I'm in the home stretch of the solo tuba piece! With the string of concerts, holidays/breaks, I have had to move the delivery date back a few days, so it will be delivered by the end of the week. Another curve ball: learning how to use the notation program Dorico! As a life-long user of Finale, this has been a difficult switch, but a necessary one, and I'm seeing how it will be a better program as I get more comfortable and familiar with it. 

Some good news: we have a title!!! The piece is called ORBIT. I had gotten to a point in the composing where I hit the wall, and wasn't sure where the piece was going to go. So, instead of focusing on what to do next, I thought about what I had so far and what it was telling me. That is what led me to the title “Orbit,” and then this enabled me to finish out where the piece was going!

Thanks all, I'll be in touch again soon!!
-Chris 

Hello, Tuba Consortium members!! Just wanted to check-in with you.

Composing is underway, and the December 1 target should still be no problem. I've come up with tune I like; it reminds me of some quirky tune you might here for Tuba in a film score. My first composing interest was film music, so I'll probably always carry that with me to some extent!

One thing I'm still playing around with is form; I haven't decided yet if it'll have a sonata or rondo structure; the tune feels like it has a neoclassical feel to it, so I felt like a classical form would be appropriate. But I haven't decided exactly how to realize that yet…

So, that's it for now! I'll keep you posted; and please tell any other tuba friends you have that may be interested in joining us! It's not too late!

-Chris 

Thank you got Brian Stranghoner for joining the consortium!! Brian isn't a tuba player, he just wanted to help bring the piece to life. Grateful for you, Brian!!

Honored to have Wichita State University tuba instructor Phillip Black join the consortium!! 

Click here to learn more about Prof. 

Grateful to have tubist and music educator Christopher Barlow joining the consortium!! 

Thank you for joining this consortium! I am honored that you have decided to invest in me in creating a new work for tuba. 

I'll use this blog/journal to give updates on the piece, the composition process, insights into the composing; stuff like that. Whenever a new post is up, I'll be sure to send out an email to the consortium members.

In the meantime, feel free to contact me with any questions you may have. Also, please feel free to share this with any flute players you know that may be interested in joining! Thank you!