Ok, so. . .

[let1troll]

There is this person in my band. We are decent friends, and we march the same instrument, though she plays bass clarinet in concert band.

I don't hate her, and we usually get along just fine, and I have no problem with her at all. But, I have a problem with something that happened.

She insists that she has more of a right to my concert tuba on the days that we go over parade music because she has marched tuba before and believes that she should always have a better instrument than me.

I, however, play the instrument every day, and I bring it home to work on music whenever I am not forced to play it because of other instrumental issues (my real tuba got knocked over and the valve bar broke off of the tuba).

I don't think that this is right, because it is technically my tuba. In my school, if you are issued a school instrument it is considered yours unless someone else has to play it or you prove that you can't take care of the instrument.

I would NEVER take her clarinet out and play it and tell her that she didn't deserve it, I would NEVER do that to anyone, And now she is threatening to beat me up because I told her that I would NOT play the spare tuba, which is a converted contra that is in very bad shape and plays badly. It is okay for use sometimes, and I have used it sometimes, but I do not plan to play it every day because she says that she has a right to the other one. Yes, she has played longer than me, but that doesn't change the fact that she is a sousa player, not a tuba player.

Am I just crazy, or am I right to be a little bit flustered?

[Lprdgecko]

I would talk to your BD. Maybe s/he could settle it somehow? Is the spare tuba the only other one your school has besides the tuba in question?

[let1troll]

We have 2 large concert tubas, and one of them is at the shop (my poor baby. . .) and the other is played by the eldest and most experienced tuba in the band. I am playing the "midget", or the smaller tuba, which is used as a spare rotary, in case what happened to my concert tuba happens. And then there is the converted tuba. My BD refuses to get involved, because she switches instruments so willingly (trombone, bari sax, clarinet, bass clarinet, percussion and sousa/tuba). I argue that she shouldn't make me use the bad tuba for concert stuff, and he says that the tubas play equally well, which I don't believe is true. She is threatening me, which is the only part that isn't settled, and she is bringing the band director to the tubas and whispering about me when I can hear her. I'm very. . . upset, if my rambling isn't self-explanatory.

[clarinetrox2012]

Your band director won't get involved?
Have you told him that you are being threatened?

[let1troll]

If I were to tell him that, they would bring in the principals, and it would be a big mess that I would have to deal with for 2 more years.

[Brassman]

If you're a veteran of the instrument and was placed on it first, then it is rightfully yours. I personally wouldn't let anybody touch my tuba. Let alone, let him/her play it on his/her spare time without me knowing. But, that's just me.

If she wants to make it a big deal, take to the director.