NPR's From the Top - Sodienye Finebone

[Rick F]

While I was out in my car running an errand today, I turned on NPR radio and caught some of the program, "From the Top". One of the featured artists was 18 y.o. Sodienye Finebone from Atlanta, GA area. He's a student of Michael Moore (principal tuba with Atlanta Symphony). Sodienye played some of Gregson's Tuba concerto (III - Allegro giocoso). You can listen to some of it here:

Gregson: Tuba Concerto - III - Allegro giocoso

I think he did a fine job! In his interview, he said he chose tuba in middle school because he was lazy and it looked pretty easy to play. He first looked at the sax and clarinet, but when he saw all the keys, he thought there were just too many notes to have to learn. He then looked at the trumpet and saw it only had "3 buttons"... but his lips wouldn't fit in the mpc. Then saw the tuba with 3 buttons and his lips fit just fine". The crowd cracked up.

Found a picture of Sodienye :


http://www.mdjonline.com/view/full_stor ... ght_column

[rodgeman]

Nice to listen to. Thanks for posting.At first I thought his low range was anemic until he nailed the pedal tones.

[tuba114]

Yea! Sodie
That is awesome man!

[TubaMadison]

Very well played. Bravo!

[Chris Olka]

Sodie is quite a talented young guy. Glad to hear he sounded great on the radio. Bravo Sodie!

Chris Olka
Seattle Symphony
Seattle Opera

[Mark]

The Gregson clip sounds great.

[tubadavid94]

Is that a MW 2182 hes playing?

[iiipopes]

Hey, any reason or no reason at all is good when choosing tuba. Harvey Phillips' parents could not afford an instrument, so he played a school horn. It happened to be a souzy, and the rest is history. When a freshman in high school, my band director asked for volunteers to march a souzy. I was on the low end of a dozen trumpets that would all look the same on the field. But that big white thing? Yes, people would see ME! I was hooked.

How a person comes to the trenches is not important, though the story of how any particular person got there may be entertaining. What is important is what the person does after arriving. This fine young man is working hard, doing well, has a great future ahead of him, and I wish him the best.