Full Transcript for Gene Pokorny

00:04:28.399 Peter hasn't had a complete sentence in several seasons. 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:30.319 Look, we all have our problems. 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:33.680 No, no, and no one has mentioned a torso yet. 00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:35.360 Um Phil, how about you? 00:04:35.519 --> 00:04:37.120 You got your wrap the years done. 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:38.560 Uh this has been a busy weekend. 00:04:38.639 --> 00:04:43.040 Uh we had uh Eric Songers bands visiting on Friday. 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:44.639 Uh in Eau Claire. 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:45.680 That was wonderful. 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:48.480 Um his groups always play beautifully. 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:49.759 Uh so it was a blast. 00:04:49.920 --> 00:05:00.319 Then Saturday, all day commencement with uh the great Robert Backa and Alex Henton, uh Jacob Grey and Matt Mealy, and then uh opera on Saturday night, opera this afternoon. 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:01.040 Busy. 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:01.519 There you go. 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:01.839 But good. 00:05:02.160 --> 00:05:02.480 There you go. 00:05:02.720 --> 00:05:03.120 All good stuff. 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:03.680 That's good. 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:08.160 Are we concerned that uh Paul seemed to opt out? 00:05:08.879 --> 00:05:09.360 Going well. 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:10.000 And that's it. 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:11.199 Going well, that's fine. 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:12.240 Well, he's there for the banter. 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:13.279 I mean, that was good. 00:05:13.519 --> 00:05:15.439 He was well, at least for his his first part. 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:15.920 That was good. 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:16.800 I'll see you too. 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:23.279 So, Chris, what what is uh five alarm firing uh right now uh as you prepare for the festival? 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:24.720 Uh okay, let me give you some numbers. 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:35.439 1188 students will be coming to the uh Kalahari for the Middle School Music Festival this week on Thursday and Friday. 00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:39.120 Over two days, 4,188. 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:40.079 Think of the pizza. 00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:44.000 It's a lot of pizza, it's a lot of uh smelly feet in the uh water park. 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:48.560 And then um 50 rising music educators, pretty excited about that. 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:50.560 They're coming on Friday and then Saturday. 00:05:50.639 --> 00:06:01.920 We've got uh we got a great session on Saturday too with the building better bands and uh Craig Kirchhoff and Rachel Maxwell and Adam Beaver, and the list just keeps going. 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:05.040 Just great people coming to help folks out. 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:07.279 So yeah, gonna be a good week. 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:08.079 Going to be a good week. 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:10.240 Uh all Kyle just texted, not sure what happened. 00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:11.839 I think I have to restart my computer. 00:06:12.160 --> 00:06:15.759 This is but he he is truly fulfilling the Peter role. 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:17.199 I mean, this this has happened. 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:17.839 It's a bummer. 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:21.040 But he isn't chewing on ice cubes. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:23.519 What's going on, Peter? 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:25.839 Anything you want to share with the rest of the class? 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:29.040 We haven't truly made a good soup chewing on ice cubes or slurping something. 00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:30.079 Sounds a lot quieter. 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:32.000 Panting dogs. 00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:32.800 Damn. 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:34.319 Nope, nope, not at all. 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:39.279 Um, hey, I do have to tell you this while he's still restarting his computer, and then we'll get to our guests. 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:43.120 Um, last night uh we took a trip down to Chicago. 00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:44.959 Uh the family. 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:45.279 That's right. 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:51.040 Yeah, Miles, Emma, me, and Aaron hopped in the car and we traveled down to go hear the Chicago Symphony perform. 00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:52.959 Oh, unbelievable. 00:06:53.040 --> 00:06:58.079 They did uh Ravel's Mother Goose Suite, uh Pulonc's Gloria with the choir. 00:06:58.399 --> 00:06:59.360 Nice beautiful. 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:03.759 And then Saint Saund's uh Symphony number three, the organ symphony. 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:04.639 Yeah, man. 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:06.560 It's got a great finale, doesn't it? 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:07.839 The finale is fantastic. 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:10.399 It was how was that pretty how was that pretty trombone solo? 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:11.839 Was it a Tim Higgins playing? 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:15.600 Oh it was, yeah, fantastic. 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:16.800 So good. 00:07:16.879 --> 00:07:30.800 And the just the blend, the balance, the sonority, the sound was just you just sit there and soak it all up. 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:31.680 It's just gorgeous. 00:07:31.920 --> 00:07:36.480 So did you stand up and you stand up and clap after each movement the way you're supposed to? 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:40.399 Uh there's a little applause after the first. 00:07:40.959 --> 00:07:42.079 People were excited. 00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:44.240 They were clapping a little bit in La Gloria, too. 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:48.879 There was a little uh, but no, people were but they were very appreciative. 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:50.240 They could uh it was awesome. 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:51.759 It's fun because the crowd gets it. 00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:52.720 So word you said. 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:54.079 Yeah, so that was making it. 00:07:54.319 --> 00:07:58.240 We were in not the highest balcony, but the right below. 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:02.480 Um we kind of like that now because you get a really good view. 00:08:02.639 --> 00:08:06.560 Of course, Miles is sitting on the edge of his seat and he's like, oh, there's Gene. 00:08:06.639 --> 00:08:07.519 Oh, he's got two. 00:08:07.680 -->

00:08:08.560 Is that the inertial? 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:09.759 I don't know what he's playing tonight. 00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:11.040 I think he's got the inertial out. 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:12.000 Oh, wait, there's the mute. 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:13.759 Check out the you know, it's like play by play. 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:15.839 And I'm like, I get my out, just relax. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:17.920 Yeah, he's pretty, pretty pumped up. 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:18.800 Pretty pumped up. 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:21.600 And of course, in a way there, what did we listen to? 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:30.800 Nothing but just orchestra excerpts, like the whole way down was like every greatest hits of you know, you know, I do remember doing doing that to my father once. 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:36.000 I made him listen to the entirety of Mahler's second symphony on a long car trip once. 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:36.399 Yep. 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:38.720 And then I suggested another Mahler symphony. 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:39.759 He said, no. 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:40.799 Nope. 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:41.679 That's enough. 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:42.240 Right. 00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:43.279 We're good. 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:43.840 All right. 00:08:43.919 --> 00:08:46.159 Hey, uh, our guest is wait, we're gonna get in. 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:47.200 Paul come back in. 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:47.519 Maybe. 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:50.080 If not, it feels like Peter anyway. 00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:51.039 Um what? 00:08:51.440 --> 00:08:54.799 Uh some musicians shape a section. 00:08:55.039 --> 00:08:56.799 Few define an era. 00:08:57.039 --> 00:09:12.480 Our guest belongs firmly in the latter category, a cornerstone of one of the world's greatest orchestras, holding down the lowest voice in the brass section with authority, nuance, and a sense of humor that only comes from counting hundreds of measures of rest with precision. 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:21.120 His career traces a remarkable arc through major ensembles across the United States and internationally, from Los Angeles to St. 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:30.240 Louis to Utah to Israel, culminating in a longstanding role as the pinnacle of American orchestral performance. 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:40.639 But his story doesn't begin on a grand stage, it begins in Southern California, growing up in the shadow of the aerospace industry, just a mile from where the Apollo command modules were built. 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:53.200 From there, he honed his craft with some of the most respected teachers in the brass world, developing not just technical mastery, but a deep musical voice that would carry into concert halls and recording studios alike. 00:09:53.440 --> 00:10:00.080 Beyond the orchestra, he's a dedicated educator and mentor, working with students at leading universities and festivals around the globe. 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:08.399 His contributions to pedagogy and performance have earned him both prestigious awards and recognized by generations of low brass players. 00:10:08.559 --> 00:10:27.120 And if you think that's where the story ends, think again, when he's not on the stage or classroom, you might find him trackside, immensed in the world of railroads, a devoted train enthusiast, or reflecting on life through influences ranging from the seven habits of highly affected people, or potentially enjoying a pie from the Norsky Nook. 00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:32.879 Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the one and only Gene Picorney. 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:38.159 What uh was uh quite an introduction, it's pretty amazing. 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:40.159 Even I started to get eerie-eyed. 00:10:43.679 --> 00:10:44.399 Oh no, really. 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:49.600 By the way, uh regards to Peter's mom, I heard all that. 00:10:49.679 --> 00:10:52.799 I I hope I hope her foot's feeling better, Peter's. 00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:53.759 You know, yeah. 00:10:53.919 --> 00:10:56.480 I'm sure he appreciated all about. 00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:00.480 Yeah, we'll pass that on to him uh in between making fun of him. 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:00.960 Yeah. 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:02.559 Which we which we do. 00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:04.159 Gene, wonderful performance. 00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:07.360 I didn't even tell you we were there last night, but wonderful performance. 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:08.960 That was absolutely stunning. 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:10.159 Does it ever get old? 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:14.879 I mean, does it ever sit in that beautiful spot? 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:19.039 Well, I pinch myself every time I walk up the stairs and get on stage. 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:20.240 It's that's for sure. 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:34.320 Because you know, I've been doing this now for for a while, and um I'm kind of looking to uh just hoping that it goes at least as well as the memory of the last good performance, if not the last bad performance. 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:40.559 And you just okay, well I gotta make sure this straightens up a little bit or this has to get tightened up a bit. 00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:47.360 And it's almost like reinventing the wheel, but you just hope it uh hope it can, you know, stay on a little bit better. 00:11:47.440 --> 00:11:55.519 And and of course having Tim there now, Tim Higgins on Principal Trombone, it's uh that's a whole new lease on life. 00:11:55.600 --> 00:11:57.759 It's just so wonderful to have him there. 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:02.000 That's that solo in the in the song symphony is just incredible. 00:12:02.159 --> 00:12:05.200 I mean it was part of the it was part of the audition process. 00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:15.360 Uh so it was great to hear Tim play it live and you know, just just pristine and uh yeah, especially you know having Mulcahi there because that was that's who his teacher was. 00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:23.039 And yeah, it's it's it's just it's uh the smile muscles are really working the whole time with hearing plays. 00:12:24.879 -->

