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Wow! How big is the rest of the band? A comparable number of tubas and other instruments, or are only the euphonium numbers out-of-whack like that?

I only have access to that one stat.

I saw some one post that (from last year to this year) their son moved up from 10th chair to 5th chair, and they showed a list like this:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5. Bubba Prodigy
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13
14.
15.
16.

...with all the other names blacked out.
Maybe (??) a few are alternates...but still, TEN (or "something MORE THAN ten"...??)

Maybe this band needs a better teacher for this register. If all are playing without air you need more of them to be heard

The All state band roster for my state state... which is population 11,900,000 according to Wikipedia.. Has 4 euphs and an alternate and 3 tubas plus an alternate.

Seems a bit more balanced.

@gocsick
VERY balanced.

The state in which I attended high school now has one all-state band for grades 9-10 and one for 11-12. They continue to push the size of the ensembles larger.
Each band has 9 tubas (And I'm pretty sure also 9 euphoniums). The rest of the sections have comparable numbers. It's approaching large marching band size. When I was in high school starting 34 years ago, they had just changed from 4 tubas in the one band to 6 tubas.

To me, that many players at that age is too hard to get a clear sound, even if they're all-state-level.
I think it's much nicer to the ears to have a 65-or-so-member ensemble that has somewhat near the numbers that one sees on the front of some scores that list exact instrumentation.

Plus, if an all-state band is that big and continuously adding numbers, is it REALLY an honor band, which is supposed to be the best-of-the-best?

When I was in the All-State band, there were six tubas and six baritones/euphoniums. I thought that was too many even as a 12th grader.

At that time, trying out was wide open for anyone in any grade, including beginners, which is how my friend held the first chair in the All-State band from 9th grade through 12th grade.

My particular state is broken up into three geographic regions for regional bands, and a third of the top students in the regional top high school bands go to All-State...

... But compared to when I went to school or even when my daughter went to school, there are absurd numbers of Honor bands. I'm not talking about the one sponsored by universities, but I'm talking about the so-called legitimate ones.

I guess it's okay to have a junior high honor band. Back when I was in junior high we had something called the All City Junior High Band (one not large band). ... but now each of the three regions has two honor bands for 7th and 8th grade, two honor bands for 9th and 10th grade, and two honor bands for 11th and 12th grade... This in addition to the orchestras and jazz bands and all those things, and I assume that each of these dozens of bands is super large, as is the All-State band. "Everyone gets a trophy."

I probably shouldn't veer off even farther, but also when I was in the band we played actual music. It was probably graded, but it wasn't formulaic as is band music today, and everyone reading this last paragraph knows exactly what I'm talking about. Perhaps a quarter century ago when my children were in these bands, most of the music they played was already the formulaic stuff, but - at one of the concerts - the top high school band played some actual music. All of the sudden, they didn't sound as good and all of their shortcomings were exposed. It was eye-opening...

When I was in high school, there were 10 tubas selected for All State - four for the top band, five for the second band, and one for the orchestra. The orchestra selection was the "last" chair - but in hindsight, that would have been a really cool experience to play with a full symphony orchestra (since we didn't have one at my little high school) rather than just playing band music.

As others have mentioned, it was open to anyone from grades 9-12 so it was possible to be in it for all four years (which I was, one year in the second band, and three in the top band - never made the top chair though, it went to a guy literally named "Bubba" for 2 of the 3 years I was in it, shout out to Bloke's original post).

My first exposure to anything more than 3 valve Bb tuba/bass clarinet/baritone saxophone was my first time playing in All Region. Multiple bass clarinets, at least one contra, a few bassoons, maybe a contrabassoon,... I think the tune that really blew my mind was a piece called Into The Storm. A basic upper level HS piece with some noise elements but to hear those extra voices, that reedy element, was mind blowing. I think we had 3-4 each of baritones, tubas and trombones.


One of my favorite funny musical memories is when a punk rock kid playing a King 2341 (student of the late Rich Watson) won the top Indiana All State HS orchestra/band spot (iirc winner got orchestra) over who knows how many kids whose parents bought them expensive tubas and lessons. He 'subbed' in our orchestra once but Rich showed up before the kid played a single note so I never actually played with (other) Bob.

Our All-State Band had 9 tubas and 9 euphs. Something like 12 trombones. At least 12 trumpets.

It was huge, but the point for me as a student wasn't that the ensemble should sound like perfection. It was fun being around other kids who liked to play and who played well. It was a nice break from the day-to-day at school where I was considered odd for liking playing my instrument, and my instrument being the tuba. There was a lot of camaraderie, and it was a refreshing break from the norm.