Good concert! Sotto Voce

Though the first half could have been 20 minutes shorter, the tuba/euphonium concert was very good.  The most impressive player was the low tuba player.  It could have sounded like any marching band tuba but this guy was a master.  He had a PhD in tuba, or something like that.  The 2nd low tuba, Nat McIntosh, was the guy who founded and is the leader of the Young Blood Brass Band.  Mom/Dad - if you don't recognize the name just search for it in Google.  It is a very good and very popular hip-hop horn group at the top of the charts around the Haile house.  He was the only player that wasn't a college music professor and he made fun of himself for trying to hang with the others.  The 2nd euphonium player was much younger than the others and a recent addition to the group.  I could tell that the reason they picked him was because of his ear.  They play very difficult music but intonation would be extremely important in a horn group like that one.  They had such close harmonies!  They never stopped and tuned.  They were always micro-adjusting their horns as they played - especially the low tuba player.  The 1st euphonium player was the recognized tone leader of the group and one of them said he was responsible for the popularity of the group compared to other similar groups because of his tone.  He played the highest and fastest parts and was the most technically flawless player.

http://tubaquartet.com/

Their finale was arranged by the Youngbloods guy.  It featured screams and yells and singing through the tuba while playing and mouthpiece pops and rhythms tapped on the metal while the horn parts were sometimes very tightly synchronized and sometimes independent.  The encore piece was a slow Irish tune (I should know the name) that was so wonderful it almost brought tears to our eyes.  Part of the song they stopped playing and just sang the tune acapella.

It was interesting that Nat McIntosh would be considered the celebrity of the group and the most famous tuba player of modern times, yet no attention at all was given to him other than him being the founder/leader of the Young Bloods.  He's from Longmont, CO - born 1978.  He tours constantly.  I hope he's putting some $$ away because that is a tough life!

The group spent the day before the concert at Big Horn High School running a master's class and giving a short concert.  They spent the day of the concert at Sheridan High School doing the same thing.  They also gave a concert at the WYO earlier in the day to a large group of elementary school kids.