00:12:30.000 Anyway, um yeah, makes me makes me want to stay on longer than I probably should. 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:34.159 So uh yeah, just to hear what he what he does. 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:37.200 So um yeah, I'm very lucky to be there. 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:41.279 You are yeah, be no, it was a beautiful performance. 00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:46.320 Uh okay, Miles my son, he will uh really be upset if I don't ask you. 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:48.480 What were the two horns you had out there last night? 00:12:48.720 --> 00:13:00.720 Okay, so yeah, um I had the double B flat uh uh Big Mouth Brass because it's it's a you know the the Samson Symphony is it's a big wattage producer. 00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:13.120 You know, there's not not a whole lot of solo things that are going on, but you you gotta get out the big uh the big shovel and you know really lay down some some bottom end for the folks. 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:15.039 So that was what I used in the Sans. 00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:23.840 And also and I also did have uh Eastman up there, uh which I I wanted to get just a little bit cleaner. 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:36.320 I didn't for the other performances on Thursday night and Friday afternoon, I had only the B flat up there, but it was kind of bubbling in the middle to upper register as B flats have a tendency to do. 00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:39.679 The clarity issues are not that not that good. 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:51.440 So I just wanted to make sure some of the softer uh entrances in the mid-register didn't have so much of a brah brah brah blah blah blah blah. 00:13:52.639 --> 00:14:00.559 So I so I had a the smaller instrument up there, which happens to be a C a six-quarter double C, which is my small horn, you know. 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:03.840 So compared to the the double B flat. 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:05.759 So yeah, it was uh the Eastman. 00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:16.799 I have to ask you, as new players come into the brass section, how do you mentor them, or what do you view as your role, or how do you welcome them? 00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:18.000 Gosh. 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:26.960 No, a lot of times uh they're the ones who bring the bring the new stuff to the to our to our purview. 00:14:27.039 --> 00:14:32.879 So I'm uh there's traditions that I mean we did a Tchaikovsky fifth uh just a couple weeks ago. 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:42.159 And there's some traditions that got started, for example, when I was playing in the Israel Philharmonic, we had a trumpet player named Glenn Fishtal, amazing trumpet player. 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:49.200 And and in some parts of the music he would just start uh snapping his finger on the afterbeats. 00:14:49.440 --> 00:15:06.720 And and uh to the point where now there was certain there's certain places in the music where I would turn to Teby, uh Stabon, our principal trumpet, and turn and look and look down the line, and we started to snap our fingers on the afterbeats just to kind of keep some traditions going. 00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:08.480 It didn't even start in Chicago. 00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:12.080 So So, Gene, tell us a little bit about like the origin story. 00:15:12.240 --> 00:15:14.159 Yeah, how did you get started in music? 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:16.159 Well, my dad was a trumpet player. 00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:29.039 Um he he grew up on a farm in Nebraska, and he was fascinated with the trumpet, and he took lessons from a fellow named Fred Elias in Omaha, Nebraska. 00:15:29.600 --> 00:15:35.279 And Fred Elias was a f fellow, I think he was a conductor actually for the Union Pacific Railroad. 00:15:35.440 --> 00:16:00.240 He was one of these guys who was part of uh almost a cult of trumpet players where you would have the type of person who would who would hang a trumpet by a string from the ceiling and it would come down and it would meet his lips and he'd somehow just play a triple high C, something like that, because he was into this buzz system, but buzzing, buzzing the mouthpiece for to get any note at all. 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:05.200 And so he was a part of this uh thing called the Fred Elias buzz system. 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:10.240 And my dad took uh trumpet lessons from him and he always wanted to play trumpet. 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:14.639 He was always uh enamored with uh folks like Al Hurt. 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:18.000 Um that was his favorite trumpet player. 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:46.799 And I started taking trumpet lessons from my dad early on, and it didn't really uh I kind of got started the wrong way and was using too much pressure and eventually ended up going to uh Woodwind to to the Woodwinds in junior high school and uh played clarinet for a while and then and then um they needed somebody in ninth grade to play play tuba in the band, being around a bunch of junior high school clarinet players, including myself. 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:58.399 I mean, even I couldn't stand my own sounds, so so I just I just moved to the back row and uh played Susaphone in the back of the South Junior High School band in Downey, California. 00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:12.160 And um so that's why I started in on playing that and and then uh kind of played clarinet and and tuba all at the same uh at the same time, and then finally when I was a senior in high school, I stuck with tuba for the entire year. 00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:33.519 And uh that's when I started, that's when I I met Jeff Reynolds and uh who is uh a choir director at the Moravian Church of Downey, and I was asked to play a Nebraska quintet there, and here the choir director gets up and plays a trombone solo, and I thought he sounded pretty good, so I told him I sounded pretty good. 00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:49.359 Then found out the next week that he had just won the LA Philharmonic job, and I I just got sucked into this this this thing of what Jeff was, and Jeff was just a real hero for me, and to this day is a real hero. 00:17:49.759 --> 00:17:52.000 For many people, oh yeah,

for many people. 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:52.799 He's it. 00:17:52.960 --> 00:18:21.440 Yeah, I just saw him last uh February when the Orchestra Chicago Symphony was on tour in California, and uh my old college roommate George Russell and I we uh uh we went up to Grass Valley, California, and uh uh Nevada City is the exact town where he lives, and uh hung out with he and Jeannie for a couple hours in the afternoon and just had a blast, you know, being uh being around Jeff again. 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:26.480 He picks up his G-bass trombone and sounds no quiver in the sound at all. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:30.880 The guy's uh 82 years old and you know, just sounds fantastic. 00:18:31.039 --> 00:18:38.400 He's got a he's got a a bunch of retired trombone players in Nevada City, California. 00:18:38.720 --> 00:18:41.680 Um they meet once a week, 11 a.m. 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:43.359 on Wednesday mornings. 00:18:43.519 --> 00:18:48.559 I mean, you have to be retired to be able to make a rehearsal like that. 00:18:48.880 --> 00:18:55.200 And and this so it's a big trombone ensemble, and Jeff plays his G-bass trombone. 00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:58.880 Um and the name of the group is called the Paleo Bones. 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:02.000 Nice, that's beautiful. 00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:06.160 So when did you start working with Tommy Johnson and Roger Bobo? 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:08.160 Uh Roger Bobo, let's see. 00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:16.799 Roger Bobo came a little bit earlier on because uh Jeff's I took some tuba lessons from Jeff Reynolds when I was in high school. 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:21.119 He said, You really, after a couple lessons, he said, You really ought to go see Bobo. 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:29.519 And so I went and I would drive up to uh the Hollywood Hills and take a few lessons from Roger. 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:31.440 Um he was living up there. 00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:35.599 He every every time I went for a lesson, he had changed houses somewhere. 00:19:35.680 --> 00:19:42.720 He was up in the Hollywood Hills, and then he was out in Topanga Canyon at several several places out there. 00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:49.680 Um and uh so that was starting off in my when I was a senior in high school. 00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:58.000 And I stopped taking lessons for a while and started to take lessons with Tommy Johnson in the second year of college. 00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:07.759 Um I started to take lessons with uh Larry Johansson, a trumpet player, and got some really, really great uh education from him. 00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:11.440 Um but I needed to be around tuba sound. 00:20:11.920 --> 00:20:17.759 And so it was my second year in college when I started to take lessons from Tommy Johnson. 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:37.920 Um and I transferred to USC from the University of Redlands, started to take lessons very regularly with Tommy Johnson, and also restarted started to take up lessons again with Roger Bobo, and between the two of them they kind of railroaded me

