'08 ITEC Round Up

[Cameron Gates]

It was great to see and visit with:

Tom "I need a LIFE" Holtz

There Scoob, fixed your spelling.

(where was Mr. Gates?)

Defending your country while you and Tommytuba were out screwing around.

[TubaRay]

(where was Mr. Gates?)

Defending your country while you and Tommytuba were out screwing around.

Tough job, but someone's gotta do it.

[THE TUBA]

Awesome conference. I think I'll post more when I'm not dead-tired. For now, here's some horn dorn.

PT-6P New York Edition, PT-6P

PT-6P NYE

Miraphone Prototype F

MW Mini-Travel F

Mini/Travel F in front of a THOR

Custom Music Room

MW Room

WWBW Room

MW Mel Culbertson 45(?)

Besson Tubas

Tuba Exchange

Miraphone Section

New Willson F model

Sergio with the Yamayork

[sc_curtis]

I really wish I could have gone this year. Did anyone get to actually PLAY on the MW travel F tuba? I am very curious as to how it played...

[PWtuba]

Because of the competition, I was there from Sunday to Saturday. Unfortunately, I did not make the final round of the Young Artist Solo Tuba competition. I played in the High School All-Star Ensemble, which was a lot of fun. I had never played in a tuba-euphonium ensemble before.

Some of the big names I saw:

Oystein Baadsvik
Jens Bjorn-Larsen
Velvet Brown
Alan Baer
Gene Pokorny
Daniel Perantoni
David Zerkel
Bob Tucci
Kent Eshelman


That's all I can remember right now...

The exhibits, although loud, were fun. Was anybody else in the room when Alan Baer came in with the "travel tuba" and had a blat-off with someone playing the cimbasso? It was loud.

I attended masterclasses by Alan Baer, Jens Bjorn-Larsen, and Gene Pokorny. I saw recitals by, oh, tons of people...

The evening concerts were very, very good, and Saturday night was spectacular.
Bought: PT 48 mpc.

Got home Sunday morning at 1:30, slept until noon.

[THE TUBA]

I really wish I could have gone this year. Did anyone get to actually PLAY on the MW travel F tuba? I am very curious as to how it played...

It's a little stuffy, but it plays fine once you get the hang of it. Alan Baer says nothing in the world sounds bigger than the Kodiak, well nothing sounds smaller than the travel F. This would be a great tuba to whip out when the conductor keeps giving you the hand. I want one.

[brattom]

What is a Pt-6 New York Edition (aside from what is evident in the photo)?

[THE TUBA]

The PT-6P NYE is a limited production version of the PT-6P with a few modifications/alterations to the slides. The main tuning slide "U" is wider and the 4th valve slide is longer on the NYE. Alan Baer posted this in a thread about someone selling a PT-6P with similar modifications done by Chuck Ward and Baer himself.
As far as playing goes, I like this limited edition better than the regular version, or at least the PT-6P that was on display in the Custom Music room. I thought the NYE was a little more free-blowing and and had a slightly more resonant sound. Both are very similar, and it is just personal preference as to which horn works best for each person. For me, I really dug the NY Edition.
New York Edition:

PT-6P

[THE TUBA]

Was Custom Music selling this "NY edition"?

Yep, and I was this close || to buying one. The price is the same as PT-6P. I don't know how many were made, but they sure do play great.

[MikeMason]

So,what is the going price for the 6p or NYE?

[THE TUBA]

It goes for about 12K right now. The Custom rep I talked to mentioned that there is an upcoming meeting to determine the amount of money of the impending price bump.

The three CC tubas I liked best were the YamaYork, PT-NYE, and the THOR. The YamaYork is amazing, simply amazing. I didn't think a tuba could be worth $30,000, but I would gladly pay every penny (if, of course, I had that kind of dough to throw around). The response is phenomenal, the sound amazing, the "blow" unbelievable. It is even easy to hold compared to many of the other BATs. AND it doesn't break your legs to play, like the big Willson contrabasses. This tuba has been many years in the making, but it was definitely worth the wait. Playing this tuba makes you feel invincible, like you can overpower an orchestra one minute and hide in a thinly orchestrated ppp section. This tuba is amazing.

As for the THOR and PT-NYE, they are different beasts. Although both horns are the 5/4 mini-BAT size, they have different characters. I feel like the THOR has a more focused and direct sound and the PT-NYE is more broad and blanketing. For me, the THOR required a thicker column of air. Both felt equally agile and easily manipulatable. Both are great horns, but the Thor is a bit cheaper and more fun for me to play, so I'm going to visit the Tuba Dome later this summer and grab me a fresh one.

