Of particular interest to us is the dominance of tuba (or more correctly, sousaphone) as the very active bass line.  Among the best known bands in this genre are Banda el Recodo and El Coyote.

Today on a trip to Postville, Iowa – a community which has witnessed a rapid increase of population from vastly diverse communities ranging from Hassidic Jews to Guatamalan and Mexican – I found a really interesting and entertaining new CD from Chuy Chavez.  This is a really fabulous example of the Banda style and features some outstanding tuba playing.

Make an opportunity to experience this music!  It is vibrant, lively and full of ‘spice’.  As a tubist, it shows the real possibilities for the instrument to enter the more popular genres AND display incredible virtuosity.

You really should CHECK THIS OUT!

Jeff Funderburk

There are 15 excercises in the book that take a variety of approaches to covering the overall range of the horn with a variety of articulations.  These exercises are challenging and give one a very extensive warm-up if all are played through without break for the 20 minutes that they take.

What sets these exercises apart from other warm-up routines is the inclusion of the CD.  The CD contains synthesizer based accompaniments for each of the exercises which help one keep time as well as work on pitch while performing.  The CD contains 30 tracks.  Tracks 1–15 have the accompaniment as well as having Gene Pokorny playing the exercises.  Tracks 16–30 offer the accompaniment without the tuba part.

For those looking for a way to keep on top of the horn through the summer, I highly recommend looking at this set of excercises.  Warming up with Gene each day isn’t the worst thing you could do!

Jeff Funderburk

Rapping up the school year, we had a fun afternoon in a local park.  Thursday afternoon (May 3) after exams were done, it was time for brats!

It was a busy semester for everyone in the studio, so a little down time was really needed. 

We say goodbye to one UNITUBA member as senior euphoniumist Keya John graduates and heads back east to the DC area. 
Keya has been a great member of the studio and will be missed by all!

  Following the eating, the guys just couldn’t resist the playground.  Amazingly, everything is still standing!

(Funderburk, Perantoni, Moore, Young, Rideout)

And by the way…..Mr. P sounded absolutely amazing on his Saturday afternoon recital!!!

j funderburk

John Mueller and the University of Memphis (with the help of UNI alumn Anthony Williams) are putting on a Regional Tuba Euphonium Conference that has events more in keeping with the quality and excitment of an International Conference.                  (Jens Bjorn-Larsen, Hannover, Ed Owen….don’t ask!)



(Dan Perantoni, Indiana U and Jens)

The performances have been outstanding and the audience is excellent.  This afternoon’s recital with Brian Bowman, euphonium and Dan Perantoni, tuba was truely a memorable event.

Question…..how much BBQ does one have to have in order to feed a hundred or so hungry tuba/euphonium players and still have some left?  Start with 70 pounds of pulled pork, about 10 gallons of slaw and an equal portion of beans.  UM GOOD!!  GREAT eats and a host of tuba/euphonium ensembles playing for the dinner hour.                                               (Mickey Moore, U Ill)

(Jerry Young, UW Eau Claire; Brian Bowman, North Texas and Jens)

Then, off to Beale Street. The U Memphis Jazz 1 warmed up Alfred’s club with soloist Mike Fahn.  Then a little break and the MJT Project really fired up the crowd.

This is a really special event.  If you’re not here, you’re really mising something!!!

This morning, I judged the mock tuba audition with Mickey Moore (U Ill) and Charles Schultz (U Memphis).  In the afternoon,  I conducted a reading session of composer/arranger Ken Friedrich’s music with the composer looking on….of course, I did not see the scores at all before the session.  Tommorow, since Dan Perantioni must leave early, I will be covering his masterclass before catching a 3pm flight back to Cedar Rapids….with luck should be back in CR by 10 and back to Cedar Falls by midnight…..

jeff funderburk

Chicago O’hare 7am

Last night was the last UNITUBA concert of the year.  Thanks to the help of Keith Kennedy and the UNI Production House, the concert was available as a Live Webcast.  Perhaps you may have seen it.  I heard from a couple of people immediately saying that they had seen/heard the concert and enjoyed the production.

