A week ago, I purchased a vintage 1956 Conn 21J tuba. This instrument is a classic in the world of tubas and the fact that this one has an "upright" bell (instead of bell forward) makes it quite rare.
	Wednesday, February 10. The Conn 21J finally arrived from Kansas. Suprisingly, it arrived without a case, packed in 2 cardboard boxes.
	I unpacked it.
	I took it downstairs to the music studio, and assembled it.
	It was much larger and much "heavier" than I imagined. Here you can see it beside my other tuba (on the right) and a baritone horn on the left.
	I could barely lift it. After playing around with it for a while, I started experiencing much back pain. This was annoying as I wanted to work with the instrument and learn to master it. I was already starting to like its dark mysterious tonality.
	I thought that if I wanted to continue playing this tuba, I had to find a tuba stand or holder that would allow it to remain in a playing position permanently.
	I went searching on the Internet. I Googled and also searched out all the tuba forums. The only real tuba holder out there is the Tuba Tamer, a product made by Wenger and for sale online.
	This was fairly unattractive and very expensive ($600.00). And, if I ordered one, it would probably take several weeks to get here. I needed to practise right now!
	I walked through the house looking for some kind of makeshift object that might work. I tried affixing a solid microphone stand to the stool and then trying to fasten the tuba to it. That didn't work.
	And then I saw it. A spare swivel computer chair that was in the back studio. I brought it into the music studio, set the tuba on it, and then got 4 belts and belted the tuba in. It worked perfectly! The tuba in its chair was adjustable (up and down) and also swiveled. I was able to move in behind the chair and play the instrument without even touching it.
	I thought that I would share this insight with all those tuba players on forums.
	And here is the real version, all strapped in.
	It is very solid in its chair. I can easily swivel it around without a sense that it is unsteady. I can even push it around, from studio to studio.
	I practised for an hour this morning. No problems. I didn't have to lift the tuba once.