UTC Music students in Germany

Following up on last year's successful tour of Paris, the UTC
Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble will tour in Munich, Germany, over the spring
break. The ensemble will be the guests of Prof. Dr. Eckhard Nolte of
the Ludwig-Maximilians Universität, Department of Arts Study, Music
Education Division. The group will perform at the Mohr Villa, a
facility for chamber music in northern Munich, and will have a clinic
with tubaist Robert Tucci of the Bavarian State Opera Orchestra in
Eichenau. Dr. Kenyon Wilson, an adjunct professor at UTC, will play a
solo with the group. Wilson performs with the Chattanooga and Augusta
(GA) symphonies and is a Fulbright scholar. Daryl Finley, a UTC
euphonium performance graduate student, will perform a solo with the
group, also. A new brass piece by UTC faculty member Dr. Jonathan
McNair will be premiered there.

The UTC TE Ensemble was the first American university tuba ensemble
to perform in Paris and is likely one of the first American groups in
Munich. Germany has nine thousand trombone ensembles but very few
tuba-euphonium ensembles, and there is interest in what is done with
these groups there.  Dr. Wilson and myself will also present talks on
tuba ensemble literature and pedagogy.

The group is mostly paying its own way but several generous local
business owners have helped out, though the group is still little
short on funds. Such businesses as Giant Steps Music, Inc. and Utzman
Cabinets have helped out in Chattanooga and Robert Tucci
Musikinstrumente in Eichenau bei München
in Munich. Tucci has been instrumental (no pun intended) in obtaining
C and F tubas to use there, as they are too expensive to ship from
the U.S.

The UTC Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble will give a "farewell" concert on
March 1st, 7:00, Roland Hayes.
Tonight (February 17) in Roland Hayes Daryl Finley, Euphonium, will
play the Rimsky-Korsakov "Concerto" with the UTC Orchestra. Friday
night (February 20) in Roland Hayes, Mr. Finley will perform the
Bellstedt "Napoli"  with the UTC Concert Band under the direction of
Anthony J. D'Andrea and Stuart Benkert.

The UTC Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble was started in 1984 at the suggestion
of UTC brass students. The tuba ensemble movement itself began in the
1960s, and now tuba ensembles exist in every major cultural capital
and in most universities and music conservatories, from Japan to
Germany to Eastman School of Music and Juilliard. Ironically,
Tennessee virtually invented this type of group. The state is so
prominent in the tuba world that it is not unusual to find an
American, sometimes a Tennesseean, playing tuba in professional
orchestras in Europe.

The ensemble helps students be better musicians and teachers by
providing additional practice in developing rehearsal, arranging and
composing skills. The music is taught in historical context. Several
of our students have become excellent composers and arrangers, and
their going to Europe to see where it all started will help them
professionally.

The ensemble has had great support from the Department Chair, Dr. Lee
Harris and from the music faculty. About a third of music faculty
members have critiqued or rehearsed the group.

William R. Lee, Professor
Music Department