Comparisons

In the mid 20th Century there were two violinists thought by many to be the best in the world, American, Jasha Haifitz and Soviet, David Oistrakh, the reasons for these opinions as who was best were prevalent, diverse, strong, and impassioned. The first points of openion were some of national favoritism, Hatfitz was American and Oistrakh was Russian plus this mid 20th century happened in the midst of the cold war; it was not an unusual kind of favoritism observed in International sport and music competitions . Nothing could be further from the truth, Jascha Heifetz was a warm and passionate player… as was David Oistrakh. 

The study of music could not function without the tool of comparison. Imitation is one of the most useful tools learning music; we start with something we like then we try to imitate it, then comes the comparison, How well do we compare with our example?                                                                                      

But then, in our tuba world , we rarely hear discussion between tubists regarding comparisons of other tubists. That’s a shame; is there some unwritten protocol in our community regarding comparisons between tubists? We Frequently, hear discussions between players of other types of instrumentalists and tuba, pianists for example. It’s time to remind ourselves that there was never competion between Hatfitz or Oistrakh, they were examples of two superb violinists. So is it with tubists. Imagine that pianist who my have accompanied perhaps 5 or 6 superb tubists, Imagine the store of interesting information available from that accompanist experience  , not choosing the best but noting the differences. In that discussion would be a vast amount of valuable information that could guide our personal musical growth. 

We are a conpetItive species, that is one of the methods by which we learn.

February 24, 2022 Oaxaca, Mexico