[tubafatness]

All in all, I think ITEC was a blast. It was great getting to hear and see and meet all kinds of tuba players, and there was a lot of good music floating around this last week.

The three tubists that impressed me the most were all from out of the country. They were Sergio Carolino, Jens Bjorn-Larsen, and Roland Szentpali. All three of them showed complete mastery of their horns, as well as any and all musical challenges they faced. It's definitely an interesting experience seeing one single tuba player play some great music at a bar one night, then play with a tuba sextet the next day, as well as playing a classical recital or concert the day after. It seems like all of the newer generation of tuba players have developed a habit of not only being good, but being good at anything they do, whether it be classical, jazz, modern music, etc, etc....
Of course, that means people like me have a lot to learn! Oh, crap...

Besides all of the concerts, I took the time at ITEC to try as many horns as I could. I was specifically looking for a possible replacement CC tuba. I'm in the very, very beginning stages of looking for a CC to replace my old Rudy Meinl, so I was half-spiritedly shopping for a new horn. Here's my thoughts on all that I tried.

B&S/Perantucci
On the whole, I can't say that I was too enthusiastic about any of the B & S tubas. This isn't to say that they are bad horns, though. The PT16, PT15 and PT10(p) all played well, but I just didn't fit with them. The exception for these F tubas was the JBL Classic, which is a fantastic tuba. I'm still thinking about that horn...
The CC tubas were, as mentioned above, good but not my cup of tea. If I had to pick one of them to play, it would be the PT-6.
Overall, it just seemed to me like the Perantucci horns didn't allow me to put a proper amount of air through the horn. I know that this is more than likely a product of my own personal playing style, but I still didn't care much for the B & S horns, on the whole.

Meinl-Weston
I had a lot of fun in the MW room. I can now safely say that my all-time favorite F tuba is the 45-SLZ. It might be because I've gotten so used to my own SLP, but i really liked this tuba. I also liked the other Fs that MW had, but not as much as the SLZ. This room is where I spent the majority of my CC tuba hunting trip. I spent a long time deciding between the 2000 and the Thor. I spent about 30 minutes playing the 2000, and was extremely satisfied. I then played about 10 notes on the Thor, and immediately put it back down. After playing them side-by-side, I can say that, for me, the 2000 was by far the better instrument. Compared to the 2000, the Thor felt logy and dull. Yes, it has a great low range, but it seemed to me to be a one hit wonder of a horn. Then again, that's just my opinion...

Miraphone/other brands
I liked the piston prototype, but I felt that it might be a tad small to be used as an one-in-all F tuba (by that, I mean an F tuba that can cover all of the material that should be played on an F tuba.) I tried the 1291 and 1292 as part of my CC tuba hunt. They were good, but I wasn't impressed. They seemed a bit stuffy to me, and I hated the design in terms of ergonomics-this is mainly directed at the branch that sticks out the back of the horn.
I got to briefly play on one of Sam Gnagey's creations. In my case, it was a cimbasso, which was a cool horn to play. I didn't get a chance to play any of his great looking horns, but the general impression that I got was that the ones on display were great instruments.
I really liked the Hirsbrunner HB-2P in the Custom Music exhibit, but it was defeated in the second-to-last round of my CC tuba hunt, losing out to the two MW horns listed above.

So, what was the outcome of my CC tuba hunt? I've decided to start looking for a MW 2000 within the next couple of years.


I was really impressed by how courteous and genial almost all of the people in attendance were. This is especially so with the artists, who seemed to be having fun even when talking to erstwhile fans. Plus, it was great seeing all kinds of new works, what with all of the world premieres and special commissions. The timing of the conference seemed to run very smoothly, and I didn't have any gripes with the planning of the different concerts, masterclasses and demonstrations. Overall, I think it was a great conference. Now I just have two years to look forward to the next one!

Aaron

[dwaskew]

Well, I’ll offer a bit different viewpoint to this discussion. I had very little time to be in the exhibits, (but was mightily impressed with all that was going on) and only was able to hear, in their entirety, a few recitals. That said, being backstage a lot and helping to set things up for some of the non-recital presentations, this was an AMAZING conference. While I did not speak with everyone in attendance, the overwhelming consensus was that Tim Northcut is “the man”. Every artist, attendee, worker, etc. agrees on this—his artistic vision for the conference, his inclusive requirements, organization, etc., just top notch the whole way around. Of course there were hiccups here and there. Always will be. He made it so that most folks weren’t affected or usually, even knowledgeable of the issues.

What has been said thus far regarding the outstanding levels of performance is true. In the evenings during the after hours jazz, there was always analysis of the day going on—and while there were always standouts from each day, pretty much everyone had a different favorite moment-and most times, from what I could tell, those favorite moments from performances were not really from the “big names”. Lots of fantastic performances from everyone involved.

