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so, about the tubas, tubas, tubas
Jan. 29th, 2007 12:46 amAnd there were a great many of them.
Getting onto an army post (I am told it's not a base - the navy and the air force have bases, the army has posts. OK.) involves going through security. Luckily, we know about the North Gate, where the lines are considerably shorter than at the West Gate. One time this weekend, we even had the underside of the car inspected with mirrors.
Anyway, I did not attend all the events, so I can't report on everything. I enjoyed John Stevens' class in how to start in on arranging and composing for the tuba-euphonium ensemble; at this point in my would-be arranging career, everything is helpful, but Dr. Stevens was particularly accessible and handed out excellent notes.
The Army Strings seem to be quite short of strings - at the concert on Friday night, they had hired outside players for the last stand in every string section. The first half of the concert was the combined Armed Forces Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble, which this year included people from the UK Royal Navy and the German Air Force. I really need a field guide to uniforms, because not all the people from "the Marines" wear the same uniform, for example - so who the heck is the red jacket with the gold braid and no black frogs instead of white braid and frogging up the front? Who are the people in suit jackets instead of tunics? The second half of the concert Friday night was the Army Orchestra, which is the Army Strings plus various wind players from other Army ensembles, with the aforementioned ringers to beef up the strings; they had two euphonium soloists for euphonium concerti, and one tuba soloist for a tuba concerto; one of the euphonium soloists was one of the UK Royal Navy guys.
I think my favorite concert of the whole conference was the Tennessee Tech Tuba Ensemble 40th Anniversary Alumni All-Stars. This concert featured nine pieces written for this ensemble, for this 40th anniversary. While some of the pieces were forgettable, several were quite memorable. I'll get the negative out of the way first: I would be very surprised if the Gunther Schuller piece ever gets played again after the ensemble finishes this 40th anniversary tour - if it gets played at all by any other group in the next decade, or any group other than this one, I'd be able to count the number of times on my thumbs and have thumbs left over, I'm sure. It was technically challenging and mathematically interesting, and totally unpleasant to listen to. I mean, 10 separate euphonium parts, 12 separate tuba parts, plus two percussion? Tone clusters. Ugh.
OK, now that I've got that out of the way, let me tell you about the stuff I liked. First, John Cheetham's "Bassa Nòbile" was wonderful, and I am quite sure it will become a favorite and a standard in the tuba literature rapidly as soon as it's published for general use. Watch for it, you music directors on my flist. You'll like it. Eric Ewazen's "Basso Cantante" was also quite nice, and also accessible. My favorite overall was Martin Ellerby's "Epitaph VI: Phoenix Rising (Coventry/Dresden)." It was truly beautiful. Because it is commemorating the bombings in WWII of the English city of Coventry including the Cathedral of St. Michaels (and later the bombing of Dresden and its historical buildings), it includes extensive variations on "The Coventry Carol" and I am afraid that will make the piece popular for misuse as a Christmas piece rather than a solemn memorial piece. It was so pretty, though, with the melody often shared by the lower tuba line and the orchestra bells, an unusual combination that worked with surprising clarity.
The Grand Concert at the end was the Army Band - "Pershing's Own" - with soloists. Nickitas Demos' piece "Air Metal and Roll" featured both a euphonium soloist and a trombone soloist, so there's a good chance it will get re-performed at the Eastern Trombone Workshop in March, for those of you considering whether to attend that. It was a lot of fun. My favorite on this concert was another Ellerby piece, his Tuba concerto, and I think Ellerby is one of my new favorite band composers.
A good time despite mediocre food was had by all. We were talking with our friends Jim & Barbara afterwards at the party, and plotting next year to bring a picnic supper of some sort for Saturday night dinner, so we wouldn't have to eat at the Quarterdeck three nights in a row, and particularly, wouldn't have to leave base and then come through security again, and find a parking space again, for the Grand Concert. That'll depend in part on the weather next January - who knows what the heck the weather might be like then? - but I am already plotting a menu.
