What I'm Doing Now

(This is my now page. You should make one too.)

I just got done with the busiest stretch I’ve had playing-wise since leaving Boston Brass 11 years ago and that is a great problem to have!

Filed under always be ready, I got a call from Rodney Marsalis at 9:30 pm last week asking if I could play a gig in New York City the next night. The regular tuba player got delayed and missed his flight and I was able to fill in at the APAP Conference which was wild because the last time I was there was exactly 25 years ago. (Those numbers are starting to get big!) It’s always an honor to share the stage with a musician like Rodney!

I performed four separate weeks with the North Carolina Symphony in October and December and I am happy to report that that orchestra is criminally underrated! Seriously. Special musicians throughout all of the sections. Some stunning music making going on down there. I was particularly fond of the all-John Williams program we did which included my first ever crack at the Jaws solo. A special thanks to Seth Horner for the invitation. I hope to be back!

I also made my debut with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra. Again, great group! I had somehow never been to Princeton, New Jersey before and I found a store that was essentially a Japanese 7-Eleven and I spent way too much money. A thank you to Jonathan Fowler for the invitation!

Over the summer I was a judge at the Jeju International Brass & Percussion Competition. There were seven tuba judges from around the world and I was honored to represent the United States. The level of playing was truly impressive. And so were the black sand beaches I got to enjoy as well as the volcano I got to hike. Jeju is a special place that everyone should visit and I very much hope to return!

I also got to return to my old stomping grounds, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, to teach the incredible students there. BUTI was where I first had the privilege of working with Sam Pilafian and it has a very special place in my heart. A big thank you to Ben Vasko for the invitation.

In the spring I presented a clinic on practicing at two different regional tuba conferences. I presented “10 Strategies for Building Momentum in the Practice Room” at both the Southeast Regional Tuba Euphonium Conference in Murfreesboro, TN and at the Northeast Regional Tuba Euphonium Conference in Fairfax, VA. I also performed a solo on the final concert of NERTEC, a piece titled Let There Be Funk. I was really, really happy with how it went (which isn’t always the case so you try to appreciate it when it is!)

Last spring saw visits to a number of schools for clinics and residencies including Hartt, UNC Greensboro, and East Tennessee State University as well as various online clinics including Lynn Conservatory and Middle Tennessee State. I love connecting with college students and encouraging them to get started on what comes after college, whatever that may be, now rather than waiting until they get handed their diploma. I also love to encourage them to dream big - ideally bigger than they are comfortable doing.

In April I made my debut with the Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass. It was good to perform with a brass chamber group again - it had been far too long! Great music and a great hang. I really enjoyed myself.

In March I made my Washington National Opera debut! I played on-stage sousaphone in an adaptation of Offenbach’s La Périchole that is set in Prohibition-era New Orleans called Songbird. There was no pit for this opera. It was just 11 of us on stage on a bandstand and I played probably two thirds of the time - everything from New Orleans street beat grooves to precarious, one-off opera-style downbeats that follows a singer’s recitative. One foot in each world was challenging and wonderful. The lead was opera superstar Isabel Leonard whose performance was enchanting. It was an h0nor to share the stage with these musicians.

I also had the opportunity to play the orchestral music from the video game series Final Fantasy. The crowd was electric! They knew every single piece, each composer, and all screamed in unison at different parts. It is so rewarding to get to play for an audience that are all so over the top passionate about the same thing. It is what makes live music so special. And the tuba parts! Lots of double and triple forte whole notes. But well written! It was athletic and a total blast.

My world was rocked when my dear friend and most frequent creative collaborator, Lance LaDuke, passed away in December at the age of 56. He suffered a very serious fall and was never able to recover. I miss him every single day and I’m only now starting to feel like I’m getting my brain wrapped around it all. He is so dearly missed as a friend, colleague, and human. Hug your loved ones.

Lance and I started talking about impact about five years ago. Everything we did, both together and individually, was put through the lens of will this have a lasting impact on the world. And if the answer was no, we didn’t do it. Or we phased it out. His passing has inspired a really big idea that I am moving forward. It is big enough and scary enough that part of me is telling myself that I can’t do it. But those are the ideas you lean into because the scary ones are the most impactful ones. Stay tuned…

Back in February I helped to host the Wind Band Symposium at West Chester University that is sponsored by the National Band Association. I hosted the online feed which included interviewing the three clinicians about the work they were doing with their respective bands. This year’s special guest clinician was Dr. Rebecca Phillips from Colorado State University. I also got to clinic six high school bands over a 2-day period. There is nothing I enjoy in the world more than working with young musicians and this was very recharging. I am excited to return in 2025!

I had a very special master class outside Nashville this past fall. I taught students at a school that had previously received a grant from The Mockingbird Foundation, an organization which I have served as a member of the board of directors for the last dozen years. I actually got to meet the student who plays the brand new tuba the school was able to buy because of the grant which was a cool moment for me. You can see the photo of the two of us below! A big thank you to Jupiter Band Instruments who generously made that master class possible.

The Brass Junkies is currently on hiatus but that is ending soon! And I just released an episode of The Entrepreneurial Musician for the first time in 9 months. It feels good to be back!

I’m currently brainstorming the formation of a new ensemble. Itching to get creative. Stay tuned!

The first new project from Hitz Academy is called Inside the Practice Room. It kicked off with Jeff Nelsen of Canadian Brass, Principal Trumpet of the Cleveland Orchestra Michael Sachs, Patrick Sheridan, Rex Richardson and Julie Landsman and Weston Sprott. More events will be announced soon!

Winning the Audition with Hiram Diaz was really incredible. He is such a gifted teacher. He blew me away.

After years of talking about doing it I finally launched a website just for The Entrepreneurial Musician. Check out tem.fm and let me know what you think!

What I’m Listening To: A lot of hip hop with my son - in particular the latest Kendrick Lamar album. It’s an instant classic! I also have been listening to more classical music of late and dusted off one of my all-time favorites this morning: the 1981 Glenn Gould recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

What I’m Watching: I am very late to the party but I am watching Squid Game for the first time. Not the new season - the one everyone else watched in 2020! It is horrifically violent and unsettling but it bold storytelling and visually stunning and genius television. So much to unpack.

What I’m Reading: I am almost halfway through Resurrection by David Remnick. It is the follow-up to one of my favorite books ever written, Lenin’s Tomb, about the collapse of the Soviet Union. Resurrection is about the changes in Russia after the collapse and it is fascinating.

What I’m Making: I am restarting both The Entrepreneurial Musician and The Brass Junkies after hiatuses of almost a full year each. Stay tuned!

What I’m Practicing: To be honest, not that much at the moment. October through December was one of the busiest stretches of my career and I’m coming for air just a little bit. But I’ll be back at it soon!


(Last updated January 16, 2025)