Arnold Jacobs

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Arnold Jacobs (June 11, 1915 - October 7, 1998) was an American orchestral tuba player who was most known as the principal tubist for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1944 until his retirement in 1988. Jacobs was considered one of the foremost brass pedagogues of his time and was considered an expert on breathing as it related to brasswind, woodwind, and vocal performance. Due to childhood illness and adult onset asthma, his lung capacity was significantly impaired. He is best remembered for his playing philosophy which he referred to as "song and wind". Jacobs was born in Philadelphia on June 11, 1915 but was raised in California. The product of a musical family, he credited his mother, a keyboard artist, for his initial inspiration in music. He spent a good part of his youth progressing from bugle to trumpet to trombone and finally to tuba. He entered Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music as a fifteen-year-old on a scholarship and continued to major in tuba. After his graduation from Curtis in 1936, he played two seasons in the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra under Fabien Sevitzky. From 1939 until 1944, he was the tubist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under Fritz Reiner. In 1941, Mr. Jacobs toured the country with Leopold Stokowski and the All-American Youth Orchestra. He was a member of the Chicago Symphony from 1944 until his retirement in 1988. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

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