weight she plays fine. All you need to do is find some tuba friends help you learn, and get some temporary lessons to get u started. She plays great now, better than some of the players that have played for a few years now! so just practice, lessons and friends, and you'll come out great!

o and for a good book to help you, I started on 'Essential Elements' series, my school system only used the first 2 books, but there are at least 3, and I hope I've helped, and have fun! =P *returns to practicing*

Tc, its funny that I have the exact opposite of the situation your in except for a few things. I'm switching from tuba to Bassoon.

trombones rules.

hehe for marching lol if your willing to march with a tuba go for it(as my band teacher says smart people play tuba)

but you will find your self in pain if your not use to the weight i know the first time i marched with tuba by the end i couldn’t move my arms and my shoulders hurt and i almost got run over by an ambulance lol, but now im more use to it so it doesn’t hurt at all and its a lot of fun

I am clueless as to why someone said only switch if you're a beginner...

I don't think as an advanced player of 5 years on the clarinet switching to the tuba was a bad thing for me. I taught myself tuba to get out of the most dramatic section in marching band and get into a smaller one with only guys. My junior year of high school, I told my director that I was either not going to march at all or I was switching instruments and in particular, I wanted to play the tuba.

He was very against it from the start because he didn't want to lose what he thought of as one of his most advanced players (not trying to be cocky, but I have had two band directors refuse to let me play another instrument because they could not afford to lose me on clarinet) but I guess he saw that I was going to be out of the clarinet section anyways.

It might be hard for you. I had a lot of difficulties getting used to how my mouth needed to be to get different notes out. I just recommend working scales. It was a lot easier for me to get your basic Bb out by going down the scale because getting lower for me was a lot harder than it was to get higher. Practice, practice, practice of course. There are a lot of books out there with scale studies. Get a basic easy level book that a beginner would start out of and do the exercises in it. Try to get a tuba player to help you out and play along with you. Or even a baritone player.

Good luck in your adventure from woodwinds to brass. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I am still a clarinet player, it's my main instrument. But having tuba on the side and being able to say that I taught myself how to play it...I love it.

the biggest reason i said that was that it's extremely hard adjusting to the new mouth piece especially the double reed to an embouchure or vice versa, a pro from the Winnipeg orchestra came to our class and our first trombone asked about switching to the oboe, and she didn't recommend it because she was so used to a embouchure,that the teeth changes placement no matter what wind instrument you play and that embouchures and double reeds are the opposite ends of the scale (embouchure flattens teeth more, double reed creates more of an over bite) so it'd be a hard change to adjust to the mouth piece, and such, so if you're a beginner and experimenting instruments, it'll be and easy change, but a more advanced player, although they might know fingerings and notes and such, would have a harder change with their playing and such

Try all brass instruments, even if you want to do low brass. You should also try french horn since it is not that hard. It depends on what you like. Is their a brass instrument that you think has a good sound. I play trombone for my high school jazz band and Tuba for concert/marching band and I learned how to play them from early september until now and people say I sound way better than they think I should. I am just saying that brass instruments are not as hard as you think and they do have a few advantages, and disadvantages. If you can handle it, you should go with tuba since as long as you don't get lightheaded easily, you can actually play the LOUDEST! even though it has the most tubing, it has the biggest bell. you can put someone in the bell too. also if you haven't noticed, tuba music is the easiest or at least simplest since they usually play quarter notes. but still try them all.

Euphoniums are pretty awesome too!! But I found switching from a woodwind to a brass pretty hard. The embouchere is hard to get right on brass at first. you just gotta practise to get it right =] sorry, that really didn't help much