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Hello All,
I just returned last night from participating in the 5th annual Tubonium conference in Minnesota.
Tubonium is hosted by Mr. Paul Budde and is held at Gustavus Adolphus College, in St. Peter MN. Coming in from New York, Wow!! What a breath of fresh air!
I was so impressed at how organized Paul was and how smoothly this conference was run!
There was plenty for all to do and see to keep all players of all levels very happy!
The vendors included Tuba Dome, Blau Mutes, J.W, Pepper Music, and the Music Mart.
Lots of great instruments to try including the most recent additions to Meinl Weston’s line up.
This was not an event where there were 30 different performers in two days, and your head is spinning after day 1. It was a few tuba ensembles , Ben Pierce, and myself, doing master classes, and of course each of us playing a solo recital. This was the first time I’ve had the pleasure of hanging with Ben and Paul, we had a great time!
The facilities at the college were wonderful and most importantly, the food in the dining hall was first rate! If your looking for a tuba/euphonium conference to attend with plenty to do and lots of contact with the performers, this is it.. Definitely worth the price of admission...
I want to thank Paul Budde for having me as a soloist/clinition at the 5th annual Tubonium and wish him much success in further years to come!
Sincerely,
Alan Baer

Ditto Alan's comments. Had a great time, the people were great and the food was top-notch.

Definitely, definitely worth the price of admission.



Ben Pierce

Alan and Ben are correct. This was an absolutely fantastic weekend. St. Peter and Gustavus Adolphus College are a little bit off the beaten path (Ok, a lot off), so it is really amazing to hear and interact with players the caliber of Alan Baer and Ben Pierce. Their Saturday recitals would have been reason enough to attend.

My son and I (both recreational tuba players) attended for the third year in a row, and were absolutely blown away.

Our other highlights included the solo competition and the interactions with Roger Lewis and his stable of new horns. If you haven't played a Thor, the descriptions are correct. And Roger is a great teacher for aspiring performers (which I'm not).

Thanks to Paul Budde for putting on such a feat. And thanks to Ben and Alan for coming to the backwoods of Minnesota to share their gift. It was really outstanding.

For those not familiar with this event, last year he brought in Jim Self and Mark Jenkins and the year before he had Steven Mead all the way from the UK.

Mike and Nathan

Wow, what a great weekend!!!

I will be posting a conference summary in the coming days, but for now, I'd like to say THANK YOU to Alan Baer, Ben Pierce, and the St. Olaf Tuba-Euph Ensemble for a fantastic weekend. You made Tubonium5 a very memorable conference for me and for our attendees - thank you!

I have had so much positive feedback from attendees about what a meaningful and worthwhile weekend it was.... Thank you to all involved and for all the kind emails and posts about the conference.