I have colleagues who ‘poo-poo’ the web quality for sound and video.  I’m no fan of mp3 quality recordings myself.  That said, this offers a great opportunity for musicians to reach audiences that they would not reach any other way….might even lead to more folks coming to hear the live concerts.  I can say that I was happy to learn that my mother had seen the concert…..the first of mine she has seen since 1985…in Pensacola, Florida.  My new graduate student for next year was able to see the ensemble and get an idea of what he will be doing… 

I really have to thank Keith for all the extra effort he has put in to make both of the UNITUBA WebCasts possible this year.  With a little luck, this will become a regular offering of our ensemble.  Also, special thanks to Tom Barry who always does a superb job handling all aspects of recording and sound reinforcement.  His extra effort for these webcast events makes a tremendous difference by offering professional quality sound ready for use by the web ‘techies’!

Well, so after a good 2 hours sleep, it was off to Cedar Rapids Airport at 3:30 am this morning.  I’m currently in route to Memphis Tennessee for the Mid-South Tuba Euphonium Conference hosted by Dr. John Mueller at the University of Memphis.  With a little luck, I should be there by 10 am with time to make sure the technology in the room will work for my afternoon presentation on Instrument Construction, Repair and Maintenance.

I know this will be a great time and I look forward to seeing many old friends….starting with Brian Bowman who I understand I will be meeting up with at the airport.  It will be great….but a couple more hours of sleep would be REAL NICE!

Jeff Funderburk

Last week, the Northern Brass Quintet concert went well.  Poor weather and an Artist Series concert conflict significantly reduced the audience, but those in attendance seemed appreciative.  It was good to have the group together again!

On Thursday April 19, UNITUBA will have its final concert of the school year.  The concert is at 8pm Central time.  This concert will be our second Live Web Cast and can be accessed at concert time at the following link:  http://mm1.uni.edu:8080/1/mp3/unituba/live-unituba.ram

I got a nice surprise of an email this week from a former student, Kenson Choi, who is now a member of the band at Disneyland in Hong Kong.  Nice Photo! 

Kenson received a Master of Arts degree from UNI. 

Next weekend will be the Mid-South Regional Tuba and Euphonium conference hosted at the University of Memphis and my good friend Dr. John Mueller.  I look forward to taking part in this, though I dread the very early morning travel time to get me there in time!  I will be chairing the Mock Tuba Orchestra Audition Jury and also presenting a clinic on Tuba/Euphonium Construction, Maintenance and Repair.  Got a great Powerpoint for this one that perhaps will find its way to the website before long!

Jeffrey Funderburk

Following the Christmas break, the usual frantic pace of the Spring semester began.  It’s been a great semester, but packed almost so full that there is no time to reflect upon what we are doing.  I’m not the first to bemoan this fact, but it is troubling in a very deep spiritual way.  We are involved with many wonderful projects – both educational and artistic – but there really isn’t time alloted to relish the effects and take stock of the outcomes.  Somehow, this makes much of what should be a deeply enriching experience seem reduced to busywork.

Well, enough of that for now.  So what’s been happening for the last 3 months you ask……

MOVE OUT!

The first weeks of this semester saw the studio in a bit of chaos as we relocated from Russell Hall to the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center (GBPAC).  The long awaited renovation of Russell Hall has begun.  I am scheduled to move back into the newly refurbished tuba studio in August, but the bulk of Russell Hall will close in May and remain closed until the summer of 2008.  Next fall it is anticipated that only the new practice rooms in Russell Hall and the offices on the ‘back hallway’ including all the brass faculty will be open.  If this semester is any indication, it should be a very interesting year ahead!

UNITUBA and Studio

It’s a really great group of folks this year, both from a performance standard and from a the standpoint of personalities.  We performed a 20 minute concert for the Northern Festival of Bands participants in early February and then prepared a program for a Waterloo West HS fundraising event to help raise money to buy a tuba.  Unfortunately, the actual performance for the Fundraiser was cancelled due to a snow/ice storm.  A couple of weeks later, UNITUBA was very involved in the Hawkeye Regional Tuba and Euphonium Conference held at the University of Iowa.  We performed a concert on Saturday evening of the Conference.  On April 9, the group will join with the UNI Trumpet Ensemble to play for a series of High Schools in the Cedar Rapids area.  The main recital of the spring will occur on April 19th in Davis Hall on the UNI Campus.