uh into doing some of the right stuff. 00:20:38.079 --> 00:21:10.960 And then I after my four years at uh in college, two years two of them at University of Redlands and two at USC, it's 1975, and I won this job in the Israel Philharmonic, extremely green, probably shouldn't have gotten the job, but uh Zubin Major took a chance uh at the behest of the lowbrow section of the LA Philharmonic, who I had gotten to know pretty well, and they and they said no, he'll do okay, even though everything for me was just gonna be br it was brand new. 00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:17.039 I mean, uh Major took a chance, so was very lucky to get into that job. 00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:18.079 So yeah. 00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:28.000 So it well, and and share with uh especially with Phil here, uh what you were doing in 1973 that we all have in common, Phil, you and and I. 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:29.359 Oh, right, yeah. 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:34.720 Well, Tinkerbell, as in Disneyland, I was in the Olympic College marching band. 00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:37.599 Oh fabulous. 00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:42.079 Yeah, that was uh this was at uh this was at the Anaheim. 00:21:42.240 --> 00:21:44.000 This was in Anaheim, Anaheim, yeah. 00:21:44.559 --> 00:21:45.119 Disneyland. 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:52.799 So um yeah, Richard Watson was the other tuba player who had got who eventually got into the Honolulu symphony. 00:21:52.880 --> 00:21:55.759 In fact, he beat me in the audition for that job. 00:21:56.079 --> 00:22:02.480 And then uh and then he uh yeah, he was he was In that job for for quite a while. 00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:06.240 And uh unfortunately just passed away this past year. 00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:07.039 Yeah. 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:09.599 Disneyland, we were there in Fantasyland. 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:11.519 Boy, don't we know it. 00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:15.759 King Arthur's terrace and all that. 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:23.039 And I know in our group we had to come, we have it was kind of a we had to come up with names for certain things. 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:27.680 And we actually came up with the name, they had a new uh cafeteria. 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:33.039 And so uh we ended up calling it the deck, uh the Disney Employees Cafeteria. 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:35.680 And I think that name has stuck right up until today. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:42.400 It was the 1973 All-American College Marching Band that actually named that uh that thing. 00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:51.440 And you know, the Matterhorn, you know, it was it was it was made by there was no construction company in Southern California that could make it. 00:22:51.519 --> 00:22:55.920 So Disney actually created a company that could make the Matterhorn. 00:22:56.640 --> 00:23:05.359 Um, you know, and they actually had uh basketball courts on the inside of that thing for the employees they could wow. 00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:09.279 Man, I'm not sure our band was really known for anything, was it, Phil? 00:23:09.519 --> 00:23:10.960 No uh much. 00:23:12.480 --> 00:23:15.839 There were no tears shed by the director when we were done for the summer. 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:16.480 That's true. 00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:18.720 They said thanks for coming. 00:23:19.039 --> 00:23:20.960 But you always had good choreography. 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:22.319 Oh we could dance. 00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:23.119 Yeah. 00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:28.000 I guess what we lacked for in musical quality made up for in yeah, dance moves. 00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:28.720 A little bit. 00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:30.160 Phil, ask a question. 00:23:30.319 --> 00:23:31.119 Make it a good one. 00:23:31.279 --> 00:23:31.519 Come on. 00:23:31.839 --> 00:23:40.160 Oh, well, uh, Gene, I I I I know that sometimes in these interviews people try and go chronologically with you, but I I'd uh hopefully you won't mind if I have you skip ahead a little bit. 00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:40.640 Sure. 00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:48.079 Um I've had I've had more than one student both uh you know audit and be part of uh what's become the PC seminar. 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:55.839 And I was I was wondering if if you could talk about you know your experiences uh starting that and and running it and teaching. 00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:58.960 Um is it uh something you still look forward to, I assume? 00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:00.319 Yeah, absolutely. 00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:05.119 It's uh it uh started out uh in Redlands, California. 00:24:05.279 --> 00:24:13.279 The nut behind the wheel be behind the entire uh thing uh is uh Andrew Glendenning, Dr. 00:24:13.359 --> 00:24:23.519 Andrew Glendenny, uh Trombone uh Trombone professor who is out there and actually ran the music department out there at University of Redlands. 00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:34.240 It's now moved to Northern Illinois University uh uh in DeKalb, Illinois, about 70 miles west of downtown Chicago. 00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:40.799 And um and it's been going now for boy, 17, 18 years, something like that. 00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:43.279 It's been going on for quite a while. 00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:48.880 And we brought in a lot of really wonderful, wonderful players, wonderful teachers. 00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:54.720 We've got uh an amazing thing happening uh actually this this uh this summer. 00:24:54.799 --> 00:24:59.039 Uh it'll be, let's see, I think it starts around July 12th. 00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:04.880 I think that's a Sunday, but uh July 13th, we're actually gonna have a Low Brass Ensemble concert. 00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:14.240 It's gonna consist of Tim Higgins, our me principal trombone, um, and uh Michael Mulcahy, second trombone in the Chicago Symphony. 00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:24.000 Randy Haas, uh bass trombone extraordinaire, who was in the Detroit Symphony, has been playing with Cleveland and and other places around. 00:25:24.079 --> 00:25:26.480 And I'm gonna be lucky enough to play tuba with him. 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:32.079 So we're gonna have a uh I think an amazing

concert on on July 13th. 00:25:32.160 --> 00:25:35.039 But uh we've got other folks coming in. 00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:40.960 We'll be uh we'll be uh Chris Chris Chris Bassett, bass trombone in um the St. 00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:48.880 Louis Symphony, Sergio Carolino, tubist extraordinaire, uh gonna be coming in from Portugal. 00:25:49.039 --> 00:26:05.599 So we we've got some really, really great players, and we have uh a remarkable uh bunch of warm-ups and and and solar recitals are gonna be given, and each of us gives a uh an important things talk as well. 00:26:05.759 --> 00:26:19.759 Just whatever happens to be important to us, uh whether it's anything musical, anything technical, any union issues, anything that they happens to be you can they can talk about botany as far as I'm concerned. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:30.400 One of the most incredible important things lecture we had was actually done by Ed Dickens, who, if that name isn't familiar, he's not a musician. 00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:37.200 He's the guy who runs the Union Pacific Big Boy Locomotive, the 4014, that's out there in Cheyenne, Wyoming. 00:26:37.440 --> 00:27:12.559 And he gave an incredible talk two years ago regarding teamwork and how to get people to work together, because he did the remarkable thing of having to put that big boy locomotive together after it had been in mothballs for sixty plus years out in the weather in Pomona, California, and they had to get it together for the sesquicentennial of the transcontinental celebration of the transcontinental railroad that happened in 2019, and it within a two-year period of time, he put that whole thing together and talk about a a real leader, a real a person who puts teamwork first. 00:27:12.720 --> 00:27:15.359 And as musicians, that's what our job is. 00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:17.680 How many tuba solos do we really have? 00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:24.160 You know, play it, play us, play 52 weeks, and you know, and you've got four majors in America in Paris. 00:27:24.319 --> 00:27:24.880 Thanks a lot. 00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:30.799 Most of the time, you know, you're you gotta play with other people. 00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:32.720 You you can't be renegade. 00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:35.839 That's what you guys try to do as band directors, is stuff. 00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:44.000 People have to play together and and and listen to one another and play together in spite of whatever conductors are doing or whatever. 00:27:44.160 --> 00:27:51.680 And so, um, and that's one of the things that uh Ed stressed to all of us there at this uh at the seminar. 00:27:51.839 --> 00:28:02.000 And there's a guy who doesn't even doesn't even play music, and he was giving us some really great instruction regarding teamwork, and that's what it's all about. 00:28:02.319 --> 00:28:08.480 So well, wow, Gene, you mentioned some great names, and um you've been doing this for a couple of years. 00:28:08.720 --> 00:28:14.960 How has how have you seen the the tuba plane evolve or change? 00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:21.599 Or it feels like the artistry and what can be done in the instrument just keeps growing at a voracious rate. 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:25.839 Well, certainly the technical stuff has has grown tremendously. 00:28:25.920 --> 00:28:35.920 I mean, you know, when you when you have people like Sergio Cook Carolino has a seven octave range on a on a bad day, you know. 00:28:36.880 --> 00:28:39.680 You know, it's it's pretty incredible. 00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:47.200 But uh You know the thing that the thing that really c bothers me a little bit, well, not by a little bit either. 00:28:47.359 --> 00:29:06.240 I I'm kind of disappointed that we have not done as much in terms of being expressive as far as being musicians and using espressivo and using uh ribato and and trying to alter our sound to make things sound a little bit better. 00:29:06.319 --> 00:29:09.839 It's it's it's it's as if we, you know, you want it louder or softer. 00:29:10.079 --> 00:29:10.640 What do you want? 00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:50.480 You know, it's we're we're playing uh when we're playing solos and uh I I one of the things that I I love to do is to have a piano vocal score of a putini aria uh and pass it out to the students and and then their job is that then on the on the video screen in front of us we'll put on a uh uh put on a live uh recording, um a live video uh of uh Luciana Pavarotti singing Elugivan Le Stella, say, from the opera Tosca or Nessum Dorma Um from Turandot or something. 00:29:50.640 --> 00:30:01.440 And and the students are to watch this piano vocal score and actually conduct along and try to keep the orchestra playing along with where Pavarotti is singing. 00:30:01.599 --> 00:30:14.400 And for the first time in their lives, they realize how we're how much robota you can actually put into into the music and how uh how the how the tempo can vary so very much. 00:30:14.559 --> 00:30:20.960 It's we usually don't put that much into the type of expressive playing that we ought to ought to do. 00:30:21.039 --> 00:30:31.839 I mean, you know, you hear the you hear so many uh performances of the second movement of the Vaughn Williams tuba concerto, it so many times it sounds like someone's mailing a letter. 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:36.640 You know, it's just it's just there's just not that much that's going on. 00:30:36.880 --> 00:30:37.920 So anyway. 00:30:38.400 --> 00:30:51.519 So when you say that, would you would you like to see that happen more in the solo repertoire, in uh the orchestral repertoire, or just have tuba players have a chance to show how musical they can be? 00:30:51.759 --> 00:30:55.519 Well, certainly in the solo repertoire, they should be able to do that. 00:30:55.680 --> 00:31:03.920 And and when they when there is a bit of a solo that happens uh in the music, well, America in Paris. 00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:06.559 I mean, you can't take it too far out of context. 00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:13.680 You're