Getting onto an army post (I am told it's not a base - the navy and the air force have bases, the army has posts. OK.) involves going through security. Luckily, we know about the North Gate, where the lines are considerably shorter than at the West Gate. One time this weekend, we even had the underside of the car inspected with mirrors.
Anyway, I did not attend all the events, so I can't report on everything. I enjoyed John Stevens' class in how to start in on arranging and composing for the tuba-euphonium ensemble; at this point in my would-be arranging career, everything is helpful, but Dr. Stevens was particularly accessible and handed out excellent notes.
The Army Strings seem to be quite short of strings - at the concert on Friday night, they had hired outside players for the last stand in every string section. The first half of the concert was the combined Armed Forces Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble, which this year included people from the UK Royal Navy and the German Air Force. I really need a field guide to uniforms, because not all the people from "the Marines" wear the same uniform, for example - so who the heck is the red jacket with the gold braid and no black frogs instead of white braid and frogging up the front? Who are the people in suit jackets instead of tunics? The second half of the concert Friday night was the Army Orchestra, which is the Army Strings plus various wind players from other Army ensembles, with the aforementioned ringers to beef up the strings; they had two euphonium soloists for euphonium concerti, and one tuba soloist for a tuba concerto; one of the euphonium soloists was one of the UK Royal Navy guys.
I think my favorite concert of the whole conference was the Tennessee Tech Tuba Ensemble 40th Anniversary Alumni All-Stars. This concert featured nine pieces written for this ensemble, for this 40th anniversary. While some of the pieces were forgettable, several were quite memorable. I'll get the negative out of the way first: I would be very surprised if the Gunther Schuller piece ever gets played again after the ensemble finishes this 40th anniversary tour - if it gets played at all by any other group in the next decade, or any group other than this one, I'd be able to count the number of times on my thumbs and have thumbs left over, I'm sure. It was technically challenging and mathematically interesting, and totally unpleasant to listen to. I mean, 10 separate euphonium parts, 12 separate tuba parts, plus two percussion? Tone clusters. Ugh.
OK, now that I've got that out of the way, let me tell you about the stuff I liked. First, John Cheetham's "Bassa Nòbile" was wonderful, and I am quite sure it will become a favorite and a standard in the tuba literature rapidly as soon as it's published for general use. Watch for it, you music directors on my flist. You'll like it. Eric Ewazen's "Basso Cantante" was also quite nice, and also accessible. My favorite overall was Martin Ellerby's "Epitaph VI: Phoenix Rising (Coventry/Dresden)." It was truly beautiful. Because it is commemorating the bombings in WWII of the English city of Coventry including the Cathedral of St. Michaels (and later the bombing of Dresden and its historical buildings), it includes extensive variations on "The Coventry Carol" and I am afraid that will make the piece popular for misuse as a Christmas piece rather than a solemn memorial piece. It was so pretty, though, with the melody often shared by the lower tuba line and the orchestra bells, an unusual combination that worked with surprising clarity.
The Grand Concert at the end was the Army Band - "Pershing's Own" - with soloists. Nickitas Demos' piece "Air Metal and Roll" featured both a euphonium soloist and a trombone soloist, so there's a good chance it will get re-performed at the Eastern Trombone Workshop in March, for those of you considering whether to attend that. It was a lot of fun. My favorite on this concert was another Ellerby piece, his Tuba concerto, and I think Ellerby is one of my new favorite band composers.
A good time despite mediocre food was had by all. We were talking with our friends Jim & Barbara afterwards at the party, and plotting next year to bring a picnic supper of some sort for Saturday night dinner, so we wouldn't have to eat at the Quarterdeck three nights in a row, and particularly, wouldn't have to leave base and then come through security again, and find a parking space again, for the Grand Concert. That'll depend in part on the weather next January - who knows what the heck the weather might be like then? - but I am already plotting a menu.
