Solo Tuba

unaccompanied

I. Hades - God of the Underworld 

II. Aphrodite - Goddess of Love and Beauty 

III. Ares - God of War 

Learn More

unaccompanied Learn More

Bass Trombone or Tuba solo with Trombone trio “Images” was written for Tomer Maschkowski as a bass trombone solo to be played with a trombone trio. The concept of the piece is to recreate the way our minds might work, when moving through a series of images. Rarely do our minds focus on a “still” photo. They continually move from one “image” to another as they appear through our thinking. Change is a constant. When walking through an art exhibition, the images vary as they are experienced. As we experience life, nothing is static. Consider a similar process, as “Images” moves through your thoughts.

Learn More

unaccompanied Learn More

unaccompanied; INTO THE MADHOUSE attempts to loosely reflect the sporadic spectrum of mood changes, manic episodes, despondent thoughts, and other struggles experienced by an individual with Bipolar 1 Disorder. Learn More

unaccompanied

I. Ryujin - God of the Sea

II. Benzaiten - Goddess of Anything and Everything that Flows

III. Izanami - Goddess of Creation and Death

Learn More

a fun jazzy unaccompanied work Learn More

1. Dance, 2. Waltz, 3.Meditation, 4. Galop Off: Tuba, unaccompanied Learn More

unaccompanied Learn More

unaccompanied

This piece is inspired by the Mechanicals from Shakespeare’s 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream'.

Bottom is perhaps the most well-known of the Mechanicals and is a comic character whose head is turned into an ass in the play. Flute is a bellows maker. Quince is the director of the play within the play ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’ that the Mechanicals put on and often struggles to fit his lines into the correct meter and make rhymes. Snug plays 

the lion in ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’. He is keen to assure the audience that he is not an actual lion in case they get scared. Snout plays the wall that the lovers speak through and has only two lines. Starveling plays the moonshine and is utterly derided by the audience. 

 

The Mechanicals should be played with a brief pause between each movement, except for Snout, which should lead straight into Starveling.

 

Learn More

unaccompanied

I. Praeludium

II. Getting Around

III. Simple Song

IV. Off Waltz

V. Pompous March

VI. Faux Gigue

The Mini Suite for Solo Tuba was composed in 2015 for my good friend Dr. Richard Perry who is the Tuba/Euphonium professor at the University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Perry was preparing a recital of unaccompanied music for tuba, and he asked me for a new piece.

The structure of the Mini Suite is very loosely based on the idea of the Baroque instrumental suite. While the Baroque suite is based on a series of dances, this one consists of six movements which are fleeting impressions found in the character pieces that are common in the Romantic period. The last movement is the only one that gives the nod to an actual dance found in the traditional Baroque suite.

The first movement, Praeludium, has no programmatic title and serves the purpose of opening the suite.

The second movement, Getting Around, gives the impression of someone who is far too busy to take time for himself until the last measure when he succumbs to exhaustion.

The third movement, Simple Song, is just that; a simple melody that is delivered without any undue fussiness.

The next movement, Off Waltz, is muted throughout and the steady rhythm that embodies the waltz is obscured on several occasions so that the beat is “off”.

The Pompous March hints at a self-important individual strutting his stuff around town and unintentionally making a comical spectacle of himself.

The final movement, Faux Gigue, goes back to the model of the Baroque suite which generally ended with a lively gigue in compound meter.  I decided to write this one in three-quarter time as opposed to one of the compound meters. The term faux is a nod to the fact that this piece does not have the contrapuntal texture that is characteristic of the gigue. It also has meter changes that occur here and there which throws the steadiness of the dance out of kilter.

 

 

Learn More

Tuba solo with Trombone Quintet

For many centuries, large stone figures have brought up more questions than answers about life of the ancient times that they were created. Monolith for Bass Trombone explores and in some cases fantasizes one of those theories. In the piece, the Bass Trombone represents the large mysterious figure and gives up insight to what it has seen over its many centuries of standing watch over the area. The piece is written as a six-part Arch-Rondo Form.

At the beginning of the piece the accompaniment creates a dark mysterious mood depicting a foggy jungle evening. The soloist enters with short melodies that weave in and out of the ominous texture created by the trombone quintet. It is as if you can see the large figure peeking through the breaks in the forest’s canopy above you. As this develops the melody starts to come through the texture as more and more of the Monolith reveals itself. When the Monolith is found its discoverers immediately look it upon as deity of some sort. The second section erupts with an energetic dance depicting a wild bacchanalian worship festival. The worship of this false idol has gotten out of hand. As the debauchery continues the soloist declares it’s frustration of being idolized and is unable to change the fate that has befallen him. At this point hard times have fallen upon the worshippers. The Monolith is witnessing the worshippers pray and beg their idol for salvation. The slow third section is an empathetic mourning for the worshippers as they start to die off from hunger and disease. As conditions worsen the worshippers start to doubt the power of their idol and start a riot. This fourth section is the same energetic dance as the bacchanalia, but it has darker overtones as the Monolith watches helplessly as the people riot and the conflict essentially rips their community apart. The fifth section leaves the Monolith in the middle of sea of carnage. The soloist weaves in and out of the 54 ostinato created by the trombone accompaniment as a lamentation of the people who once stood on the now burnt and bloody earth before him. Nightfall comes and just as it began the piece ends with the opening texture as the Monolith is standing watch, bathed by moonlight, as it has done for centuries only to be discovered and start the cycle all over again.

Learn More

Unaccompanied I. Reflections II. Currents III. Reflections Two Learn More

unaccompanied Euphonium or Tuba

for Zac Hopkins, a dedicated and devoted musician

Learn More

“Way Back Home is the Jazz Crusader’s Anthem and although we recently lost Wilton Felder, we shall not forget his major contributions as a composer.” Howard Johnson The Jazz Crusaders were signed by Pacific Jazz Records around 1960. Wilton Felder, composer/tenor saxophonist, and Wayne Henderson, trombone, fronted the group. The Jazz Crusaders style had a very heavy emphasis on the rhythm and blues genre as well as gospel and soul. Howard Johnson’s jazz tuba ensemble is envisioned as a tuba choir- with tubas in F, E flat, CC, and BB flat- that encourages tuba players to learn to play in the upper register. His charts were originally written for his tuba jazz ensemble, Gravity, formed in 1968 with Howard Johnson as solo lead tuba. The charts can in fact be performed with euphoniums; but he formed his group, made his arrangements and developed this specific instrumentation 50 years ago as a statement about tubas and prefers to hear his arrangements played in this configuration, encouraging tuba players to develop the range required. His most important advice is that whatever instrumentation is used, make it fun and find the best jazz rhythm section! Learn More

solo (Euphonium or Tuba) with EEEETTTT

The Overture to Rossini’s Barber of Seville is still considered to this day as one of the most loved and best recognized classical works in the world. This music has been included in many forms of media, including movies, commercials, and of course, cartoons. I wanted to use this well-known music in such a way that it could become a soloist piece with the tuba ensemble in the orchestral role. The provided cadenza is there only as a guideline to what the soloist can really strive for.

This arrangement received its premiere at the Kentucky Music Educators Association Conference in Feb. 2013. It was requested and performed by the Oldham County High School Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble under the direction of Brad Rogers and Chris Schmidt. The tuba soloist for the performance was Chris Combest.

Learn More

unaccompanied Learn More

Unaccompanied; originally for Flute Learn More

In one movement, "Perspectives" for unaccompanied Tuba gives the Tuba player a nice challenge and a way to really show off in a recital setting. Learn More

A short, fun piece for solo tuba. Well suited for Bb or CC tuba. Learn More