kind of you've got a violin solo on one side and a bass clarinet on the other, and you're kind of stuck in the middle. 00:31:13.839 --> 00:31:19.759 But you can you can you can kind of hijack that solo a bit and do something with it, you know? 00:31:38.480 --> 00:31:42.319 Oh, it's uh like a true chuba player. 00:31:46.079 --> 00:31:48.400 Yeah, the conductor, I'll be right with you. 00:31:48.480 --> 00:31:58.240 You know, just uh, you know, you know, I I actually yeah, that's actually I did Baron Boyum was actually the what I mentioned earlier. 00:31:58.319 --> 00:32:03.599 I mean, you know, Barenboim wanted me to move the solo along some years ago when we were playing it. 00:32:03.759 --> 00:32:08.880 And I and I and well he and I had a we had a great relationship. 00:32:09.039 --> 00:32:13.039 We we you know we could fun around with one another pretty well. 00:32:13.200 --> 00:32:18.880 And and I and I told him in the rehearsal in front of everybody, I said, Maestra, you've got you've got 52 weeks. 00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:20.720 I've got four measures, okay? 00:32:20.880 --> 00:32:24.880 You you run the whole band, you know, but but I've got these four measures. 00:32:25.039 --> 00:32:26.319 Let me have them. 00:32:29.279 --> 00:32:30.799 Little sense of urgency in that. 00:32:30.880 --> 00:32:33.279 Now, what how about Klaus uh Michaela? 00:32:33.599 --> 00:32:34.720 Did I say that right? 00:32:34.880 --> 00:32:37.119 Uh because you're not I'm not sure. 00:32:37.440 --> 00:32:41.519 I mean, with the umlauts all over the place, I I it I think that's right. 00:32:41.759 --> 00:32:46.400 Michaela, I'm I'm I I I've I've got a I've gotta ask him, you know. 00:32:46.559 --> 00:32:49.839 So it's uh Maestro Klaus, you know, so whatever. 00:32:49.920 --> 00:32:55.039 I you well you did the American of Paris with him conducting, I believe, that night. 00:32:55.119 --> 00:32:57.839 Is that the same night as right as right right a spring? 00:32:58.079 --> 00:33:00.400 My God, is did I do that really? 00:33:00.960 --> 00:33:02.799 Yeah, you really did. 00:33:03.200 --> 00:33:03.839 Oh my god. 00:33:04.079 --> 00:33:04.640 What's it like? 00:33:04.720 --> 00:33:05.680 Uh what's it like? 00:33:05.759 --> 00:33:10.640 I mean, when I saw him conduct, one, I'm like, okay, he's what, 20 years old or something. 00:33:10.799 --> 00:33:15.759 He looks just very young, but uh just drum dynamic conductor. 00:33:15.920 --> 00:33:18.319 I mean, so what what's it like under his baton? 00:33:18.640 --> 00:33:27.519 Well, we haven't had that much time with him, but he's extremely exciting, and he's very, very inviting for us to play. 00:33:27.680 --> 00:33:36.720 It's it's not like he's he's giving you a dark look, you know, that's that's very worried about what's gonna happen next, and he's gonna control you and stuff. 00:33:36.880 --> 00:33:44.400 He's you know, he's he's inviting you to come in and to participate fully in in the music making. 00:33:44.559 --> 00:33:50.160 Um and there's a lot of conductors who don't make you so uh feel so good. 00:33:50.480 --> 00:33:59.759 Uh you know, they're always kind of kind of tentative, but with him, he's he's he's expressing the joy of of having us there. 00:33:59.920 --> 00:34:04.960 And you know, it's uh it's uh it's a good thing having him there. 00:34:05.200 --> 00:34:06.880 It's a good it's a good thing. 00:34:07.119 --> 00:34:19.519 So I and he he's very open and he's very willing to uh to uh to to uh to give his ideas out and to and to and to hear ideas from us. 00:34:19.679 --> 00:34:29.199 And I don't know too many conductors who aren't willing to to uh to to to not do that, at least the the conductors who come and and see us. 00:34:29.519 --> 00:34:42.639 Um you know and uh Ricardo Muti, he's very open to hearing ideas and that, and you know, if he if he doesn't feel that way, he'll he'll push back, and you know, that's and that's fine, you know. 00:34:43.119 --> 00:35:08.159 I think we in the orchestra would much rather have a conductor up there who's not milked toast, who really has some definite ideas and is very willing to do some leading, um, but also uh knows when to kind of back off and let us have our way of doing things, and then um but but then is very willing to to come in and and really kind of lay down the law. 00:35:08.239 --> 00:35:26.880 That was you know, we had we just had 10 years or so with uh Ricardo Muti, and he knew exactly what to do with the orchestra as far as when we needed when when we needed the help, when we needed to have absolute direction, and when he could kind of let us go and let us be expressive. 00:35:27.039 --> 00:35:40.639 So uh um, and I'm thinking that uh Klaus Mekele is is he's a young enough conductor that he's still very, very willing to direct a lot, but also willing to learn a lot. 00:35:40.880 --> 00:35:50.559 And um uh it's uh I think there's gonna be a lot of growth that's gonna be happening in the orchestra uh over the next couple years with him at the head. 00:35:50.719 --> 00:35:51.440 It's exciting. 00:35:51.599 --> 00:36:06.880 It's it's it's exciting to watch, especially you know, with younger players coming into the orchestra now, as with Tim Higgins on principal trombone, which has changed the entire lowbrow section on every metric in in in very many ways. 00:36:07.039 --> 00:36:18.639 Our new principal new principal trumpet uh uh Esteban uh Esteban Esteban uh uh we call him Tebby. 00:36:18.719 --> 00:36:23.280 Well I call him Tebby because Yeah, that's his nickname. 00:36:23.440 --> 00:36:26.480 And you know, it's a lot easier than the other one for me. 00:36:26.639 --> 00:36:29.039 So he's he he's a great guy. 00:36:29.119 --> 00:36:36.159 I mean the principal trumpet is just such a tremendous so yeah, there's there's a lot of good things that are going on in the orchestra. 00:36:36.320 --> 00:36:41.360 So amazing timpany player whether we've had now for uh the last little while.

00:36:41.519 --> 00:36:43.599 It makes all the difference in the world. 00:36:43.679 --> 00:36:44.239 So yeah. 00:36:44.559 --> 00:36:45.360 That was stunning. 00:36:45.440 --> 00:36:46.000 Go ahead, Paul. 00:36:46.559 --> 00:36:56.800 Gene, I uh you uh do uh quite a bit of teaching, and I bet uh you know a good chunk of those tuba players that come to play for you are pretty darn good players. 00:36:56.960 --> 00:37:04.480 Um, but I bet you still find yourself um saying certain things, um, you know, similar things in many of the lessons that you teach. 00:37:04.559 --> 00:37:09.679 What what are the some of the cardinal things that you end up coming back to with these great tuba players that you listen to? 00:37:09.920 --> 00:37:11.440 Wait, let me grab a pencil quick. 00:37:15.360 --> 00:37:31.440 Oh, um, I think um well the being expressive and to have a story that you're trying to that you're uh trying to tell when you are playing, say, a solo piece, uh is is really important. 00:37:31.840 --> 00:37:35.760 And the story has to be in a way autobiographical. 00:37:36.079 --> 00:37:52.480 You if you can if you can you if you can the music relate to something emotional in your in your life, in your biography, and something that m matters to you, uh then uh then you've got more of a message to give across. 00:37:52.639 --> 00:38:05.760 If you're playing, say for instance, in in the orchestra repertoire, if you're playing Grand Canyon Suite and you come to the um the uh cloudburst section, near the I think it's called what's it's cloudburst, I think is the is the movement. 00:38:06.000 --> 00:38:15.519 Where the storm, you know, I'm yeah, it yeah, it's it's a big it's you're in the Grand Canyon and you've got this thunderstorm that's coming in and you've got lightning going all over the place. 00:38:15.760 --> 00:38:28.239 Well, it it works the way I uh the I the way I can relate to it is by thinking of it as a steam locomotive that is is is building up pressure and getting ready to to leave. 00:38:28.400 --> 00:38:31.599 It's gotta it's gotta move 14,000 tons behind it. 00:38:31.679 --> 00:38:37.599 And it you know, you just got all this power that just has to has to has to get going. 00:38:37.920 --> 00:38:47.840 And I'm and so I'll take kind of take that music and kind of channel it into the story that I have, which is about this steam locomotive. 00:38:48.079 --> 00:39:36.320 Um and so when I have students um and they're playing certain, you know, if if they're playing uh some some Schubert leader or if they're playing uh the second movement of Vaughn Williams, I try to get them to think about uh some uh romantic thing that's happened in their life, or if they've been or if they've had if if if they've had the experience of being a jilted lover or something like that, I try to get them to uh have these take these different emotions uh and anger and hate and love and sadness and surprise, anger, fear, joy, and to somehow channel all of that into

a piece of music. 00:39:36.480 --> 00:39:53.039 Um and if they can be a little more expressive and relate to that, then I I think those are the things that are uh that are really kind of making my things in the teaching that I want them to kind of relate to. 00:39:53.119 --> 00:40:18.159 And I I can tell you one thing, I uh when I at Northwestern I feel much luckier when um the other person who teaches with me, uh Matt Gaunt, uh has a chance to actually work with these these players on more of the technical issues and that because I have I have a tendency to kind of go off into this expressive thing. 00:40:18.400 --> 00:40:24.639 And and you know, and they're and they're worried about where the tongue is supposed to be placed when they single tongue. 00:40:24.800 --> 00:40:42.400 But I'm talking to them about the things, you know, and and in a way, I'm I I I was I think I I think a lot of them would be better off if they had probably a little more time with Matt than they did with me, uh especially at the front end thing. 00:40:42.559 --> 00:40:44.079 So um I don't know. 00:40:44.159 --> 00:40:45.920 That's I kind of where I'm at. 00:40:46.159 --> 00:40:51.360 So And now a message from our sponsors. 00:40:51.599 --> 00:40:52.480 Concert night. 00:40:52.639 --> 00:40:56.079 You've studied your scores, you've thoughtfully chosen your baton and outfit. 00:40:56.239 --> 00:40:58.800 The value of the instruments on stage is nearly priceless. 00:40:58.960 --> 00:41:01.760 You represent the composer, the musicians, and your institution. 00:41:01.920 --> 00:41:07.119 Behind you in the audience are your peers, proud family members, community, and even potential donors. 00:41:07.760 --> 00:41:15.599 My question is this Are you standing on a squeaky, mass-produced podium that was bought long before you arrived? 00:41:15.840 --> 00:41:17.679 I know I've stood on that podium. 00:41:17.920 --> 00:41:21.119 A conductor's foundation should match their artistry. 00:41:21.360 --> 00:41:29.920 Well, I can tell you I'm not on that podium because I have two of these silent stage podiums, which are gracefully designed to complement the instruments with abstract from the need. 00:41:30.159 --> 00:41:40.400 They're built with American oak, elegant brass railings, sound dampening rubber-backed carpet and velvet red, and steps on both sides, which fold in easily for a smaller footprint. 00:41:41.199 --> 00:41:49.199 Each podium is delivered in its three rolling case for podiums, five backstage pumps, dust, or even like we take these long ensemble tours. 00:41:49.440 --> 00:41:53.280 Commuter, elevate your presence with silent stage podium. 00:41:53.440 --> 00:41:55.519 Stay with me, Silent Stage Podiums. 00:41:55.679 --> 00:41:58.639 Find out more at Silent Stagepodiums.com. 00:41:58.880 --> 00:42:00.320 Now back to our show. 00:42:00.639 --> 00:42:04.480 Dean, you've been part of so many amazing performances. 00:42:04.639 --> 00:42:09.199 And uh I I'm just selfishly, I'm

