Well... My teacher wants me to switch to tuba and i think i want to. I can read bass clef and i know the fingerings, but i am first chair trumpet and i dont know if i want to give that up. should i? its up to you!

to be honest, i think its a decision you need to make for yourself, but if i were you i would take the tuba because everyone has to try new things, and if you dont want to give up your trumpet position just play trumpet in your band. does your band have a tuba?

we dont have a tube in our band. she says we really need one, but i still dont know. i really want to but once again i am not sure.

When I was in Highschool, we had 3 band classes. I was first chair trumpet in two of the classes in my senior year. My band teacher needed a french horn player because he didn't have any, so I doubled instruments. Ask if you can do that. Gaining another instrument makes you more valuable to the outside world if you decide to make music a career. I can play three instruments. Its nice to have a back up but to this day the trumpet is still my first love. But I will tell you that switching from trumpet to french horn was alot easyer than switching from trumpet to flute. You might have alot of trouble switching clefs

Hey, im new here.


I play the trumpet, and I tried switching to the tuba a couple of months ago. It was quite fun, and a refreshing break from trumpet playing. But, I found the Euphonium was more suited to playing, if I was switching between the trumpet and something else.

trumpetgirl13,

This is a decision you have to make on your own, and for the right reasons. I was in the same position last year, and I did switch to Tuba. It was fun to try something new, but it wasn't Trumpet. All day in band class, I would sit there and be playing Tuba, but I would listen to the Trumpets, and, (this may sound arrogant, but it was true), I would be thinking, "I could play that more musically". During this time, my private teacher said to me, "if you really want to play Trumpet, you need to play Trumpet, it's that simple." The whole time that I was playing Tuba, I was just itching to be back on Trumpet. So I switched back.

This year, my band director approached me about considering switching to Baritone, because he claims I have the perfect facial set-up for it. I said, "pfft, no way".

It's all about your priorities and what you want to be successful at, not to say that you couldn't play Tuba and still be a good Trumpet player, but it just depends on what your focus is.

I would personally stick with Trumpet-but being able to play Tuba in its own can be enjoyable. The main factor for myself is...you will be playing the bass part, so enjoy whole notes (although, the band needs Tubas, BADLY this year, so I am playing it >.>. You will get the meledy very often as a Trumpet player (and, for the pieces we have played this year, every song has a baritone solo as well...).

I think people should learn as many instruments as possible. If you dont like tuba, start playing the trumpet again.