Sad Tuba: Bandits Target Southland High Schools
Tubas throughout the Southland are sounding a sad song following the recent string of tuba thefts at local high schools. Bandits have recently struck South Gate High School, Centennial High School in Compton and Huntington Park High School, escaping with thousands of dollars in tubas.
Following the November 30 windstorm, L.A. Times reports that thieves stole $13,000 worth of tubas from South Gate High School, including an upright concert tuba and a silver sousaphone, also known as a marching-band tuba. On Tuesday, Huntington Park High School's last tuba was taken. Several weeks prior, eight sousaphones were heisted from Centennial High School.
Band leaders believe the thefts are the result of SoCal's recent banda - dance music played by brass and woodwind instruments and anchored by the tuba - music craze and high black market prices for the instruments. Ruben Gonzalez Jr., a music teacher at South Gate High, said, "I really think there's a black market for tubas. Whether it be in this state or another state, or down south in Mexico." Music teachers say a high-quality tuba can cost over $5,000. An older tuba with defects can sell for up to $2,000.
The recent tuba thefts couldn't have come at a worse time, as affected bands scrambled to replace their instruments before Saturday's 38th annual Marching Band and Drill Team Championships at East L.A. College. A Huntington Park High student competed with a borrowed tuba on Saturday.
Tuba thefts in southeast L.A. County date back to ten years ago. Thirteen sousaphones were stolen from Fremont High School in Florence a decade ago, and the school's last tuba was stolen in June 2011. Jordan High School in Watts lost its best tuba to theft last spring. Several instruments, excluding tubas, were heisted from Maywood Academy this fall. Southgate High School, which has experienced repeated thefts, had three tubas stolen in September. Last year, a silver Jupiter tuba was stolen from Huntington Park High.
Targeted schools exist in areas with large Mexican immigrant populations and where banda is "king," says The Times. Districts in El Monte, Pomona, Lynwood, San Bernardino, Riverside and Long Beach have not experienced tuba thefts.
