Once a year across the country, an instrument normally found in the background receives the spotlight, during the celebration known as Octubafest.
Beginning Thursday, BYU will hold its annual celebration of the tuba and other closely related instruments. Octubafest will continue on Friday and Saturday, with different performances each night. John Mueller, a trombone and euphonium teacher at the University of Memphis as well as a member of the Memphis Brass Quintet and The Birth of the Cool faculty jazz ensemble, will be the guest performer.
Steve Call, a professor in the school of music, helps put the show on at BYU every year. As a good friend of Mueller’s, Call was instrumental in recruiting the guest star. He said Octubafest has been a BYU tradition for more than 30 years, and he enjoys being a part of it.
“Often the tubas don’t get the recognition they deserve,” Call said. “This is an opportunity to present the tuba, and its little brother the euphonium, which is like a small tuba, in a showcase way so that you hear it as a solo instrument, and you hear ensembles that are just tubas and euphoniums.”
Many people will participate along with the music majors. Members of the BYU marching band, as well as people from the community, will play throughout the weekend. The Utah Premiere Brass, Utah’s only British brass band, will also play.
Daniel Stoleworthy, a music education major from Henderson, Nev., is a member of the Utah Premiere Brass. He explained what a British brass band is, saying it does not have instruments such as the French horn and trumpet but instead many others such as coronets and bass trombones.
“It’s something that’s not traditionally heard, but it’s enjoyable,” Stoleworthy said. “You have a bunch of tubas and euphoniums playing music that’s usually played by either a full wind band or orchestra, so it’s pretty neat to hear it with just the low brass.”
On Saturday night, there will be large and small ensembles of tubas and euphoniums from BYU and BYU-Idaho performing. These ensembles will feature different types of music, from classical to baroque to modern.
Emily Lawlor, 25, a master’s student in music composition, is responsible for some original compositions the ensembles will play. She has never participated in Octubafest before, but said she is glad to have Mueller be a guest.
“There is always so much to learn from guest performers in regards to techniques and performance,” Lawlor said. “We as students get really nervous when we have to perform and so it’s good to see professional performers … and how they compose themselves on stage.”
Lawlor, like many other music students, is especially excited for workshops which Mueller and Call will hold on Saturday morning. The workshops are open to anybody who is interested, whether or not they attend BYU.
“I think the workshops are the most beneficial part of the whole experience because that’s where you get really personal applications,” Lawlor said.
