OcTUBAfest 2012 – Q&A with Michael Grose

Liner Notes (LN): Hello Professor Grose, can you please tell us a little bit of the background history of OcTUBAfest at the University of Oregon?

Michael Grose (MG): OcTUBAfest here at UO has been an annual event for a number of years, well predating my appointment in 2001. OcTUBAfest as a national phenomena can be traced back to the 1970s when then-Indiana University tuba professor Harvey Phillips began the tradition on the heels of another tuba co-opted holiday concert he created, TubaChristmas.

LN: How has the festival changed over the years? Has it met your expectation? Has it been able to bring many students to the event?

MG: In the early years of my UO tenure, the tuba studio enrollment was rather sparse, so it served mostly as an extended recital showcase for me and the Oregon Tuba Ensemble (a-non UO semi-professional tuba group). But over the last many years, I have had to figure out ways to fit all of the performers onto the program. It’s been terrific. With the exception of freshmen, I require all of my students to perform on the OcTUBAfest recital. It gives them an opportunity to express themselves as soloists. It gets them out of the herd mentality that we low brassers develop in bands, and encourages more attention to the art of musical communication.

LN: What is the difference that OcTUBAfest brings to its audience this year?

MG: In the past we have had various guest artists. A few years ago we had an opera theme and actually invited a Portland-area tenor to come and sing a couple of well-known Italian opera arias with the tuba ensemble (“La donna e mobile” and “Nessun Dorma”). It was a fantastic experience for the audience and the students in the ensemble. The crowd that year was immense. I learned right then and there that all it takes to get a large crowd at a tuba recital is to find a way to insert the word “opera” into the advertising.

Other years, we have had well known tuba and euphonium artists fly into Eugene and serve as a guest artist on the recital. We don’t do that as much any more because there are so many student soloists that there’s just not enough time available on the recital to include guest artists.

There are two components to the OcTUBAfest recital, the soloists and the tuba/euphonium ensemble (a.k.a. Teuph). I always want the students to have the opportunity to participate in the recital, either as a soloist, and/or in Teuph. So a few years ago we decided to jettison the guest artist concept in favor of ensuring enough exposure and opportunity for the students.

LN: What is significant or exciting about the repertoire you and your ensemble will perform?

MG: The most exciting aspect is the sheer variety of composers represented. With my students I emphasize great music over “tuba” music. Most of the world’s great music is not actually written for the tuba, so we have go out and steal excellent music from other instruments.

You’ll find that on this year’s recital the program will include adaptations of great music written by great composers, but not necessarily for the tuba. For example this year’s program includes music by Erik Satie. Well, he didn’t compose any music for solo tuba, but Satie surely did compose great music. So one of the students is playing an arrangement of his “Gymnopedies,” which are piano pieces in their original form. Another example of the variety is the tuba ensemble performance of the opening theme by Danny Elfman to the film The Nightmare Before Christmas called “This is Halloween.”

Even though most of the great music in the world is not for the tuba, there are some excellent examples of tuba music on this year’s O’fest recital with the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams and Frank Gulino. Vaughan Williams is the quintessential English composer who composed a tuba concerto in 1954. It was a big deal because it was written in honor of the London Symphony’s Golden Jubilee celebration. The second movement from that concerto is absolutely gorgeous! Gulino wrote a piece called “The Effervescent Tuba” a couple of years ago (written for one of graduates) which is reminiscent of Disney movie themes, but played on the tuba! How crazy is that? All in all, I think it’s going to be a great recital with some wonderful music and amazingly talented student soloists.

LN: Please share with us one great thing about OcTUBAfest that not many people know about.

MG: How about two things:

First, this year OcTUBAfest is taking place on Halloween. As a result, I’ve invited the students to come in costume. It’s always interesting to see what they come up with. I think one of my favorites from past costume affairs is one year when a student came dressed as a slice of pizza. That was pretty good. I think is sausage and mushroom. I may come dressed up, too. We’ll see.

And second, OcTUBAfest is an opportunity for the unsung heroes of the band and orchestra (the tuba and euphonium) to come out from the back row and take a seat at the front of the stage and show off a bit. It can be nerve racking because we low brass players are most often found in accompanimental roles in music, as opposed to playing solos. But it’s a wonderful experience being responsible for expressing one’s ideas and thoughts through the language of music as a soloist.

LN: Thank you very much for a great interview. We are very excited for OcTUBAfest this year and we hope that you will have a great turn out.

OcTUBAfest will be on Wednesday, October 31, 2012 from 7:30-9:30 p.m. in Beall Concert Hall. Ticket is $7 for general admission and $5 for students and seniors.

You can get your ticket online at http://tickets.uoregon.edu.

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