thinking about the Rite of Spring just the other night. 00:42:09.360 --> 00:42:11.760 Um, and that bassoon. 00:42:11.920 --> 00:42:23.360 I mean, the opening, there was like 20 some seconds of just silence, and it was just one of the most amazing kind of musical moments, just for that tone to come in and so on. 00:42:23.519 --> 00:42:30.320 Is there a specific or a particular moment or musical moment that you can recall one that maybe stands out as a favorite for you? 00:42:30.639 --> 00:42:34.239 You're speaking of the the bassoon solo in The Right of Spring, right? 00:42:34.880 --> 00:42:35.679 That was amazing. 00:42:35.840 --> 00:42:42.639 Yeah, Keith, yeah, Keith is a very young player anyway, from Costa Mesa of all places, California. 00:42:43.280 --> 00:42:43.679 Yeah. 00:42:44.079 --> 00:42:44.719 Incredible. 00:42:44.960 --> 00:42:48.320 Well, I've um I'm trying to think of of recordings. 00:42:48.480 --> 00:42:58.159 I mean, I the there's trying to think of any number of clarinet solos that have happened with our new principal clarinet player, Steven Williamson. 00:42:58.719 --> 00:43:11.599 Um there was uh there was a Rachmanov second symphony, second movement that just you know, just just brought me right down to, you know, uh the the tears, you know. 00:43:11.760 --> 00:43:21.280 So I guess in a well, uh actually come to think of it, uh there's a piece that Jeff Reynolds wrote called Skirmish and Dance. 00:43:21.760 --> 00:43:23.679 It's on my big boy CD. 00:43:43.440 --> 00:43:51.280 It's one of the pieces that we are preparing for for this July 13th concert that's coming up. 00:43:51.519 --> 00:43:51.920 Nice. 00:43:52.159 --> 00:43:55.119 And playing it first time in many, many years. 00:43:55.280 --> 00:44:21.119 I know somewhat of the story behind the writing of that piece and how it It um the the genesis of it and and the way Jeff wrote it, kind of a biography of the Chicago Symphony section and the skirmish, the the storied problems that happened in the previous section between Edward Kleinhammer and Chrissa Foley. 00:44:21.199 --> 00:44:29.760 And that was the skirmish, and then this kind of coming together and this final this this corral where where things just kind of come together. 00:44:29.920 --> 00:44:34.480 And it it it really did just it just hits me really emotionally. 00:44:34.639 --> 00:44:39.599 So um I'm not sure anymore about it. 00:44:39.679 --> 00:44:42.320 It it certainly hit me in a big way. 00:44:42.480 --> 00:44:43.440 Uh yeah. 00:44:43.679 --> 00:44:45.519 No, it's it's authentic. 00:44:45.599 --> 00:44:58.880 And and just your uh just the time you take to think through that, I mean, it just shows your thoughtfulness, it shows again how much the other members of this organization mean to you. 00:44:59.039 --> 00:45:06.800 I mean, it's clear that you all have a relationship, you know, like there is a connection between um you and and the other members. 00:45:06.960 --> 00:45:08.800 Does it is is it a family? 00:45:08.960 --> 00:45:12.079 I mean, does it really work as a as a team that way? 00:45:12.320 --> 00:45:21.199 Uh it does in that it's uh it's it's there's a lot of genuine feelings for one another. 00:45:21.440 --> 00:45:29.280 Um there are certain certain relationships that are that can be kind of stressed, can be estranged. 00:45:29.599 --> 00:45:34.639 And one thing that I've realized is that you have to separate the wheat from the chaff. 00:45:34.880 --> 00:45:43.519 Um there's uh I I get along uh for example, I I probably say this with no with no real issues. 00:45:43.679 --> 00:45:47.199 I uh Charlie Vernon and I get along really well. 00:45:47.360 --> 00:45:50.480 He's he's uh he's uh he's a lovely person. 00:45:50.559 --> 00:45:52.800 I I enjoy him very much. 00:45:53.039 --> 00:45:56.000 We get along very well personally and that. 00:45:56.159 --> 00:46:02.559 Do we see each do we see each other uh on the same strand of things musically? 00:46:02.719 --> 00:46:03.920 A lot of times we don't. 00:46:04.079 --> 00:46:22.159 We don't have an eye we don't have a common idea regarding um uh balance sometimes that we have you know we have to really kind of work at some of the intonation issues and and balance issues and stuff, and and it can be rather frustrating for him, it can be somewhat frustrating for me. 00:46:22.320 --> 00:46:26.159 We try to get together and try to make some some things happen. 00:46:26.320 --> 00:46:30.800 Uh personally, uh I'm I'm very close to him, you know. 00:46:31.119 --> 00:46:38.000 But we we realize that's the that's a difference, and so you know, we we we we try to make that happen. 00:46:38.320 --> 00:46:45.280 And you know, I've uh try to I I know for me, I try to be friendly with most everybody in the band. 00:46:45.360 --> 00:46:48.559 There's some people I don't I don't speak with at all. 00:46:48.880 --> 00:46:51.920 Um but that but but those are very few. 00:46:52.559 --> 00:46:53.599 Those are very few. 00:46:53.840 --> 00:46:58.400 Otherwise, um we it i it it is a family. 00:46:58.719 --> 00:47:06.000 Um and as Mulkay has pointed out, uh you know, when you get into a section, it's it's like an arranged marriage. 00:47:06.239 --> 00:47:11.920 You're you don't have you you don't really have a choice in who you're gonna sit next to. 00:47:12.159 --> 00:47:13.440 That's true, that's right. 00:47:13.679 --> 00:47:16.320 You know, you don't know what you're gonna get stuck with. 00:47:16.400 --> 00:47:23.679 And and I remember some years ago uh Sir George Schulte had this thing called the Schulte Orchestra Project. 00:47:23.760 --> 00:47:25.039 It was a Carnegie Hall. 00:47:25.199 --> 00:47:43.760 And he was taking questions one day, and and there was a young student violinist who was in this was in this orchestra, which was made up of a couple professional kind of professionals that were kind of the coaches and the first the principal players, and they had students who made up the rest of the

section. 00:47:43.920 --> 00:47:47.519 And it was kind of a a question-answer period. 00:47:47.760 --> 00:48:00.880 And uh and this person, the young person had just gotten a job in a into in one of the orchestras, and she was saying, you know, I got just got into this job and I'm sitting at the back of the second violin section. 00:48:00.960 --> 00:48:11.840 I'm sitting this next to this older guy who complains about everything that's going on in the orchestra, complains about, you know, the work schedule is so hard, you know, we don't have enough of a break. 00:48:11.920 --> 00:48:15.119 And why are they changing the Boeings here on the last rehearsal? 00:48:15.280 --> 00:48:19.039 And, you know, we never we never get paid enough, you know, and all this. 00:48:19.280 --> 00:48:25.119 Meantime, the person uh she says this person is missing half the cues and is not playing half the notes. 00:48:25.280 --> 00:48:26.880 So what do you suggest I do? 00:48:27.039 --> 00:48:30.719 She's asking Sir George Schultz, and Schulte says, Well, change orchestras. 00:48:31.679 --> 00:48:33.519 No, that's not an answer. 00:48:33.840 --> 00:48:37.039 You know, it's uh it's just not an answer. 00:48:37.119 --> 00:48:40.320 You know, you have to get along with with people, you know. 00:48:40.480 --> 00:48:46.000 So um Gene, I have two unrelated questions you can choose to answer both or neither of them. 00:48:46.239 --> 00:48:52.400 One one would be, is there a piece you'd like orchestra conductors to program more often? 00:48:52.719 --> 00:48:59.760 Because they're either fun for a tuba player to play or they're pieces um that you think people should hear more often. 00:48:59.920 --> 00:49:04.000 And two, the second question would be I don't know, pick a year. 00:49:04.159 --> 00:49:11.440 In 40 or 50 years, what would you want people to say the legacy Gene Percorney left was? 00:49:11.679 --> 00:49:14.239 What would be your fingerprint on the tuba world? 00:49:14.559 --> 00:49:22.079 Uh he provided a good bridge between Arnold Jacobs and whoever the next guy is. 00:49:22.320 --> 00:49:26.719 Because it's it's as far as I'm concerned, it's it's it's Arnold Jacobs chair. 00:49:26.880 --> 00:49:32.079 I mean, it it always will have that uh that distinction. 00:49:32.320 --> 00:49:35.760 It's the Arnold Jacobs principal tuba chair, the Chicago Symphony. 00:49:35.920 --> 00:49:46.400 And his legacy as a player, as a teacher, as a mentor, as as a personality, uh it's that's gonna it's it's gonna continue. 00:49:46.639 --> 00:50:10.000 I i it's very hard to get get past, at least for me, to get past the idea that, well, I'm I'm kind of a a failed clarinet player, anchor time my way into oblivion, you know, and finally picked up this tube in junior high school and ended up, you know, just kind of floating to the top, you know, just you know, the sludge kind of there I am. 00:50:10.159 --> 00:50:15.679 Kind of film on the top and managed to be in a right place at the right time. 00:50:16.079 --> 00:50:29.920 Um I happen to like music a lot, but I I don't I I hope I can uh bridge the gap between what this position is now and where it will be sometime in the near future, you know. 00:50:30.079 --> 00:50:36.480 So I've what they what is it, Covey says, what they think about me is none of my business, you know. 00:50:39.760 --> 00:50:40.960 Uh that's pretty good. 00:50:41.119 --> 00:50:45.039 Well, Gene, I can tell you uh for a fact, there there is no bridge. 00:50:45.360 --> 00:50:48.159 You are um in my book right there. 00:50:48.239 --> 00:50:49.679 It's a it's a it's a love seat. 00:50:49.760 --> 00:50:51.039 It's you and Jacobs. 00:50:51.199 --> 00:50:53.760 Uh there's plenty of room for both of you. 00:50:54.000 --> 00:51:04.320 Um just just an amazing career, and uh you bring such humanity uh to this and thoughtfulness and artistry. 00:51:04.559 --> 00:51:09.039 And uh I tell you, you have shaped my career. 00:51:09.199 --> 00:51:17.920 I mean, I remember coming to your house in 1991 with Mickey Robleski and uh and having a lesson. 00:51:18.000 --> 00:51:26.800 And you know, again, good friend Mickey, you know, and it just seeing where he's at and the way you've mentored him and uh supported his career and so on. 00:51:27.119 --> 00:51:28.480 You've touched a lot of lives. 00:51:28.639 --> 00:51:30.960 And so for that, I am deeply grateful. 00:51:31.039 --> 00:51:37.119 So thank you for coming on the show and thank you for all you continue to do um for music and music education. 00:51:37.360 --> 00:51:42.320 Well, I'm I'm honored that you asked me to be a part of this. 00:51:42.480 --> 00:51:51.119 And uh when you get it down to the when you whittle it down to the to probably the stuff that's worth keeping, it'll probably be a five-minute interview. 00:51:51.519 --> 00:51:53.360 You know, something like that. 00:51:54.400 --> 00:51:54.800 Yeah. 00:51:55.039 --> 00:51:57.840 So um, no, I'm I'm I'm lucky. 00:51:57.920 --> 00:52:04.480 I I when I when I walk up the stairs in Orchestra Hall, I pinch myself every time that I'm lucky enough to be there. 00:52:04.719 --> 00:52:12.960 And um it's all about relationships, it's it's all about making the right stuff happen. 00:52:13.119 --> 00:52:17.599 And um I I've just been incredibly lucky to be to be here. 00:52:17.760 --> 00:52:18.480 So yeah. 00:52:19.039 --> 00:52:20.639 Probably a little bit of hard work in there somewhere. 00:52:21.920 --> 00:52:44.239 Well yeah, I'm thinking about the you know, the the Milky Way and you know the you know the 13.8 billion uh years of of of stellar evolution and you know what what's happened with with with life and you know Carl Sagan, the pale blue dot. 00:52:44.800 --> 00:52:45.760 That's here. 00:52:46.159 --> 00:52:48.719 That's home, that's us. 00:52:49.440 --> 00:53:00.239 On it, everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was lived out their lives. 00:53:00.800 -->

