In pursuit of euphonium passion
My passion is a unique brass instrument called the euphonium.
It's not very well known in the United States, and there are
relatively few players of it in this country. Once a year, the
professional organization that brings euphoniumists together,
along with their cousins the tubists, holds a conference
somewhere in the world. This conference is known as
the International Tuba-Euphonium Conference, and is a way
for players, teachers, and students to network and share our
love of music played on low brass instruments.
It's also a lot like group therapy.
My first ITEC was in Riva del Garda, Italy, in 1997. Several
hundred tuba and euphonium flooded this small resort town
by the side of Lake Garda in northern Italy, between Milan and
Venice. The town is a favorite spot for German tourists, so we
had great fun talking with locals in halting German. Last summer,
ITEC was hosted by the professor of euphonium at the University of
Minnesota, in Minneapolis. Foreign conference participants were very
annoyed about the local restrictions of the sale of alcohol, which is
a key ingredient of the success of any tuba and euphonium gathering.
Next year, the most vocal complainers about how hard it was to get
truly ripped in Minneapolis are themselves hosting ITEC 1999 -- in
Sydney, Australia. Since summer and winter are reversed south of the
equator, the conference is in December. I'm sure staying sober will be
second in difficulty only to traveling with a tuba on board an
airplane.
--Leslie
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