2022 Buckeye Brass & Winds Trombone Day
On Saturday, February 19, the sound of trombones ricocheted off the stained-glass windows of a music shop in the small Midwest town of Plain City, Ohio.
Buckeye Brass & Winds is a professional brass and woodwinds shop that has been in the Central Ohio area for many years. Owned by Rob Phillips, the sales and service storefront is situated in an old church building that has turned into a multi-functional area with practice rooms, a performance stage with the original pews still intact, and a large basement for repair and restoration. With all this space and opportunity, the venue was the perfect place to host their first Trombone Day.
Alongside Phillips, the trombone professors at Ohio State University (Dr. Sterling Tanner) and Capital University (Dr. Tony Weikel) put together a day of activities that included each school’s trombone ensembles in concert; a joint recital by Tanner and Weikel; masterclasses; and a mass trombone choir reading of several works.
More than 115 trombonists were in attendance with the opportunity to try out some of the newest tenor and bass trombones in the market, including the new Conn 88HV tenor trombone. Central Ohio was also fortunate to have Christan Griego in attendance with quite a few Edwards and Getzen trombones and his top-of-the-line Griego mouthpieces, of which I have played his “Griego-Alessi 1F” tenor mouthpiece for a number of years.
One of the joys of an event like this is to hear a mixture of new works with classic standards performed by university-level student ensembles. Both universities were recently involved in commission consortiums that brought new works to the audience’s ears. These works included Iris Ceuleman’s 2020 performed by the Capital University Trombone Choir and David Wilborn’s Tsunami performed by the Ohio State University Trombone Ensemble.
Throughout the joint recital, the mixture of “new with old” continued as Weikel highlighted the beauty of the tenor trombone through his rendition of Elizabeth Raum’s Idiom and Jacques Castérède’s Sonatine. Tanner showcased the power and finesse of the bass trombone through his performance of Girolamo Frescobaldi’s Canzone and Elizabeth Raum’s Concerto for Bass Trombone. At the end of the recital, the two professors came together and performed a well-balanced, colorful duet entitled Balkanika by Daniela Candillari.
Through environments such as this, trombonists of all ages and abilities heard new music, received excellent educational guidance, met new friends, and reacquainted with others whom they have not seen in a long time. This was a fun-filled day hosted by an excellent professional music store, with the hope that future events will take place at this venue for the trombone and other brass instruments.
Featured Image Credit: Courtesy of Buckeye Brass & Winds