00:53:04.719 And yeah, there are we still have to worry about long tones. 00:53:04.960 --> 00:53:05.440 Jesus. 00:53:05.599 --> 00:53:06.000 That's right. 00:53:06.079 --> 00:53:10.800 We gotta show that's the big ass locomotive. 00:53:10.960 --> 00:53:12.480 Yeah, that's right. 00:53:12.639 --> 00:53:14.239 That's yeah, yeah. 00:53:15.440 --> 00:53:19.360 Be able to, you know, say to the world, well, what do you do for a living? 00:53:19.599 --> 00:53:27.599 Well, thanks a lot. 00:53:28.079 --> 00:53:28.400 No. 00:53:30.079 --> 00:53:33.760 No, it's really a pleasure to be with you guys. 00:53:33.920 --> 00:53:56.559 And and as far as music education, because I know you're all involved with music education, you know, what you do with young people and letting them see the beauty and working together and being a part of teamwork without having to have a computer in front of them, having to Google what what is teamwork or anything, and you're making them be a part of of a team. 00:53:56.639 --> 00:54:00.800 That's uh that is so important, and it makes such a difference. 00:54:00.880 --> 00:54:13.280 I'm I'm I'm humbled by that that uh stewardship that you've taken on to go ahead and be a part of uh affecting young people as you are. 00:54:13.440 --> 00:54:15.119 Because that's Gene, that's what I'm saying. 00:54:16.000 --> 00:54:21.760 Gene, we tried other careers, we just failed at all the other ones and sort of backed backed our way into this one. 00:54:22.159 --> 00:54:36.320 Well, truthfully, there's nothing more fulfilling than putting on a recording of the Chicago Symphony and watching students just light up and feel inspired and then have a goal to aspire to. 00:54:36.480 --> 00:54:41.840 Um, or if it's a piece they've never heard before, to see them just engage with that. 00:54:42.079 --> 00:54:45.440 Um, it it can change their perspective forever. 00:54:45.679 --> 00:54:47.119 So that's always a fun moment. 00:54:47.519 --> 00:54:50.719 It's usually followed with me saying, Hey, why can't you sound like that? 00:54:51.119 --> 00:54:52.079 It's just that easy. 00:54:52.239 --> 00:54:55.119 I mean, come on, back to one tangle, let's go. 00:54:55.360 --> 00:54:56.960 Play it like they did. 00:54:58.800 --> 00:55:10.480 Well, if you ever bring your groups down to down to Chicago, I, you know, I have no problem getting together and showing them that, you know, we uh we all put our pants on one leg at a time. 00:55:10.639 --> 00:55:15.440 There's nothing nothing that extraordinarily special about what we're doing. 00:55:15.599 --> 00:55:29.679 We just happen to be rather lucky and having the openness to realize that it's all part of being uh wanting to put together a product that's that's bigger, that's uh that's greater than the sum of the parts. 00:55:29.760 --> 00:55:30.320 That's all. 00:55:30.480 --> 00:55:31.679 Yeah, you know, absolutely. 00:55:32.159 --> 00:55:42.880 So Gene, we end the show uh each time with our guests by asking one simple question, um, we force you into a binary, and it's your turn, and that is this Shostakovich or Mahler. 00:55:43.039 --> 00:55:43.760 You gotta choose. 00:55:44.000 --> 00:55:44.960 Listening or playing? 00:55:45.360 --> 00:55:46.320 Uh yeah. 00:55:46.639 --> 00:55:47.199 Playing. 00:55:47.280 --> 00:55:48.000 Let's go playing. 00:55:48.159 --> 00:55:48.480 For you. 00:55:48.719 --> 00:55:49.039 Okay. 00:55:49.119 --> 00:55:53.199 I uh I okay, I it's gonna have to be the Mahler. 00:55:53.440 --> 00:55:53.679 Yeah. 00:55:53.920 --> 00:55:54.239 Okay. 00:55:54.400 --> 00:55:54.559 Yeah. 00:55:55.599 --> 00:55:55.840 Yeah. 00:55:55.920 --> 00:56:27.199 I'm uh yeah, I like to I'm I'm I keep on thinking back to that solo in in Shostakovich 13, Fears, you know, the uh Bobby Yarr, the the Bobby Yar symphony, and that is so impactful about all these all these uh these thousands and thousands of people who in two days were just mowed down by the by the by the Nazis uh in a two-day period of time and into this pit in Bobby R and the solo. 00:56:27.599 --> 00:56:36.639 It just it's part of that one movement, and you know, you you've got so much there's so much that the tuba is doing in so little time. 00:56:36.800 --> 00:56:42.239 It's there's a there's a big message, you know, and there's so much is just attached to that. 00:56:42.320 --> 00:57:05.039 It's just you know and you take that and you know and you and you know and you have images of what you've seen at the at the uh at the Holocaust Museum, you know, in in in Washington, DC or something, and you think about all all of what's all of what really happened and and then you're the messenger. 00:57:05.199 --> 00:57:08.800 You've got this responsibility that's just incredible. 00:57:08.960 --> 00:57:10.880 You know, it's uh it's a big yeah. 00:57:11.199 --> 00:57:11.920 That's heavy. 00:57:12.239 --> 00:57:31.440 But on the other hand, you know, when you have something like the Resurrection Symphony of of Mahler, you know, and you gotta and you and uh that the the big end and you're just symphony incredible love to be in the position that I'd been to be able to be a part of that. 00:57:31.519 --> 00:57:38.639 So well, hey, uh here's a new promise, and that's every single time we come down to hear another uh performance, I'm bringing a cherry pie. 00:57:38.719 --> 00:57:44.239 So I'll just let you know, and uh I'll meet you afterwards and we'll get you the pie. 00:57:44.639 --> 00:57:53.039 Oh there's a reason to lose all right, thank you, sir. 00:57:53.280 --> 00:57:53.760 Appreciate it. 00:57:54.000 --> 00:57:54.480 Thanks, Gene. 00:57:54.559 --> 00:57:56.239 All right, Chris, Paul, Phil. 00:57:56.559 --> 00:57:57.760 What a pleasure, Gene. 00:57:57.920 --> 00:57:58.639 What a pleasure. 00:57:58.960 --> 00:57:59.199 Great. 00:57:59.360 --> 00:58:00.559 Well, don't be strangers. 00:58:00.719 --> 00:58:01.679 Come on down, you know. 00:58:01.840 --> 00:58:03.039 We'll do all right. 00:58:07.360

