UNITUBA Commission

I was pleased to receive a commission at the end of last semester from our university's tuba and euphonium ensemble, known as UNITUBA. The director, Dr. Jesse Orth, asked me to write a piece for the ensemble for their spring concert, which will also be performed at the biennial International Tuba and Euphonium Conference, hosted this year by the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

The piece that I wrote is entitled "Hidden Constants." The title refers to the constants in my life that I can lean back on when times get stressful. The main constant in my head is the continuing love and support from my family. I symbolized this by writing a passacaglia. The piece changes and shifts, never exactly the same, but the bass line is always there, a constant for the rest of the piece to build on. I wrote this piece in four parts (2 euph parts and 2 tuba parts), and I hope to get a quartet to record a chamber version of it early in the fall semester of this year.