While not as heavily attended, the Lifetime Achievement Awards presentations were stepped up a notch in comparison to previous conferences—set up to be more like the Kennedy Center Honors, each person was assigned a different “Master of Ceremonies” who had worked to develop a comprehensive retrospective of the honorees’ lives. Very special presentations. (and yes, a bit long for one session, and we’ve learned from that.)

It was great for us all to be involved with the ceremony to induct Harvey Phillips into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame. (most don’t realize that not only is he the first brass player to be inducted, but the first individual wind player—other inductees include entities like the Marine Band, and some of the Symphonies, nationwide)

Good to see many old friends, like the Scoob-meister, Tuck Woo, all those from Dillon, (hell, all those from all of the vendors—and making new friends there, too) and so many other dear friends from all over the world.

[David Spies]

I concur with Dennis AsKew. Tim Northcut did a fantastic job organizing and running this conference. It was well-attended, featured a diverse array of great artists and exhibitors from across the world, and provided many opportunities to not only catch up with old friends but to make many new ones.

Any major international conference is a challenge. Organizations such as IAJE have had great conferences that were the undoing of the organization. What impressed me most is that this conference and the organization in general is attempting to work strategically within financial parameters to promote ITEA's vision and provide excellence for its membership.

Everyone I talked to at ITEC thought that this conference was very successful. I'd like to personally thank everyone who volunteered, presented, performed, competed, exhibited, financially supported and attended this event.

Congratulations to all the ITEA Lifetime Achievement Award recipients, and particular congratulations to Harvey Phillips, the first wind instrumentalist to be inducted into the Classical Music Hall of Fame! The efforts of these individuals continue to inspire future generations of low brass musicians to excel and achieve great things!

Let's make ITEC 2010 in Tuscon every bit as successful as ITEC 2008 in Cincinnati!

David Spies
Willson Tuba Quartet
Racine Symphony Orchestra

[Jesse Brook]

I enjoyed ITEC very much, but there was so much virtuosity on display that after a while I could only say "wow" weakly. It was a fantastic week, and I don't think I've ever seen so many tuba players in one place. I thought that the memorial for tuba players was one of the most touching and well-done things at the conference.

The tuba displays were what held my interest, so unfortunately I intended to see a lot of performers and wound up spending hours trying out tubas instead. Oops. My only problems were lugging my tuba around everywhere and finding the displays.

[ubq]

I've found it great at the Denver Conference, there was a constant photo - review on the ITEC website about the happenings for those who cant be in Denver. Do you have maybe more photos about the Concerts, masterclasses ?

Thanks a lot!!!!

[THE TUBA]

I've found it great at the Denver Conference, there was a constant photo - review on the ITEC website about the happenings for those who cant be in Denver. Do you have maybe more photos about the Concerts, masterclasses ?

Thanks a lot!!!!

Photos weren't allowed of the performances (maybe a CCM stipulation, I don't know), but there were real photographers present at every event snapping pics with fancy-looking cameras. These will probably be posted online on the new ITEA website sometime soon. I also saw what looked like high-tech video cameras at some of the concerts, too. Maybe there will be some video postings... I can only hope.

Just to echo what everyone else has said, my jaw dropped early Tuesday afternoon and I think it is still hanging around the floor somewhere. Each day, I thought there is no way tomorrow can be any better, but I was constantly amazed at the levels of talent and musicianship present by the performers, planning and organization by Tim Northcut and the ITEC staff, and the immense amount of great music and tubas on sale/display.

There was never any down-time. From 8am to 1am in the morning, there was always a masterclass, recital, concert, lecture, ceremony, or jazz jam session to watch. When I felt like missing a concert, it was easy to just walk over to the exhibits and try out horns and mouthpieces. When my face was dead, I could walk down the hall to the sheet music room and browse new titles. After picking up some music, I can head over to the other side of the big room to watch a Great Hall performance. There was truly never a dull moment.

[Brandon Jones]

Yes, Tim did an OUTSTANDING job in preparing for and pulling off this WONDERFUL ITEC at CCM! It was great in every aspect, and I didn't hear anyone complain of anything the entire week, which is in itself a huge feat! I enjoyed my time there, as well as my students, and I look very much forward to the next conference in 2010! Great seeing some of you there, and again HUGE props to Tim Northcut! Well done!!!

[tubacrow]

I also wanted to share what a good experience I had at ITEC. I met quite a few people from tubanet, and it was a pleasure to put a face with the names I see often on tubanet. To all who I met thank you for your consideration and warm welcomes.

[Highams]

Just wanted to echo the above, great conference, congrats to all involved in the organisation.

CB