--> 00:58:08.000 Wow. 00:58:08.639 --> 00:58:13.119 You know, I noticed that he spent he spent most of the time talking about his colleagues. 00:58:13.280 --> 00:58:17.679 It's a very deferential person, but most people we talk about that tuba sound. 00:58:17.840 --> 00:58:23.519 You know, when you hear the orchestra, you hear that sound, it's just hard not to talk about him, but he preferred to talk about all his colleagues. 00:58:23.679 --> 00:58:24.400 It's very nice. 00:58:24.639 --> 00:58:27.440 Yeah, and just how fortunate he is. 00:58:27.599 --> 00:58:31.199 And while yes, but it's like how fortunate we are. 00:58:31.360 --> 00:58:32.000 I mean, right. 00:58:32.320 --> 00:58:36.719 But it's nice that that's not lost on him, that he's grateful and thankful every day. 00:58:37.039 --> 00:58:41.920 Phil, you tried to push him on the work, but just the idea like you have done something to earn this. 00:58:42.000 --> 00:58:45.199 And he's like, no, I was just lucky, just dumb luck. 00:58:45.360 --> 00:58:45.760 Wow. 00:58:45.920 --> 00:58:46.159 Yeah. 00:58:46.320 --> 00:58:49.280 Well, I'm thrilled to be a part of such a special session. 00:58:49.440 --> 00:58:50.800 That was terrific. 00:58:51.039 --> 00:58:51.199 Yeah. 00:58:51.280 --> 00:58:53.280 So how many pies have you given him now, Chris? 00:58:53.360 --> 00:58:55.840 I mean, how how many did you have to load in there to get him to do this? 00:58:56.159 --> 00:59:00.400 Well, so the twice two for Miles, one for Gene, two for Miles, one for Gene. 00:59:00.719 --> 00:59:01.119 That's true. 00:59:01.440 --> 00:59:02.719 Goodness, Miles was uh well. 00:59:02.880 --> 00:59:09.760 So Mickey was at uh Mickey Robleski came back and played with Gene and Chicago Symphony for Right of Spring. 00:59:10.000 --> 00:59:16.159 And so Mickey texted me when he was back in the States and he's like, hey, Gene loves cherry pies from Norskinook. 00:59:16.320 --> 00:59:17.280 Can you stop and get him one? 00:59:17.440 --> 00:59:19.199 And I forgot to order it in advance. 00:59:19.280 --> 00:59:26.639 So I'm drive to DeForest and I get out and I'm like walking in, and I'm like, please tell me you have a cherry pie left. 00:59:26.800 --> 00:59:28.960 And they looked at me and they go, Yeah, we got one. 00:59:29.039 --> 00:59:29.519 You want it? 00:59:29.599 --> 00:59:30.639 I'm like, Yes. 00:59:32.480 --> 00:59:33.760 Give me the pie. 00:59:34.320 --> 00:59:38.639 And uh so then after the performance, then got to see Mick again, which was great. 00:59:38.719 --> 00:59:44.079 And so And Gene comes out and I give him the pie, and he looks at me and he goes, Oh my. 00:59:45.119 --> 00:59:46.000 Oh my. 00:59:47.440 --> 00:59:49.039 This is serious, so am I. 00:59:49.199 --> 00:59:50.719 So he likes his cherry pie, though. 00:59:50.800 --> 00:59:52.400 That's uh that's a thing. 00:59:52.559 --> 00:59:53.679 Anything cherry said. 00:59:53.760 --> 00:59:55.440 So anyway, yeah, it was fun. 00:59:55.679 --> 00:59:56.079 Good guy. 00:59:56.400 --> 00:59:57.920 I have no bambuzzler. 00:59:58.000 --> 00:59:58.239 Why? 00:59:58.320 --> 01:00:08.880 Because the bam bustler person is on with us, um, and he wrapped up his contract a few weeks ago, and I don't have a bamboozler because I wrapped up my own contract a few weeks ago. 01:00:08.960 --> 01:00:10.639 So, and I have to get ready for a festival. 01:00:10.719 --> 01:00:13.920 So I'm gonna I'm gonna then I can ask Paul a qu a question. 01:00:14.000 --> 01:00:15.360 We'll we'll bamboozle him. 01:00:15.440 --> 01:00:16.480 So, Paul, boozle. 01:00:16.880 --> 01:00:24.079 You do your final concerts of the year with your band, and then you have a whole like week and a half left with your people. 01:00:24.719 --> 01:00:28.159 What can what can you do with them in that period of time at the end of the year? 01:00:28.400 --> 01:00:29.840 Oh, it depends on the grade level. 01:00:30.079 --> 01:00:37.519 When it with 10th graders, we start passing out the new pet band book, the marching band book, and we'll just start reading those through all of those. 01:00:37.679 --> 01:00:45.840 And then we have an elementary school that's just on the other side of the woods, and those little critters will crawl through the woods and they'll come up for a little concert. 01:00:46.000 --> 01:00:49.519 And the teachers crawl all over each other, like who gets to go for the concert? 01:00:49.599 --> 01:00:58.800 Because we only have four periods of the day when we can do it, and we'll just play for them outdoors and just you know, run through pet band tunes and have fun with that. 01:00:58.960 --> 01:01:15.199 With my top band, sometimes we'll just read, read, read, or sometimes I'll let the seniors go and have an extra long lunch, and I'll have junior meeting time figuring out how are they gonna put their fingerprint on next year and get them thinking about the next year? 01:01:15.360 --> 01:01:15.840 Yeah. 01:01:16.079 --> 01:01:18.480 I there's really it's never a dull moment. 01:01:18.639 --> 01:01:23.840 I never feel like I have to manufacture something or do something wild. 01:01:24.079 --> 01:01:25.440 It's just fun hanging with the kids. 01:01:25.599 --> 01:01:25.840 Yeah. 01:01:26.079 --> 01:01:29.760 Chris, what do you do in your last uh 10 days of the semester of the year? 01:01:29.920 --> 01:01:31.440 Yeah, of my semester. 01:01:31.519 --> 01:01:34.559 And the year doesn't clean clean your tuba. 01:01:34.800 --> 01:01:36.480 Clean your tuba week and a half? 01:01:36.639 --> 01:01:37.039 Yeah. 01:01:37.280 --> 01:01:39.519 Find my tuba is what I need to do. 01:01:39.760 --> 01:01:42.960 Yeah, no, those last couple weeks were really kind of it was interesting. 01:01:43.119 --> 01:01:44.559 Glenn Hayes asked me this once. 01:01:44.639 --> 01:01:47.039 He goes, Chris, what would you do if there were no performances? 01:01:47.199 --> 01:01:48.719 How would your classroom look different? 01:01:48.960 --> 01:01:50.159 And

then COVID hit. 01:01:50.320 --> 01:01:51.920 But it was a fascinating question. 01:01:52.079 --> 01:02:01.519 I mean, he asked me literally 10 years ago, you know, long before COVID, and I really did make me think a little bit about how much does the performance drive the bus? 01:02:01.679 --> 01:02:04.559 And what would I do if I could free up some things? 01:02:04.719 --> 01:02:06.719 Would I that be a little more creative? 01:02:06.880 --> 01:02:08.960 Would I spend a little more time doing some different things? 01:02:09.199 --> 01:02:18.320 So I took that to heart, and it made me really think about creating some new opportunities for students to take some more ownership and do some different things that I wouldn't have done otherwise. 01:02:18.639 --> 01:02:22.960 And Phil, do you put the trombone down for a while or at the end? 01:02:23.199 --> 01:02:25.039 At the end of the school year? 01:02:25.519 --> 01:02:25.920 Yeah. 01:02:26.239 --> 01:02:28.639 No, no, I do the exact opposite. 01:02:29.039 --> 01:02:30.159 You actually practice. 01:02:30.960 --> 01:02:36.159 Yeah, I have I've got a few minutes in the day, and man, I I have been hitting it. 01:02:36.320 --> 01:02:40.400 Uh, but I have a pretty rather large gig coming up that Paul's aware of. 01:02:40.559 --> 01:02:43.039 So I gotta I gotta have my face together for that gig. 01:02:43.199 --> 01:02:46.079 But we just had a long run of in the opera. 01:02:46.480 --> 01:02:50.239 Got Minnesota Winds, gonna follow that with a bunch of Broadway work. 01:02:50.400 --> 01:02:54.079 So it's time to get cracking and get playing right now. 01:02:54.559 --> 01:02:59.199 Um But with my band, um I have a specific thing that I always do. 01:02:59.280 --> 01:03:01.280 Um we record young band music. 01:03:01.760 --> 01:03:13.760 Um so uh I'll get a new piece that a new composer that's just looking to have their music recorded by a decent sounding ensemble, and um it'll be a one-day challenge. 01:03:13.920 --> 01:03:17.360 You get the music, you get everything, we've got the next 35 minutes. 01:03:18.000 --> 01:03:26.480 We'll read it once, we're gonna rehearse it, and it's gotta sound in tune and like you know, good enough to put put on a composer's website. 01:03:26.719 --> 01:03:28.880 And that usually gets the students pretty juiced. 01:03:29.039 --> 01:03:29.119 Yeah. 01:03:29.360 --> 01:03:30.880 For that, I'll get their best. 01:03:31.440 --> 01:03:31.519 Yeah. 01:03:31.679 --> 01:03:33.760 I'll get their best right then for that 35 minutes. 01:03:33.920 --> 01:03:34.639 Then it's over. 01:03:34.880 --> 01:03:36.320 We need to eat cookies or something. 01:03:36.639 --> 01:03:38.159 Let me share one of those recordings. 01:03:38.239 --> 01:03:43.679 And this recording was made by Phil's ensemble recently. 01:03:43.840 --> 01:03:50.559 And the recording is of a new piece of music by Erica Savano called Max Joy. 01:03:51.119 --> 01:03:55.599 And so we have a special guest that's going to come on

