US Navy Music Program holding auditions at 2010 ITEC
I'm a euph player in Navy Band Northwest (just outside Seattle) and I have to say, this is a great opportunity for tuba players (or any musician for that matter). It's true that this is not an audition for the DC band, but all of the Navy bands are full of fantastic musicians. One of the things that set the navy band program apart from the similarly structured army and marine band programs is that my one and only job in the navy band is to be a musician. No rifle and weapon qualifications like they do in the army and marines, no deployments to iraq or afghanistan, etc... The only thing I do everyday when I go to work is practice, play in a few ensembles, take care of my collateral duties (right now i'm a music librarian...) and then go home. The medical benefits are fantastic, you get paid MUCH better than the average "freelance musician", and overall life is great. If you want to be a professional musician but don't want to wait around for the next orchestra or DC band audition, the navy music program is the way to go!
Sorry if I seem a bit biased... but, I am! (I love my job)
One of the reasons that the Navy music program is holding these auditions is because the navy bands are in the midst of restructuring their band program (not downsizing, if anything it is more of an expansion) and the restructuring has created a need for more tuba players in the band. Sadly even though there were several new tuba billets created in some of the bands the number of euphonium billets remained exactly the same as it is now (but there is still one opening for a euph player in the program). However, one advantage for any euphonium players who enter the program in the future is that there is no longer any instrument doubling requirements. so those pesky required trombone skills that kept many fantastic euphonium players away from the navy music program in the past are now long gone.
Gregory E. Lopes
Euphonium player
US Navy Band Great Lakes
US Navy Music Program, 2009-Present
Besson Prestige 2052