Octubafest!!!!!

It is Halloween night and what is better to do on a Halloween night than to go see a Tuba and Euphonium concert by Ithaca College's finest players. It was Octubafest at Ithaca College with Ithaca College's Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble. A great turnout on a Halloween night, at the Hockett Family Recital Hall in the Whalen Center, with many of the audience dressed up in costumes and even the performers dressed up as well. The concert consisted of 11 songs from a variety of geners. Besides the ensemble, a couple students did their own quartets. From freshmen to graduate students, they all played their instruments accordingly.

At the start of the concert, the song "Brink" brings a big jolt. The song starts out with much intensity. Some notes are accented to makes the phrases of the song to be intense. After the first segment, the tempo slows down and the song become legato. For this short period, the song mellows out and a new build up begins to show up. The notes start to crescendo and the tempo starts to get faster and faster until it gets back to how it sounded like in the beginning. It then keeps the intensity going all the way to the end of the song. "Brink" keeps a person waiting for what is to come next but it abruptly stops before anyone figures out what has happened. "Brink" also reminds me of the Romantic ideals. The term "yearning" comes to mind because the audience keeps waiting for the solution to the song. The song keeps repeating the basic idea over and over again but the finale never comes. The composer of this song really did a great job making a song that keeps the listener waiting for more and never giving all of what the listener wanted to here.

Aaron Tindall had been conducting throughout the show but decided to lend the conducting over to one of the tuba players in the ensemble. This man is a graduate student here at Ithaca College with a major in Conducting. His choice of songs were excellent. These songs could be ones that I would dance and sing along to. One of the songs many people could recognize was "What is Love" by Haddaway. Everyone, including the tuba and euphonium players, started to bob their heads back and forth at the beginning of the song. What was so interesting about the performance of Haddaway's piece was how the beat of the song was played. Another tuba player grabbed a microphone, started beatboxing and did the drumming part to the song.  I was able to understand "What is Love" much better because I could here the other parts to the music besides the lyrics. I was able to listen to all the parts covered through the song and the harmony. Another song I was really fond of was "September" by Earth, Wind,  & Fire. "September" is one of my favorite Earth, Wind, & Fire songs ever and I was amazed at how great the rendition of the song was played. Even though there was no trumpet played with the tubas and the euphoniums, all harmony parts were covered. It is amazing how high the euphonium is able to reach the high notes that many would never think it could reach.

In summary, the enjoyment of the concert was felt throughout the audience. It was pleasing to see many instrumentalists perform songs differently and precisely. I really enjoyed the concert because it brought back memories from personal times to fun times. I was able to sing and tap my feet along to many songs and also have an amusing time. I really look forward to more tuba-euphonium ensemble concerts in the near future so I can enjoy great music once more.