here in the last uh couple seconds here. 01:03:55.760 --> 01:03:58.639 But quick story though, okay, and this does involve Phil. 01:03:58.800 --> 01:04:01.679 Um, and that is this piece called Max Joy. 01:04:01.920 --> 01:04:06.800 So Max died three years ago, uh, today, actually. 01:04:07.039 --> 01:04:12.639 And so Max Roker was a little boy who um passed away from leukemia. 01:04:12.960 --> 01:04:19.519 And my colleague, uh, just devastating to see her and her family go through the loss of a son. 01:04:19.679 --> 01:04:23.360 I mean, um, something I can't even possibly fathom, you know. 01:04:23.519 --> 01:04:28.960 Since that time, they created um a foundation called Max Joy. 01:04:29.119 --> 01:04:39.840 And the whole point was or is to pass along um the joy and radiance that this little you know kid um passed along to others. 01:04:40.079 --> 01:04:45.039 And so what's really fascinating, I'll just pop this up and commuter, I'll show you pictures. 01:04:45.119 --> 01:04:46.320 But this is Max. 01:04:46.719 --> 01:04:55.360 And uh he was just this beautiful little child who would just create joy and give it to others. 01:04:55.440 --> 01:05:05.519 And so the idea of Max Joy Foundation is to do the similar things, to raise money and so on, to give to folks that need a little bit of joy at those really difficult times in life. 01:05:05.760 --> 01:05:10.480 And seeing this foundation do all this amazing thing, I thought to myself, something has to be done. 01:05:10.559 --> 01:05:12.559 Like there's some way I have to be able to help. 01:05:12.719 --> 01:05:15.599 And so I reached out to Erica Savano. 01:05:15.840 --> 01:05:19.119 Uh Savano, I said, Hey, can we write a piece of music? 01:05:19.280 --> 01:05:21.280 And I will commission you to do this. 01:05:21.360 --> 01:05:28.800 And I would like a fanfare that's kind of at a like a very accessible level, like a grade two, two and a half. 01:05:29.119 --> 01:05:35.840 And part of the gig will be that I want to give it away at least for a few months, and let's get it out there. 01:05:35.920 --> 01:05:50.880 But inside, we're gonna talk about Max, but we're also gonna do an idea where we're gonna ask students who perform the piece to do a joy challenge, meaning to give to others without any uh concept of receiving anything in return. 01:05:51.199 --> 01:05:56.000 And so this just launched on let's pass Monday. 01:05:56.159 --> 01:05:59.760 Um, we did the world premiere here in at Bayport High School with. 01:06:00.079 --> 01:06:14.239 To Eau Claire Lum, you know, the Seagriss, Ashley and Kyle, friend of show, but their wind ensemble did the performance, and we had Laura and her family come, and they had no idea that we were doing the spremier or that this commission was made possible. 01:06:14.400 --> 01:06:17.760 And so the entire concert was about joy. 01:06:17.920 --> 01:06:23.119 So of course they played to Kelly's Joy and Joy Revisited and Markowski's Joy Ride and all this. 01:06:23.280 -->

01:06:29.119 But what was really awesome is that Laura's sister, Katie Thibodeau, teaches still. 01:06:29.199 --> 01:06:30.719 This is her, this is where she grew up. 01:06:30.800 --> 01:06:33.360 So this is home base for Laura. 01:06:33.599 --> 01:06:35.840 And her sister still teaches in town. 01:06:35.920 --> 01:06:42.400 And so we've got students across the district that did the Joy Challenge, created a cool compilation. 01:06:42.559 --> 01:06:46.480 And so at the concert, we got up and we started talking about this piece. 01:06:46.639 --> 01:06:49.599 And um her whole family was there, extended family. 01:06:49.760 --> 01:06:58.719 We showed the great video of all these joy challenges going on, and then the premiere with Erica um in in attendance as well. 01:06:58.880 --> 01:07:04.559 And uh then afterwards presented her with the score um signed by Erica and so on. 01:07:04.719 --> 01:07:07.039 So that's Chris. 01:07:07.280 --> 01:07:07.599 Bravo. 01:07:08.079 --> 01:07:09.679 Well, yeah, the work is free. 01:07:10.079 --> 01:07:13.599 So commuter, go on our uh, I'll put it in the show notes for this week. 01:07:13.679 --> 01:07:16.079 It's also up on our Beyond the Notes website too. 01:07:16.159 --> 01:07:24.719 But grab it while you can while it's free, and then inside the uh score is all the information on how to do the joy challenge with your own students. 01:07:25.039 --> 01:07:37.119 And for those who feel so moved, uh they can donate right to Max Joy and uh help them continue the great mission of um sharing that joy and passion to others who need it desperately. 01:07:37.360 --> 01:07:38.320 Wow, it was good. 01:07:38.480 --> 01:07:40.639 It was oh yeah, it sure was. 01:07:45.519 --> 01:07:48.320 And uh to end the show, you ready? 01:07:48.639 --> 01:07:50.159 One more Disney connection. 01:07:50.239 --> 01:07:51.039 Here we go. 01:07:51.280 --> 01:07:52.320 That's right. 01:07:52.639 --> 01:07:56.639 This is another gentleman who played in the All-American College Band. 01:07:56.800 --> 01:07:59.599 It is indeed our greatest. 01:07:59.760 --> 01:08:04.639 Well, I gotta say, he's he's probably tied for the uh biggest fan of the show. 01:08:05.280 --> 01:08:08.000 This is the brother that we never asked for. 01:08:08.880 --> 01:08:10.239 Go ahead and reveal yourself. 01:08:10.400 --> 01:08:13.280 Hey, I'm sorry, I was I was so motivated. 01:08:13.360 --> 01:08:17.760 I've been doing long tones and trying to incorporate my joy. 01:08:18.079 --> 01:08:24.159 And I just got back from a trombone dinner, and I had some pantyhose over my face. 01:08:24.319 --> 01:08:28.159 So hopefully it yeah, my complexion is well right now for this. 01:08:28.319 --> 01:08:30.560 So it's such an honor to be here. 01:08:30.800 --> 01:08:37.680 What an outstanding season, and it is a uh pleasure to be to be with this great company. 01:08:38.079 --> 01:08:40.399 The two greatest Chicago tuba players in one night. 01:08:40.479 --> 01:08:41.520 We've got uh Gene Picard. 01:08:42.960 --> 01:08:44.239 Now Jack and Sella. 01:08:44.399 --> 01:08:45.199 I mean, look at that. 01:08:45.359 --> 01:08:46.640 We are all set, right? 01:08:46.720 --> 01:08:50.159 And he's got his tuba is in hand, his tuba is in his hand, people. 01:08:50.319 --> 01:08:51.199 You gotta love it. 01:08:51.439 --> 01:08:52.239 You gotta love it. 01:08:52.640 --> 01:08:56.479 The tuba is here because the trombones are in the basement where they belong. 01:08:57.039 --> 01:08:57.520 That's right. 01:08:57.920 --> 01:08:58.319 That's right. 01:09:01.680 --> 01:09:04.159 Well, trombone's not my first axe. 01:09:04.239 --> 01:09:11.119 I I cover all three, uh and to to to uh just to be part of this and to to hear it. 01:09:11.199 --> 01:09:19.119 And I was cutting the lawn today and uh was listening to other previous podcasts and a uh recently released one. 01:09:19.359 --> 01:09:20.159 These are gold. 01:09:20.399 --> 01:09:27.439 You guys are the brothers I never wanted, but you're brothers because you always have something important to say. 01:09:27.600 --> 01:09:33.600 There's always a message that I need to hear, and it's wrapped in a lot of fun, fun camaraderie. 01:09:33.840 --> 01:09:35.520 So thank you for all that you do. 01:09:36.000 --> 01:09:39.680 Commuter, I'll be commuting with you tomorrow morning in the early a.m. 01:09:40.159 --> 01:09:44.880 Hopefully get into the band room before seven, and uh we're all in this together. 01:09:45.439 --> 01:09:48.000 I think I just heard the kickoff to season five. 01:09:48.239 --> 01:09:50.479 Something important wrapped in fun. 01:09:50.880 --> 01:09:52.079 Season five. 01:09:53.840 --> 01:09:54.880 What do you think, Phil? 01:09:55.119 --> 01:09:57.279 Wrapped in I mean what would you wrap it in? 01:09:57.760 --> 01:09:58.800 Probably bacon. 01:09:59.119 --> 01:10:00.640 Probably probably good bacon. 01:10:03.279 --> 01:10:12.800 No, I can think of really pretty much no better way to spend uh Chris Bleason's birthday than visiting with the two greatest Chicago tuba players that I know. 01:10:13.119 --> 01:10:13.359 You know? 01:10:13.760 --> 01:10:15.920 So happy birthday, Chris. 01:10:16.239 --> 01:10:17.119 Happy birthday, Chris. 01:10:17.439 --> 01:10:18.800 Happy birthday, thank you. 01:10:19.039 --> 01:10:20.720 Yep, 25, baby. 01:10:20.880 --> 01:10:21.680 25. 01:10:22.560 --> 01:10:23.279 Feeling good. 01:10:23.760 --> 01:10:24.479 Times two. 01:10:24.960 --> 01:10:25.840 And then some. 01:10:26.159 --> 01:10:27.039 Hey, uh no. 01:10:27.279 --> 01:10:28.319 Big thanks, Jack. 01:10:28.399 --> 01:10:29.520 Thanks for coming on, buddy. 01:10:29.760 --> 01:10:30.560 Great to see you. 01:10:30.720 --> 01:10:32.960 Thank you, Paul, for filling in for Peter. 01:10:33.279 --> 01:10:34.319 Peter, we missed you. 01:10:34.399 --> 01:10:36.000 We hope your mom's doing better. 01:10:36.159 --> 01:10:37.039 Thank you, Phil. 01:10:37.119 --> 01:10:43.680 Thank you, Eric Songer, Mike Casper, the coach, Tim Gleason, Silent Stage Podiums. 01:10:43.840 --> 01:10:45.680 And hey, thank you, commuter. 01:10:46.079 --> 01:10:52.159 Wishing you a great summer and look for us again in the fall because this can only get better. 01:10:52.319 --> 01:10:53.840 Take us out, Gene. 01:11:16.960 --> 01:11:20.800 Beyond Artless is sponsored by Beyond the Notes Music Festival. 01:11:20.960 --> 01:11:27.680 Our mission is to create and provide profound learning and social experiences through music that go beyond the notes. 01:11:27.840 --> 01:11:31.760 Visit BTN MusicFestival dot com to learn more.