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RSO tubist John Griffiths was 'a true original'

Maria Cootauco
The Leader-Post (Regina)

Saturday, July 14, 2007

At 6-foot-5, John Griffiths was not a small man.

Larger yet was his presence.

Griffiths, the renowned Regina Symphony Orchestra principal tuba player, passed away Wednesday, leaving behind a legacy in the musical community not soon to be forgotten.

"John was one of the best tuba players in the world," said colleague and long-time friend Elizabeth Raum, a Regina-based composer. "That's a fact. We were so lucky to have him." Griffiths, who had just turned 59 in March, joined the symphony in 1985. Three years earlier, he had started his teaching career at the Conservatory of Music. In 2002, Griffiths formally joined the department of music at the University of Regina.

"As a solo player, John's big distinction was his range in playing the instrument," said Richard Raum, a University of Regina music department professor. "Most tuba players have a limited upper register just because of the nature of the instrument. But for John, he had some kind of physical capacity or makeup that was just natural for him to be able to play very high." In January, Griffiths underwent a septuple bypass surgery. By the end of March, he was back on his instrument, performing for the symphony.

"He said, 'I had to come back,'" recalled Victor Sawa, the symphony's director and conductor.

Griffiths' commitment to music was unparalleled and a marked characteristic of the tubist.

"He was the best mentor and teacher you could possibly imagine for a music student. He was just really an incredible man," said Tom McCaslin, a former student. "He was just so passionate (in) helping and teaching and getting you to find the best out of you. Time didn't really matter. It was more of making sure he was passing along as much as he could." Add to that, Griffiths had a sparkling wit that drew people to him. He was especially adept at doing impressions and bringing a story to life using grand hand gestures, McCaslin recalled.

"He was wonderful at telling jokes," Elizabeth Raum laughed. "He did accents. It could be a terrible joke and when John told it, it was a wonderful joke. It was in the telling." In a week, Griffiths was looking forward to going on a motorcycle trip with Jeff Bush, a friend from his early days as a student at the University of Regina. After Griffiths was admitted to the hospital earlier this week, he made sure that someone contacted Bush to let him know he would not make it, and apologized profusely for his absence.

Fierce friendship is what Bush had come to know from Griffiths.

"He'd do anything for you. He was a really good friend," said Bush, a professor at Arizona State University. "If you treated him as a friend, he would reciprocate 100 times more." In the music world, where his sound has touched many ears, Griffiths' artistry represented a relentless presence.

"He was uncompromising in a lot of ways and really strove to do things his way and was really a unique voice and wasn't someone who jumped on the bandwagon of trends in our little musical realm," McCaslin said. "He really stuck to the way that he heard things and the way he wanted to perform. And because of that, the musical world as a whole is losing a really unique individual that's never been seen and won't be seen since he's not a copy. He's a true original." Griffiths is survived by a son and daughter.

© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2007