The program this spring features a 3 movement original work for tuba/euphonium ensemble composed by one of our tubists, Marc Wigim.  We also are performing 2 arrangements done by our euphoniumist, Joe Kopacz.  One arrangement is a Faure work featuring 2 solo euphoniums with tuba ensemble accompaniment and the other is a 6 part arrangement of Albinoni’s Adagio in g minor.  All 3 of these are completely new works and have been very well received.

There have been 4 students (Keya John, Jeff Waldschmitt, Nate Miller, Jacob Guelff) involved in recital presentations so far this semester and 1 more (Joe Kopacz) will do a recital next week.  Additionally, the Tuba Quartet performed a half recital in February and also premiered a new tuba/euphonium quartet composed by a graduate composition major.  Euphoniumist Joe Kopacz advanced to the final round of the UNI Performance Competition playing the ‘Fantasia di Concerto’ by Eduardo Boccalari.

Spring is audition season!

There have been 9 tuba and euphonium students auditioning for admission to the studio this year.  Students from Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota have come for visitations, lessons and auditions.  There have been some really fine players and I anticipate that we will likely have 1 new graduate tubist and about 4–5 new undergraduate tuba/euphonium students in the fall.  Additionally, we will be welcoming back a former member who will be transferring back from another institution.  There should be some good ‘new blood’ for the studio in the Fall.

Northern Brass Quintet reborn

For 30 years, the Northern Brass Quintet had been a resident faculty ensemble in the School of Music.  For various reasons, the ensemble has not been functioning for most of the past 10 years.  Beginning in January, we reconstituted the ensemble and had it’s initial performance for the participants at the Northern Festival of Bands.  On February 20, NBQ performed Victor Ewald’s Quintet No. 1 on a Faculty Chamber Music Recital presented in the GBPAC Great Hall.  Additionally, we took part in a ‘Birth of the Cool’ ensemble featuring works made famous on an early Miles Davis recording.  The NBQ will present a full recital on April 10 in Davis Hall of the GBPAC.  Works included on the program will be the Ewald Quintet as well as ‘Armenian Scenes’ by Arutunian, Centone No. XI – a Verne Reynolds arrangement of works by William Boyce, JS Bach ‘Contrapunctus I’ arranged by Sauer and an Ingo Luis arrangement of ‘Round Midnight’.

Cedar Rapids Symphony

The spring has featured sporadic work for tuba at the symphony.  We performed Mahler’s Sym. No.l  on February 17 and then there have been a series of concerts which have not used tuba.  On April 28 there will be a CR Symphony Chamber Music concert which will feature the Symphony Brass Quintet.  We will be premiering a new work for Brass Quintet and percussion written by Michael Kimber, ‘Myriad’ for Brass Quintet and Percussion.  Also on the program will be Leonard Bernstein’s final work, ‘Dance Suite’.

Iowa Composers Forum

On April 7, UNI will host a meeting of the Iowa Composers Forum.  I will be performing a work for solo tuba by composer Warren Gooch entitled ‘Prayer of David’.  It’s a work of approximately 5 minute duration that is essentially an extended monologue for solo tuba.  These events are always very important for generating new music for our instruments and demonstrating the musical possibilities that are offered by the tuba nd euphonium.

Memphis Regional Tuba Conference

On April 20 I will fly to Memphis Tennessee to take part in a regional tuba/euphonium conference hosted there by John Mueller.  I will be chairing the Mock Orchestral Competition and also presenting a clinic on instrument maintenance and repair.

United Faculty

For the past few years I have been fairly heavily involved in the faculty union here at UNI.  I am currently the Vice President and also was a member of this year’s negotiating committee which worked with representatives of the Iowa Board of Regents to arrive at a new 2 year contract for the UNI Faculty.  It was a very interesting and time consuming process, but one which was very educational in many ways!

So, there’s a snapshot of what has been and continues to happen these days.  Each week brings more great performances and interesting possibilities for those that don’t mind falling behind on sleep!!  Hopefully the nicer weather that we have enjoyed in Cedar Falls this past week will continue through the remaining weeks of the semester!!

The day after the Jon Sass concert, I performed a concert with the Cedar Rapids Symphony (CRSO).  The program included Elgar’s ‘In the South’ and Respighi’s ‘Pines of Rome’.  It was the opener for the season and Maestro Tim Hankevich’s debut as new music director of the orchestra.  The orchestra and the audience expressed their delight in having Maestro Hankevich in Cedar Rapids.

