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OK...

I've been using this a somewhat of a pejorative re: student musicians who tear up stuff real good.

This evening a young man showed up with one of those widely-advertised Yamaha-like Chinese silver/gold-trim euphoniums - yet with a nice set of bell flare creases on the front.

He didn't ask me to work on the valves (and I'm not sure that I could have done much for them), but that's not the point.

As a high school senior, he's already been accepted into a US Marine Corps base band playing the euphonium.

He was extremely polite and responsive, and grateful.

I got him in/out of here in about a half hour, and it's very difficult to see evidence of the repair.

He called ahead to ask how much something like this might cost, so I asked him how much he hoped it would cost.

In response, he gave me a price range, to which I responded that it would be less than the bottom of his hoped price range, and to come on out.

' nice young man...no longer a scholar, but one of the few...the proud...the euphoniumistes.

I grew up in the post-Vietnam era. Everyone was turned off by the military in my area. Lots of older brothers, cousins & neighbors died over there.

In high school I met a guy in band related settings like camps, etc. that said he was joining the Marines to play trumpet after he graduated. He auditioned and was accepted and did just that. At the time we all thought he was dumb. We were also sad and scared. Looking back, we were the ones that were dumb and could have benefited from doing what he did. We didn’t know it at the time. I hope it all worked out for him. Good fella.

I graduated from high school in 1974. Basically directionless except for music. My dad suggested I join the military to play in a band. Best advice I never took. Same reason: too close to Vietnam.

I graduated in 74 as well, and probably would have given that stuff a shot - as well as showing them what I could do on the electric bass, but the draft ended right then.