The Tuba!

How much does a Tuba cost? I heard that it may cost even 2000 dollars. Is it true, if yes, why are brass instruments so expensive?

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Hy Sylvia. The Tuba that I play is a besson sovereign and costs approx £5000. which I think is about $8500 at a guess. You can get cheaper, but have to pay for the quality. With Brass instruments, Newer instruments are generally better (though there are exceptions): they are better built and are of better materials. You do get what you pay for. Brass these days is quite expensive and once you put in the man hours of making the instrument, the price builds up. There are places in the world where the price of brass is less expensive and labour is much cheaper, but the instruments are nowhere as good: not the same tone, jount quality etc.

Hope this helps.
Andrew

Thankyou Andrew, it sure helped me. (I see you're a newly joined member, Welcome!) If before I thought Tuba s were expensive, now I think it even more! It costs much more than a vertical piano which are around 5,000 euros...and that's what I play (You play tuba...I hope not in a marching band, if not you should be a very strong man!). Thanks for your thoroughness,

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No problem

Fortunately I don't have to march although I used to with another band playing the BBb bass (very big!). Was a nightmare: couldn't hear the rest of the band and more importantly, couldn't see your feet and the holes in the road that you were about to walk into!

Lol, that's what my friends playing the trombone say (also if it weighs much less). My ensemble director said once he almost went blind because there was a bassist in front of him that would ill-consideratedly move and knock all the musicians marching next to him down... (Does your name mean something in scottish, because in italian dialect it means something specific...)

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I come from the north east of scotland neer aberdeen. Here a loon is a boy and a qhine is a girl in local dialect.

Hope that it is not something rude in other dialects!!

Haha, don't worry it's not rude just funny. So you are literally "boy from aberdeen". Once I've been in Scotland (Edinburgh), and I really enjoyed it.
If you play the tuba, I guess you're passionate of many brass instruments. What's the name in english for the typical Scottish instrument bagpipe? Is it considered as brassy instrument? Can you play it?

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Sorry for not getting back sooner.

I don't play the bagpipes. and have never actually tried. Strictly speeking it is a reid instrument. A good piper can sound great, but a bad one... oh dear! I don't think that there is anything worse than a few pipers playing out of tune together!

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fa's like us!
dam few and their a' deid!

Welcome, Andrew!!!

Yeah, people randomly playing the bagpipe sound dreadful. I guess becuase it is a quite difficult instrument to play. Probably if you listen to a bad performance of bagpipes, then you feel sick. But if you listen a bad performance on an organ, THEN, you will actually throw up.
In Italy, bagpipers use to come every Christmas to play some Christmas Carols. We have always invited them,...and they sound very nice. Do you scottish loons have the tradition to play bagpipes at Xmas?
By the way, what brassy instrument has the "warmest" sound? I mean a sound fit for "christmasy times"? The french horn maybe?...wait is the horn a brassy ?
Ciao (bye) Abeerden Loon!

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