After the “FABULOUS FIFTIES” series there will be only three original members of the RCBB left in the RCBB. Jim Stillwagon has announced his retirement from the band effective at the end of the series.

Jim (known as ‘Squirrel’ to his friends) studied tuba with Matty Shiner at Duquesne University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education in 1970.

Jim taught music in the Pittsburgh Public Schools from 1975 until his retirement a few years ago. He and his wife Natalie have two sons, James and Jeremy, tuba players both (James Jr. is subbing with the RCBB this month, by the way).

In addition to the RCBB, Jim has performed with the Kennywood Park Circus Show Band, the Bucco Band, and Dixie Doc and the Dixieland Allstars.

Stories are told and re-told around the RCBB water cooler about Jim and his legendary sense of humor. I remember talking to him before a rehearsal about 10 years ago and, quite in passing, asking if he would be willing to ‘dress up’ and sing “I Feel Pretty” on a series. Without the least hesitation he agreed, and his subsequent performance brought the house down.

Jim and his great sense of humor will be missed.

The RCBB’s mystery tune for April was Bluesette by Toots Thielemans. Toots real name is Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans, and he was born in Brussels in 1922 (he’s still going strong at 89 years of age). Thielemans is known for his great guitar and harmonica playing, but also for his highly accomplished whistling! Remember the whistling on the TV commercials for “Old Spice” aftershave? That was Thielemans.

Thielemans was a member of Charlie Parker’s All-Stars, and he has played with stars like Ella Fitzgerald, George Shearing, Quincy Jones, Bill Evans, Paul Simon, and Billy Joel.

Bluesette became a hit for him in 1962 but apparently isn’t as well known nowadays. In fact, in most of the RCBB concert venues there were only a handful of correct answers. Great tune, though, don’t you think? And a terrific arrangement and performance by Drew Fennell.

I have been very gratified by the positive audience reaction we’ve received to the world premieres thus far. Listening to a completely unfamiliar piece requires active engagement and a certain amount of effort on the part of the listener, and some people would rather take castor oil. A sincere thanks to you, the audience, for giving these new works a fair first hearing.

You may recall that in December former assistant principal cornet Ryan Spacht left the River City Brass Band to join the US Army Band (“Pershing’s Own”) in Washington, DC. This amid news that his wife, Danielle, was expecting their first child.

Here’s an excerpt of an email I received from Ryan just the other day:

“I graduated Basic Training on Friday, February 29th. I was supposed to fly to Washington, DC, to meet up with Danielle at our new house on March 1st. My company forgot to buy me a plane ticket, so I got “left” in Ft. Jackson over the weekend and was not allowed to leave because the business offices were closed for the weekend…Well, I eventually got an on post pass, and spent the rest of the weekend on the phone and eating food at the on-post shopping court. I flew to Reagan airport on Monday afternoon, and Danielle went into labor 7 hours later, (15 days ahead of schedule)…She delivered Mercy Adelle Spacht at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 4th. Mercy was 6 lbs, 2 oz at birth and 18 inches. God’s timing was perfect…”

Here’s a few photographs of the new mom, the proud papa, and the beautiful new baby.

Congratulations Ryan and Danielle!

Frequent RCBB concert-goers know that our programs have a high proportion of tunes that are familiar and beloved. It turns out that what’s familiar is a moving target, and it’s moving faster than I thought.

The March subscription series, ON A WORLD TOUR, includes a singalong, “Jerusalem”, that I felt certain would be familiar and joyfully sung by RCBB audiences. The song’s lyric is by William Blake from his epic “Milton: a Poem” (1804).

Blake’s poem was inspired by the apocryphal story that a young Jesus, accompanied by Joseph of Arimathea, traveled to Glastonbury, England.

The poem was included in a patriotic anthology of verse published in England in 1916 when England was suffering an appallingly high number of casualties in the First World War. Robert Bridges, England’s Poet Laureate, asked Hubert Parry to put this poem to music in an attempt to bolster civilian morale.

The tune itself is so well liked that it has been set to several texts including “O Love of God, how strong and true”, performed at Ronald Reagan’s funeral at Washington National Cathedral in 2004.

At the first concert of the RCBB March series I introduced the tune to the audience, got the house lights up, and started the singalong. Much to my consternation, the singalong had no singing. No more than a handful of people in the audience knew the song.

The interesting thing is that the RCBB performed “Jerusalem” as a singalong one other time, in March 1989, on a series entitled CASTLES, CAIRNS AND COLLIERIES (Bob Bernat, conducting). I was playing in the ensemble back then, and remember that the audience knew the tune very well indeed.

In less than 20 years “Jerusalem” has fallen from enjoying the status of ‘familiar’ off the cliff into oblivion. Fascinating. I will be thinking very carefully about what songs to offer as singalongs from now on, that’s for sure.

The RCBB March series is just around the corner, and I’m looking forward to showing off a bunch of terrific soloists from the Band. One of them will be our new principal tuba, Carson McTeer.

Carson has a very impressive resume, having performed with the Colorado Philharmonic, the New Mexico Symphony, the Houston Symphony, and the New World Symphony (Miami Beach, FL). He has also performed with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Lorin Maazel and the Israel Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta.

You’ll hear Carson demonstrate his amazing virtuosity on an old-fashioned ‘air-varie’ entitled Grandfather’s Clock.

Carson lives in Morgantown, WV, with his wife, Mikylah (who is a Professor of Violin at West Virginia University), and their beautiful daughter, Mazell, which gives me an excuse to post some baby pictures.

I wonder if Mazell will get violin or tuba lessons? Hmm.