On October 10, I performed a faculty recital at UNI.  Featured on the program was Performance Artist Jeffery Byrd who added another dimension to the ‘To be or not to Be’ by Henri Tomasi.  Also on the program was the Madsen ‘Sonate’, Jerry Owen’s piece which I commissioned last year ‘I Shall Buy a Black Horse’, Neal Corwell’s ‘Aboriginal Voices’ and ‘Three Ludes’ by Robert Jager.  Special thanks to all the musicians who worked with me for this concert including faculty colleagues, Robin Guy and Chris Buckholz, as well as students Joel Nagel, Andrew Fletcher, Joe Kopacz, Jeff Waldschmitt, Jacob Guelff and Kyosuke Nakata.

Rehearsals began the next evening with the CRSO for a series of Pops Concerts on Oct. 14 & 15.  These featured movie music from many of the big movies of the last few years including Harry Potter, Phantom of the Opera, Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean.  The following weekend, CRSO did a set of Family ‘Discovery’ concerts on Oct. 21 and then began rehearsals for the next masterworks concert.

Sadly, in the midst of the busy fall, we suffered the loss of an esteemed collegue and friend from the School of Music.  Miguel Pinto died accidentally at his home.  Miguel was the Vocal Coach for the School of Music.  During his career he worked with the likes of Leonard Berstein and Joan Sutherland.  He is greatly missed.

On October 26, the US Air Force Band was on campus for a concert.  The band sounded really great, especially in the march ‘King Karl King’ by Henry Fillmore.  Colonel Laydendecker, the Music Director, is doing some very nice things with blend and balance.  The ensemble played with very long phrases and very subdued dynamics all evening.  There were some very nice tonal moments, though it would have been nice to hear the band open up at least once.  Disappointing was the program.  20 minutes of Disney music with the Singing Sergeants and a sleeper rendition of Copland’s ‘Red Pony’ were frankly a waste of a lot of great talent.

The second masterworks set by CRSO on October 28 featured Phil Smith, principal trumpet of the New York Philharmonic in a performance of Ellen Taafe Zwilich’s ‘American Concerto’.  A near capacity audience at the Paramount Theatre greeted soloist and orchestra.  Needless to say, Mr. Smith did an outstanding job.  Also on the program was the Barber ‘Second Essay’ and Shostakovich Symphony No. 10.

On Sunday October 30 it was a nice treat to hear Deanna Swoboda do a recital at the University of Iowa.  Deanna is currently teaching at Western Michigan and back in 1999 she did a 1 semester replacement for me here at UNI when I was on a Professional Development Leave.  She did about an hour program featuring a Bach Flute Concerto,Vaughan Williams’ ‘Concerto’, ‘Fnugg’, ‘Relentless Grooves’ and ‘Estrelita’.  All were well performed and delivered with that special charm that Deanna is so well known for.

Now we are at the final rehearsal stages for the Fall UNITUBA concert at UNI.  Tuesday November 7 will be the show.  It will feature a first half which is a tribute to Rodger Vaughan and will include 13 arrangements and original compositions.  Rodger has been kind enough to create an endowment here at UNI that will benefit tubists and euphoniumists for generations to come.  The second half will feature Todd Fiegle’s arrangement of the John Williams ‘March from 1941’, Neal Corwell’s ‘The Furies’, Aldo Forte’s ‘Tubas Latinas’ and the ‘TubaFunk’ by Peter Rausch.  Concert time is 8 pm if you’re in the area!

jeff funderburk

Tuba and Euphonium students from UNI as well as 5 students and Professor John Manning of the University of Iowa took part on Thursday evening’s workshop/rehearsal.  Additionally, there was a Pianist (UNI Faculty Genadi Zagor) and a vocalist (UNI’s Celeste Bembry) and a drummer (UNI student Matt Allain).  For more than 5 hours Sass worked with musicians in a variety of settings, crafting a program for the next evening as well as sharing experiences and insights based on his almost 3 decades of innovative work around the world.

This was a workshop that is unprecedented in my experience.  The energy and knowledge that Sass brings to the project are unparalleled and his deep humanity connected immediately with all participants.  He made people feel respected, valued and empowered to greater creativity.  It was HOT!

