day 7?

and thus, it ends.

a journey around the sun, seeing and hearing celestial beings of all sizes, make up and trajectory.
So we, in the tuba and euphonium world, have just joined our lives together for about 5 days.  Many would say, "so"?  
And in some ways they could be right. 
That said, regardless of what microcosm you live and/or work in, your arena has it's stars, leaders, controllers, purveyors and merchants.(none are dismissable and all are requisite)  In our little reality, we just spent a week with all of them.  It was important. no question, no debate.
There are those who play our instrument and would argue that what we just did had no value, neither intrinsically not economically.  That's just incorrect.  Furthering an art form, regardless of the medium, is essential to our existence.
Saturday at the conference was equal to all the other.  Different lectures and soloists, but the same, nonetheless.   Quality was never a question.  We should all be proud.

I'll have more after the trip home.

dwa

and.......day 6

Last night a "new" event for these conferences took place.  An awards banquet.  Ok, I know that sounds thrilling, but it really is a cool thing that we're now doing.  Back in the earlier days of ITEC's banquets happened, but from what I can ascertain they were not much more than everyone eating a meal together.  (and certainly in far fewer numbers than attend the conferences now)

ITEA now gives quite a number of awards on a biennial basis and this banquet was a perfect vehicle for such things.  In addition to formal recognition of those who won the performance competitions that completed on Tuesday, we present three "named" awards and a series of lifetime achievement awards.  The named awards are the Roger Bobo Award for excellence in recording (several categories there) the Harvey Phillips Award for excellence in composition (again, several categories) and a new one this year, the Clifford Bevan Award for excellence in low brass related research.  It is amazing the efforts put forth by the performers, composers and researchers to further our specific art form.  I was fortunate enough to be asked by Oystein Baadsvik to (nominated for best tuba recording) to accept on his behalf, if he were to win, as he had other obligations this week and couldn't be here in person (like, premiering Christian Lindberg's Tuba Concerto, with the composer conducting.....)  He DID win, so that was fun, taking his award hostage(!) 

The Lifetime Achievement Award is our highest honor, and we awarded 4 of those last night.  We awarded Art Lehman (frmr prin. Euphonium , USMC Band) posthumously, but the others are still alive and kicking.  Cliff Bevan couldn't be with us due to a current nerve injury, but the award will be sent to him--he's the writer of the Tuba Family book and really led the way with original research in our arena (hence, the award named after him, too)  Chitate Kagawa from Sapporo, Japan (a teacher and performer who has been very instrumental in shaping literally generations of tuba and euphonium performers in Japan) was on hand to receive his award, as was Ron Bishop (frmr prin. tuba, Cleveland Symphony, and teacher at CIM and Oberlin)   It was a great ceremony of recognition of those at the top of what we do and aspire to be!

My recital is later today, and then I'll be heading home in the early hours of the a.m. with a 5:45 flight.  As a result the recap of today's events may not happen until far later than even this one, but I'll try!

it has been a great week the whole way around.......

Day 5

If you EVER have the chance to hear the Boston Brass, do it.  period.  These guys are just absolutely a-maz-ing performers.  The show they put on for us last night was amongst the best I've heard.  Honestly.

Jim Self was in town yesterday, giving several presentations, all of which were inspiring--he is such a wonderful person.  He shared a recital in the late afternoon with Tom McCaslin (my in-state colleague over at ECU--who, by the way played his @$$ off--he perpetually inspires me to be a better player) and the portion of the recital which was Jim's was plain and simply, the embodiment of the word sublime.  It was jazz stuff, nothing really fancy, but it was all acoustic (piano, bass, drums + Jim) no mic's at all and just sent me to a different realm of seeing honesty in performance.  There was nothing for Jim to hide behind--just him playing.  whew.

As we continue through the conference the rest of the performances are continuing to be well received, all the normal kinds of accolades there--let's face it--no one here sucks.........

Attendees seem excited, inspired, etc., but we're all getting a bit fatigued as the week goes on.  The late night stuff at Gentle Ben's www.gentlebens.com are, well, badass.  Last night featured our conference host, Kelly, with his dixieland group www.wildcatjass.com and guest tuba pickers Tom Holtz (USMC) and Gil Corella (USAF).  
While we can't officially announce the site for ITEC 2012 just yet, as some details are being worked out, the likely place will not be in the US, and will be in a country we've never had a conference in before (intrigued?  stay tuned!)  it everything works out, it will be absolutely amazing.
I have had one rehearsal for my performance tomorrow and another today--working with pianist Susan Wass (TTU tuba/euph prof Kevin Wass' wife) on presenting a recital of music by James Grant.  Predominantly in the style of the 1940's-50's torch songs, the works I'm doing are a bit different from the standard fare and even different from the non-standard fare we're hearing this week.  Jazz influenced, but art-song in orient, these are wonderful melodic displays.  Just hopin' I can do them justice live!
more to follow......

Day 4

As the week goes on, I'm adjusting to the 3 hour time difference, which means I'm sleeping later and writing these even later!
Yesterday was just chock full o' great playing.  College ensembles from Texas Tech, Iowa, Mesa Comm. College and CCM all gave wonderful performances, as did Sotto Voce at the picnic!
I was able to spend some more time in the displays yesterday--some very good horns on the market these days.  I haven't played all of them (and likely won't) but did play some newer additions (Miraphone 1293 and a proto 6/4, Adams, and Kanstul)  saw some new gadgets and looked at some new tunes.  Talked with a LOT of people (I know, big surprise). 
Today should be more of the same, I expect.........

One of the cool things on the trip was the discovery of a breakfast joint called the cereal boxx.  Absolutely a great way to start the day!  Owners are nice, remember your name, etc. and provide some unusual, but very tasty, breakfast grub. 

