I got a call last week from Craig Knox, principal tuba for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. It is not often, nay, rare that a professional orchestral musician calls my number. It frankly reminds me of the viola joke about this guy who-.... anyway, he calls me to ask my permission. Yes, *he* needs permission from *me* to record Dans Profundo on an upcoming album of solo tuba music! Not only that, but he'll be performing it at an upcoming faculty recital next March or April!

This is an absolute thrill. It is so many feelings- validation, elation, excitement, relief, honor, and probably will be a few more before this is all over with. Mr. Knox is even going to invite me to one of the upcoming rehearsals so I can hear how it's going, chat with him and the pianist, and do all those "artsy" things that I've only imagined about, but desperately wanted to do as a composer and performer. It's not that I don't love teaching, but this was my first love, and now it's becoming even more realized.

I really need to get to finishing that orchestral project for Freestyle so I can begin my second tuba solo for John Manning. I don't want to suffer from a sophomore slump, especially with such a top-rate performer.

Dans Profundo will be performed by John Manning at the University of Iowa on May 1, 2010, and also at the International Tuba and Euphonium Association's 2010 conference in Tuscon, Arizona on May 29!!

It's gonna get played twice!! May 1 is a Saturday... road trip??? I can't believe this is actually going to happen... so much more that I want and need to know... more details to come! Soon, I hope!

The recital was *lovely*. Dave did really well, picked some neat music, and it all went well. The accompanist was fantastic, and didn't kill Dave for scheduling his recital on her birthday. :-) Oh, my piece? Yeah, I should get to that.

I am quite satisfied. Many parts were as I heard it, but it is so different hearing my music played by MIDI and hearing a live performance. As I explained to fiannaharpar, the MIDI model that I've had in my head for so long is like a 2-dimensional model, while the performance I heard was in 3-dimensions. The MIDI was a reproduction of the notes I wrote, and what Dave and Donna played was an interpretation, adding their own creativity, their own artistry, to what I laid out on paper. Some things were not as I expected- the zippy grace notes I'd imagined were gentle and rolling. But others were more than I expected. The final section, where I wrote the 'oom-pah' line on steroids, was meant to be prominent, but the piano still has the melody. The way Dave played it, he didn't give a rat's ass about the piano, he belted it out, and it was the most exciting part of the piece.

The whole piece was wonderfully received, Dave did a fantastic job of it, and I want to thank those that made it to see it-- cyano, jcipa, and alfiechat's husband were most gracious to listen to it in person. And, of course, my wonderful wife and daughter who supported me in this from the start. Thank you all for being there with me.

Not bad, eh? Here's the really cool part-

Craig Knox, principal tubist for the Pittsburgh Symphony, who is Dave's teacher, very much enjoyed it. He said many nice things about it, mainly that it was a good all-around piece for the tuba. That meant a lot, especially because 1) I've never written specifically for the instrument before and 2) it's coming from a professional frickin' tubist. As I mentioned before, he wants a copy. So he can perform it. In concert.

O_o

*exhales* Oh yeah. That'd suck. Ooh, how horrible, a prominent professional musician programming my music. *exhales again* Ok, he did mention it's not going to be any time soon, but he will email me later, and we can get this second ball rolling, which I hope to keep in motion for quite some time.

Wow.

After the recital, I got to talk to Dave some, thank him profusely, and remind him that he and his family are still invited to dinner. I think that will be a good time to -calmly- reflect on everything that happened and bask in our own accomplishments, if but for a while. My two favorite girls and I walked to South Craig and ate dinner at LuLu's Noodles, which was teh yum. Unfortunately, Pookie wasn't able to keep it together much, even with a full nap at school, but that did not deter from the timbre of the evening.

This is what it's like to be an artist. This is the kind of experience I want to repeat for quite some time. And maybe, just maybe, that which I am starting will begin to collect some momentum. Thank you all for your well wishes, and I will chirp up when I get the recording of the recital, with an mp3 soon to follow.

If you are still interested in hearing "Dans Profundo" at Dave Yeager's graduate tuba recital at CMU, here are the details one last time:

Thursday, May 8th, beginning at 5pm, in the Alumni Concert Hall, which is in the Fine Arts building.

Here are the only two updates-
1. My piece will begin the second half of the recital, not the very beginning. This is good because I'm gonna be booking it from downtown to get back to CMU on time, so that's less pressure on all of us. So, if you get there before us, save three seats??
2. Dave will provide an audio recording. I know of no video options, though if someone takes video of it, I may ask reeeeeeeal nice for a copy. :-) After I get an audio recording, I'll upload it and share with everyone.

EDIT: The total estimated time will be between an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes; it should be done between 6:00 and 6:15 at the latest.

A friendly reminder for those who want to hear brand new tuba music! The recital for David Yeager, Masters student of tuba performance at CMU (yes, there is such an animal) will be on:

Thursday, May 8th, beginning at 5pm, in the Alumni Concert Hall, which is in the Fine Arts building.

My piece is the very first on the list, so come early and save your seats! What makes this recital more meaningful is that it connects my earliest experiences in education. You see, Dave was a senior at Allderdice High School (along with cortneyofeden. *waves*) when I did my student teaching there in the spring of '96. Between then and about a year ago, I'd seen him maybe three times. I knew he attended CMU for undergrad performance, but that was it. Then, I'd seen him and his wife (also an Allderdice grad, who I taught in '96) in Squirrel Hill, and at the Greek Food Festival. That was cool, but it was seeing him perform with other brass players for a sing-fest at our church last May that I cooly offered, "Hey, if you ever need any music written, I'm your guy." He said, "You know, I may take you up on that," and by gum he did. So, it was a treat to be doing a friend a favor, and getting to write cool music on top of that.

I will repeat this reminder the week of the recital. If you really wanna come see it but don't know where, comment and I'll try to help decipher the mystery that is parking at CMU.

Dans Profundo is finished! I finished it Friday night, specifically, but I had to then futz with the page layouts of the score and the tuba part so it didn't have anything freaky going on. From just listening to it on Finale, I like it. I wasn't as buzzing with excitement as I thought I would, but the transition to the last few measures was being a big PITA. I think that the thrill of being done is replaced with the concern of how it will be received, by the performers, audience, and professors. I'm still awaiting more feedback, but I at least am satisfied with the piece being done and knowing that it's, at the very least, a decent sounding musical work. Hey, my wife likes it, it can't be all bad. ;-)

I just completed the second section of the tuba piece, and the third is unfolding quite nicely. Not bad progress for only getting one, maybe two hours a week to work on this thing. And for those of you who know the lingo, the piece is in mixed meter, meaning the 8th note remains constant. Well, in the unaccompanied intro, the 8th=146 bts/minute. Not too fast. In the second section, the 8th=200. This last section, the 8th=320 (quarter=160, so not too daunting looking at it that way). Still, at the end, it's gonna cook.

Two beats worth of piano music took two hours over the course of 24 to come up with. I think I should've sketched more liberally like I did in the intro, but I am happy with what is on the page.

The intro on the tuba solo, working title being "Dans Profundo", is almost done. I'm trying to transition into the main "theme" where the piano comes in with some semblance of style and aptitude. And as it turned out, the few measures I wrote as an insert to the intro is better than everything I wrote after the 'insert' was to have finished. I need to increase the tempo for the next section. The unaccompanied intro is going to be marked "Seductive." Yes, that's right. Solo tuba. Seductive. It's slavic. -Ish. Just y'all wait.