 Later that night, Jon and I had a GREAT HANG!! (until about 4 am) I always feel very ‘connected’ to Jon.  He’s honest and forthright.  I can’t think of a nicer person.  The evening – both in the workshop and hang – were a treat of unparalleled significance for me personally.

Friday began with a 9 am live radio interview at the KHKE studios here on the UNI Campus.  Host Jacqueline Holbloom, as always, was well prepared and made the time interesting for everyone.  Jon brought along his tuba and gave radio listeners a nice live treat of a bluesy selection and introduced his solo CD, Sassified through a number of aired cuts.

Unfortunately, after a late breakfast, the day was somewhat marred by a visit to the Emergency Room.  Luckily, Jon’s fine….just caused some schedule modifications and a good reminder to keep drinking those fluids when you travel!!!  ( In this case I am referring to water!)

Jon’s presentation to the Wind and Percussion students involved a lot of guided listening through a wide variety of creative combinations.  By the reaction of the students, you could tell that he hit a chord with most of them.  Jon encouraged them to branch out and let their creativity have freer reign – don’t be limited by established norms.

A good house was in attendance for the evening concert.  The program was non-stop from the opening UNITUBA performance of Peter Rauch’s TUBAFUNK, directly into a solo by Jon ‘Sassaphonic’ and then ‘F 2’ with Jon, John Manning and myself.  For F2 we surrounded the audience with one player on the 3rd floor catwalk, one at the back of the second floor and one at center stage.  A quartet of students from UNI and Iowa presented Howard Johnson’s arrangement of So Fine.  Then Jon played his well known ‘Meltdown’ with a UNI student sextet.  An intimate setting of ‘In Memorium’ with Jon, piano and an U of IA euphonium student followed which went directly into the hard hitting ‘Wetbottom’ (combined UNI/U IA group).  ‘Right of Way’ with vocalist Celeste Bembry lead to the final presentation of ‘La Tuba’ with all participants. 

The Webcast went off well and had viewers from as far away as Austria.  In the coming weeks, the WebCast will be archived and made available through the UNITUBA Website as well as through Jon Sass’ Website.

This was an amazing event – special beyond belief!!!

This will be the first time that a live concert has been WebCast from the University of Northern Iowa and everyone is pretty excited about the possibilities this opens.  I’ve received email from as far away as Europe from interested tuba/euphoniumists who wish to access the feed.  I’ll be very curious to see how everything functions.

Besides the fun of having Jon here, we will also be hosting our colleagues from the University of Iowa tuba/euphonium studio.  John Manning and many of the members of Collegeum Tubum will be here for the clinic/rehearsal on Thursday evening as well as participating in the concert on Friday.  I feel very lucky to have such a warm colleague in John Manning who is so near by.  I believe that the students in both studios benefit greatly from the collaboration and cooperation that we have developed.

If you are interested in details of the concert and WebCast, you can follow the link below.

http://www.uni.edu/drfun/unituba/sass_concert.html

JON SASS

IN CONCERT!
September 22, 8 pm

Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center
Davis Hall
Admission FREE!!!

Planning is speeding up as the date of our guest artist rapidly approaches. Besides having the members of UNITUBA involved in the concert and masterclass sessions, we're especially pleased that John Manning from the University of Iowa and much of the tuba and euphonium studio will also take part in this event. Additionally, John tells me that his group, 'Cerberus' plans to join as well.

Besides the concert on Friday night, there will be a long session on Thursday evening, Sept. 21. This will take place in Russell Hall Auditorium from 6-10 (or 11) pm. This session will be a combination masterclass and rehearsal as Jon Sass puts together the program for Friday night with the participants.

This should be a BLAST!!!

Please join us if you can!!

http://www.uni.edu/drfun/unituba/jon_sass.htm

http://www.jonsass.com/

New to the Brass Area this year is our new Assistant professor of Horn, Dr. Yu-Ting Su (Tina). Tina has degrees from Eastman, Julliard and Stonybrook and most recently was a member of the horn section of the Taipei Symphony.

Our new trombone professor is Dr. Chris Buckholz. His degrees are from Wake Forest, Yale and Michigan. Most recently, Chris was the Lead Trombone with the US Army Jazz Ambassadors.

