TubaForum.net

Just wondering what the pedagogy lineage is on this site. Can be band director, tuba professor, whoever you want to mention.

I studied with Skip Gray.

I did the college thing, and I've also driven all over the eastern US and studied (every couple of months for a year or so) with two or three "big gurus" roughly twenty years ago. (I referred to it as the "freeway conservatory".)


...but two people opened my eyes to what the tuba could do.

First, was this person in my high school (recently deceased, basically auditioned into Pershing's Own in the 12th grade with the school's 36K fiberglass sousaphone). Here's a picture of him (on the left) when he was in the ninth grade, auditioned for the Tennessee All-State Band the first time, and held onto that chair each year thereafter. I would estimate that he practiced approximately four hours every night...a beautiful player...learned "music" in his Primitive Baptist (shaped-notes hymnal) church.

Interestingly, they all three assembled their upper mouthpipes and tuning bits at the correct angles:




For Christmas (12th grade) my sister called around, was told what to buy, and ordered me this:


Just fwiw,
Jesse was every bit the musician (and nearly the technician - even with the 36K sousaphone) compared to Mr. Bobo.

Sam, Pat and Deanna

As a student enrolled in weekly lessons, I studied with:
Pete Kline (San Antonio College — 1983-1985)
Dave Dorrough (Armed Forces School of Music — 1985)
Don Little (University of North Texas — 1988-1993)
Ev Gilmore (University of North Texas — 1992-1993)

Privately, I took monthly lessons for about a year and a half with Arnold Jacobs in 1995 and 1996. I took a handful of lessons with Steve Johns, Don Harry, and Mike Sanders in the 1980s.

My first big influences in music, were my middle school band directors. In particular, the late Mr. Roy Hull, the Selden Middle School 8th grade band director.....who was legendary.

My next influence was the late Fred "Moe" Snyder who I studied with in the summers, when I attended the Usdan Center for Creative and Performing Arts.

I did have a private tuba teacher in high school, but to be honest, I didn't get a whole lot from him.

In college my tuba professor was the late David Unland at Ithaca College. I did study with Ed Diefes, formerly of the Syracuse Symphony for a semester while Dave was on sabbatical.

As far as opening my eyes to what the tuba could do, I would be remiss without mentioning the late, great Quentin Sharpenstein, with whom I got to play in a local group while I was in high school. That guy could do it all.

My first taste of private tuba instruction was actually at Stephen Collins Foster Music Camp held at Eastern Kentucky University during the summer. I had a weekly lesson with the tuba prof at EKU, who at the time was Jim Willett. Sweet guy, showed me my first-ever F tuba (YFB-821). One big thing he taught me was how tuba players could lay back and help shape the lines of melodic instruments through good phrasing. That stuck with me as an 8th grader.

Richard Murrow

Well, I didn't do the college thing, my list is short.

Jr. High - Gene Rotramel. He was the band director and a wonderful euphoniumist.
High School - Russ Kormeier. Also the band director. Trumpet guy.
Also during HS - Rich Elder. 399th Army Band tubist.
Now - I take a lesson irregularly with Grant Moore. Was a founding member of Philadelphia Brass, currently teaches at Elizabethtown.

An embarrassment of riches:

Euphonium teacher throughout high school and occasionally in college: Brian Bowman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Bowman

High school band director: Richard Bergman
https://www.herndonband.org/past-directors

College band director and professor of conducting and arranging: John Paynter
https://www.northwestern.edu/magazine/s ... -band.html

College teachers:
Frank Crisafulli https://www.windsongpress.com/brass%20p ... afulli.pdf
Arnold Jacobs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Jacobs
Gary Ofenloch https://www.sltrib.com/artsliving/2019/ ... -breaking/
Rex Martin https://www.music.northwestern.edu/facu ... rex-martin
Vince Cichowicz https://www.windsongpress.com/brass%20p ... howicz.pdf

.