I believe that commissioning and performing new music is an important obligation for us at the River City Brass Band. Encouraging the creation of new music adds to our American musical legacy, which will then be enjoyed by generations to come (remember, even Gershwin was new once!). But it can be expensive to commission a composer to create a new work, and money is always in short supply in the performing arts.

So I’m thrilled to report that Community Connections, an initiative of Pittsburgh 250, has made it possible for the RCBB to commission seven new Pittsburgh-themed musical works to help celebrate the 250th birthday of the City of Pittsburgh. Each piece will receive its premiere on a RCBB concert in 2008, starting with the March series.

In the words of the good people at the Pittsburgh 250 organization, the RCBB commissioning project would “…affect large audiences, leave a lasting impact on communities, and contribute to the Pride & Progress of southwestern Pennsylvania” (the theme of Community Connections). Funding decisions were made by a 33-member panel of regional leaders that included representatives from 14 Southwestern Pennsylvania counties.

I can’t wait to get my hands and ears on these seven new works, and that they’ll be about our city makes it even better.

If you attended the RCBB Heinz Hall concert on November 29, you already know the stage overflowed with 300 student choristers raising a joyful noise. Here’s a photograph taken from the hall - a beautiful sight!

One of the pieces on the holiday series is Gordon Langford’s “Christmas Fantasy”. It’s a safe bet that Gordon Langford (b.1930) has been represented by more arrangements and compositions on RCBB programs than anyone else in our 26-year history.

In addition to his hundreds of works for brass band, Gordon Langford is often employed by Hollywood as an orchestrator, having worked on Raiders of the Lost Ark, Superman II, First Great Train Robbery, Clash of the Titans and Return to Oz, among others.

While looking over his career, I found something interesting. Some of his compositions and arrangements were written as ‘Test Card’ music in the 1960s and 70s by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

A test card (we know it better in the USA as a test pattern) was a television signal broadcast at times when the transmitter was active but no program was being broadcast. Test cards were accompanied by music written especially for them to avoid having to pay licensing fees for existing compositions. Nowadays there is a cult following for test card music.

With all precincts reporting and the voting certified, it’s now official - I have bragging rights where Bob Karlovits and the November mystery tune are concerned. The final tally was 52 correct identifications of “Comedian’s Galop” by Dmitri Kabalevsky, a bit under the 80 Bob needed to win. Sorry, Bob.

Wait ‘til you get a load of the opening selection on the Holiday program, “Festival Fanfare for Christmas” by John Wasson - it’s absolutely stunning. I approached John a few months ago with the idea of adapting his “Fanfare” for brass band (he wrote it under commission for the Dallas Symphony a few years ago), and he has done a masterful job. I can’t wait to play it for our audiences, and I’m guessing brass bands around the world will quickly add this tune to their libraries.

John Wasson lives in Dallas where he writes, performs (bass trombone) and teaches. Marching band fans might be interested to know that for 14 years John was the staff arranger for the Purdue University All-American Marching Band.

With Ryan Spacht now immersed in Army basic training, we are faced with the task of filling the co-principal solo cornet chair. We have three marvelous players already in the RCBB who certainly have the ability to perform in this chair - Jordan Winkler, Andrew Roe and Bill Hughes. Over this month and the spring series, we’ll give each of them a chance to be Bernie’s stand-partner. Good luck to each, they are good guys all.

The holiday season is already upon us and so is our December series, CHRISTMAS CLASSICS (first performance: November 29th at Heinz Hall). This will mark the third year that we’ll collaborate with some of the best high school choirs in Western Pennsylvania at holiday time. I am always impressed by the energy, enthusiasm and professionalism of these young people, and the audience seems to enjoy them, too.

Included on the program is “Twas the Night Before Christmas” (Clement Clarke Moore, original music by Drew Fennell), which will feature a different narrator at each concert venue. At some sites we’ll have the honor of hearing prominent state legislators deliver that grand old poem.

Also on the program are new pieces commissioned from prominent composers John Wasson, Randol Alan Bass and David Cutler. Won’t be the same old holiday program, that’s for sure.

One concert to go (Beaver Area High School) where my “mystery tune” wager is concerned (see previous posts). To win, Bob Karlovits will have to see 22 correct answers tonight. The most any site has produced is 16, so I like my chances. After tonight I’m hoping to have bragging rights with Bob for a good long time.

We’re past the halfway point in the November series, Songs of Freedom. If you attended the concerts so far (thank you!) you already know that we’re losing one of the RCBB’s most talented young players. Assistant Principal Solo Cornet Ryan Spacht won a highly competitive audition and is the newest member of “Pershing’s Own” U.S. Army Band based in Washington, DC. Congratulations, Ryan.

One of the premier musical organizations of The United States Army, “Pershing’s Own” was founded in 1922 by Army Chief of Staff General John J. Pershing and has a rich and wonderful performing history. Ryan will leave for basic training later this month. I’m really sorry to lose him, because in addition to being very, very talented Ryan is a really good guy. The Army Band is going to be pleased, I think.

My bet with Bob Karlovits is looking pretty good. You might recall from a previous post that he and I have an “over/under” wager with regard to this month’s mystery tune. I bet that we’d see fewer than 80 correct answers total, and Bob is looking for more than that.

So far (after 5 concerts with three more to go) we’ve gotten a total of 42 correct answers (2 at Gateway, 4 at Carson, 6 in Greensburg, 14 in Baldwin, 16 at Upper St. Clair). Bob is hanging his hat on this trend continuing upward. Does anybody else see something suspicious in this trend? Hmm.