Tina and Chris bring great energy and outstanding quailty to our faculty. We are all looking forward to the coming years together.

Auditions in CR are ‘blind’ auditions meaning that candidates are assigned a number when they check in.  During the audition, the first round performances are behind a curtain so that the committee does not know who they are hearing.  If a significant number of candidates are advanced to the second round (which was the case), then the second round was also behind a curtain.  Only at the final did the candidates perform where the committee could see them.

For the brass positions, 16 trumpets, 18 trombones and 10 bass trombones auditioned.  It was a really excellent set of audition with candidates coming from as far away as Oregon to audition.  In the end, the following contracts were offered and accepted:

• Andrew Classen, principal trumpet (one year)
• Matt Conrad, principal trombone
• George Krem, second trombone
• Brian Hardester, bass trombone

Congratulations to our new members of the Cedar Rapids Symphony Brass Section!  The first concert of the season will be Saturday, September 23 and will feature A LOT of brass playing in Elgar’s ‘In the South’ Overture and the ever popular ‘Pines of Rome’ by Respeigi.

Hello All,

I hate mass email just as much as you do (and this is a long one to boot), but I just had something interesting happen to me that I think everyone should be aware of.  According to Wells Fargo here in Cedar Falls, this scam is fairly new but has happened often enough to be alarming.

I was contacted two weeks ago by email by a guy from Belgium named Peter Lars.  He wanted trombone lessons from his son, who was supposed to be a high school exchange student in Cedar Falls.  The son was to stay with cousins in the area.  He wanted two lessons a week, every week for six months.  I gave him a price of $100 per week thinking that if  he didn't like it, so what; more free time for me.  He agreed to the price and said that he would send a check to cover the lessons.  He seemed fairly
knowledgeable, and while I wouldn't hire a teacher without meeting them first, he said his kid was really serious, he trusted me because of my position, and he liked my credentials.

Yesterday, I received a cashier's check for $8700.  He called me last night and I explained that the check was for $6300 too much.  He said his wife sent the check and he would talk to her and call me back.  When he called back, he said that his wife sent the wrong check.  She sent me the check that was supposed to go to his son's hosts here for living
expenses.  When I asked him what I should do about it, he said to deposit the check and then send the extra money to a "travel agency" in Belgium by Western Union.  His son needed the money for his trip, so there wasn't time to send a new check.  I said I would go to the bank today and deposit it.

As I drove to the bank this morning, Peter called me.  I told him that the bank would hold the check for at least a day, so that I couldn't send the funds until at least Monday.  He said that was fine; we had to do what the banks require.  Then I got to Wells Fargo.  They looked at
the check and said it seemed bogus.  They looked at it under ultraviolet light and the usual security marks weren't there.  They would have to hold a check like this for four days.  I decided not to deposit the check.

I then called the bank that it was drawn on in Elmhurst, IL by calling information.  They asked me to fax them a copy of the check.  I went to my office to write a fax cover letter and decided to get the bank's office phone # while I was at it.  When I Googled their name and
location, the first page listed was for an FDIC fraud website.  The bank is real, but the bank has been victimised by check counterfeiters.  One of the routing numbers on the check was wrong for this bank.  Sometimes the fake checks have the right routing number on them.  The check is a very good quality forgery.  I never would have suspected it as a fake, and fortunately the bank caught it.I've called the FBI, but they probably get this all the time.  According to the cashiers at Wells Fargo, they've seen several fake cashier's checks recently that were sent by relatives of "foreign students."  The checks are always made out for too much money, and they expect you to deposit them and send the amount over back.

I mention this story to you because I really thought that Mr."Lars" wanted lessons for his kid.  This wasn't a letter from Nigeria, or an email asking if I wanted to make a quick buck for doing nothing.  This guy took time and effort to research what I do and to tailor his scam to
me personally. He provided addresses, phone numbers, and legitimate email addresses.  He answered all my concerns and questions about his son in a reasonable manner.  His initial email to me was not spam.  He targeted me because I am a music educator who gives lessons.  It seems like educators, who naturally trust and want to help students from
overseas, would be good marks for this scam.

And yes, feel free to insert whatever dumb trombone player joke you wish
here!

Take care,
Chris