"From everyone who has been given much, much will be expected; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."
Luke 12:48

Well, I certainly did not reach the career achievements my teachers had. I did give it the effort, though; I tried to give my students all the best things I knew.

subtopic: wind band conductor experiences...(excluding orchestras - aka "wire bands")

Band-wise, I played under the batons of Bob Reynolds, Bill Revelli, Fred Fennell, Bob Foster, Francis McBeth, Arnald Gabriel, and (some of you won't recognize, as UCLA is sort of in a foreign country, but...) Clarence Sawhill...as well as other really talented yet lesser-known conductors.

If recording sessions count, I recorded countless jingles, station id's, sports league themes, and other stuff composed and conducted by Dee Barton.
(This wasn't technically a "band", but when the trumpets/horns/trombones/tuba were scheduled to put down their tracks (back when Memphis was actually a vital city with stuff actually going on.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dee_Barton (Stan Kenton trombonist/arranger/composer/film score composer)
related wiki article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepper_Tanner (This is where we worked together.)

oh yeah...(even though he couldn't see me when he would occasionally wave his arms to conduct - LOL) two different times (a couple of years apart) I played in a back-up band (winds and rhythm section - no fiddles - so a "band") behind Ray Charles twice. Oh yeah: Henry Mancini...once.

For someone who grew up just north of the Mississippi delta (and hardly ever went anywhere), that's a reasonably good "band conductor experiences" list, yes?

hey...
Arnald Gabriel turned 100 a little over a month ago!

Earle Louder
Paul Ebbers

Middle and High school: Mark Finley (our site moderator), Royce Nowell, and Peter Ward

Undergrad: 1 year with Natalie Royston, 3 with Dr. Jeff Cottrell

Masters: Tim Olt

Doctorate: Jim Akins

Post Doctorate: Roger Rocco, Richard Watson, and mindset with Steve Rosse.

I’ve also been fortunate to have lessons with Sam Pilafian, Don Harry, Tony Kniffen, John Manning, Fritz Kaenzig, Mickey Moore, David Zerkel, TJ Ricer, Jason Smith, David Saltzman, Paul Ebbers, Allen Carter, Clay Johnson, Jason Wallace, and several others as well that are tuba/euphers, and have studied with a few non tuba/euphers

After typing this, I realize that I’ve had some great teachers and am very fortunate and thankful for that.

I bumped into Harvey about three times in my life.
I could tell that I would have gotten along with him well.

At a local Texas college summer band camp in 1966, Dr. Clarence Sawhill, director of bands at UCLA, spent time with me between rehearsals to teach me how a tuba sounds. Then my HS band director gave me the LP of Bill Bell and his Tuba, and I wore it out trying to copy his sound. After my sophomore year in college, my band director/brass teacher/trumpet player told me he had taken me as far as he could and for me to find someone better. I was fortunate to get David Kuehn at what was then North Texas State University to take me on as a private student, and I drove to Denton twice a month for 2 years to study with him. Then I scored a scholarship to study for my M.M. with Rex Conner at Kentucky in 1973. He taught me to play like the big boys. I have been fortunate to attend master classes and get to meet of many of the greats. We do indeed have a wonderful brotherhood.

Ross Tolbert, MN Orchestra

Although it was Edgar Turrentine, Brass Techniques and psychology of music prof at the U of MN who taught me how to double tongue. He also told me I should have been a trombone player, so there is that.

The biggest impact on my playing had one week with Sam Pilafian and lots of time over some years with Marty Erickson, who also showed me how to be a good teacher. Some time with the late Roger Bobo were well spent too

As best as I can recall my private lesson teachers in 6 years of instruction in public school were:

Ron Tasa
Gary Clark
Gary Carper
Mark Wolfe
Jay Rozen

All but Ron were affiliated with UNT.

Band directors were Don Hamrick, Roger Winslow, Dana Rothlesburger, and Ernie Repass.

Eric