The Board of Directors is working hard this week, making some quite good progress in areas of the organization that needed attention.  This Board is a truly great group of folks, and I'm fortunate to be able to learn from them every meeting!
more to follow!

Day 3

g'day.    Things are going amazingly smoothly out here it seems--Kelly Thomas, Mark Nelson and their crew are doing a spectacular job keeping things running.  As always, when you give a performer 45 min, they will take an hour, and then the schedule spirals downhill, quickly, but they've built in decent enough lunch and dinner breaks that there can be a soft "reset" at those times.
Word has it there are currently 550-ish registered attendees for this week, which is fantastic!
The competitions are all over--spectacular playing at every level.  The one I was in charge of, Young Artist Tuba, had a maximum age of 18, so those performers really were performing outside their normal comfort zones--we had 10 in the semifinals and advanced 4 to the finals.  In looking back, I'm convinced that when I was that age, there was NO way I could've played like that.  Performance levels are going up--I wish we could take that kind of result on the road as inspiration to many others to show them what can be done (and should be expected!)
The performances in concert yesterday that I heard were all, well, good, as you might expect.  The Salt River Brass, under the direction of Pat Sheridan, played a great concert last night, although occasionally there were balance problems with a couple of the soloists in the "big, loud" spots.  The "advertised" soloists, Les Neish, David Childs and Steven Mead played as we would expect!  Then, there were "unadvertised" extras--Lance LaDuke (tbn/euph w Boston Brass) played/sang for us, and US Army trombonist extraordinaire Harry Watters played a couple of jazz tunes with the group.  And throughout the concert we all were "schooled" in ensemble playing by the great tuba section that included Sam Pilafian.  geez.

today should prove to be another great day of it.
(and I wound up being able  to sleep until 5:30 am today!!)
more to come........
dwa

Day 2

This whole 3 hour time difference is getting old, really fast!  I don't know how all those jet setter types deal with this on a regular basis!
The competitions are in very full swing--I honestly haven't paid a ton of attention to who moved on to the finals today, (except of course in Young Artist Tuba, which I am in charge of)  I hear a ton of North Texas euphoniumists have moved on to the finals, and that the UGA quartet moved on, but other than that........I've just not paid attention ( I guess that makes me a bad attendee)  I'll give a more full reporting of the one I'm in charge of later, after the finals are done, but I can say we heard some wonderful performances yesterday.
We had an initial ITEA Board of Directors meeting yesterday, with at least one meeting per day planned during the conference--many things to talk about and make plans for.  I feel, very honestly, we're on the cusp of finishing up many transitional things and are about to be in a period of customer service previously unattained. 
It's been great to see so many friends, thus far, and I know many more are arriving today.  Judging with James Gourlay and Les Neish today in the finals, which will be a wonderful experience I'm sure.  I'll also be helping out with the Miraphone booth along and along through the week, so if you're around the conference you might find me there.  It seems things are going very well thus far (not without snags, (none of these do that.....) but the ones that I've heard about have been resolved very quickly and efficiently.)
We officially open the conference at 12 today, and then we'll be on a 6 day non-stop run.
more to follow........

ITEC 2010

Hi gang--it's been a LONG while since I've done this--thought about it many times, but just never made myself do it.  Gonna try again........

Every other year, the International Tuba Euphonium Association holds an international conference, or ITEC.  This year, we're in Tucson, AZ.  The competitions start up today, and I'm chairing the Young Artist Tuba Competition this year--we have 9 semifinalists to listen to this morning, and will whittle that down to 3-4 for tomorrow (probably 3, I expect).  I have the privilege of judging with John Cradler (USMC Band) and JAy Hunsberger (prof at USF and tubist of Sarasota Orchestra) this morning, and two friends from Great Britain tomorrow--Les Neish and James Gourlay. 

Getting out here yesterday saw me leaving the house @ 4 am ish.  Plane trips can be quite interesting if you allow them to be--with all the cost cutting the airlines are doing, I won't say it's at all pleasurable (even when privileged to go business or 1st class)  but it can be interesting.  On the first leg, I sat in front of a family from somewhere in central NC.  Mom, Dad, daughter.  Daughter was likely about 11-12 years old.  The mom caused all conversation between the three of them, and referred to the dad as Daddy all the time--she would ask him a question, and start with " Daddy, would you..." or something like that.  Every time she spoke to the girl, she started the sentence with "Daughter, isn't this.." or something similar.  No names of any of them ever used.  quite interesting to listen to, but not see.    Second flight, wound up sitting next to a husband/wife (I was in window seat) and their child was directly behind me.  I offered to switch, but they declined.  I had seen a young woman come on to the plane with quite a few body piercings and full-arm tattoos (she was wearing a tank top) but didn't pay attention to where she sat down--we'll come back to this.  As the flight began, the couple was bickering a bit over bottles of water, candy, etc. handing back & forth to the child behind us--the way the conversation went and the huskiness of the voice of the child led me to believe it was a somewhat surly 14-15 year old male. (lots of 'yeah' whatever' 'sure'  responses)  we arrive in Tucson, and turns out the child was this 20-ish young woman with all the tattoos.  at the very least it kept me entertained between catnaps.

Upon arriving I talked with our conference host, got some lunch, napped a bit, and then wandered back over to the School of Music for a judges meeting--ran into Richard Murrow, the teacher at TCU, and he asked me to come listen to the quartet from TCU in the competition--I did, for about 45 min, and then we along with Roger Lewis went out to find some hot dog joint that Matt Walter's from Dillon Music had told Roger about. 
Good, but not great...........actually was a Mexican joint (surprised to find one of those in Tucson, not!)

soo, off to the races today........