Vintage (David Gillingham)

[Gallenod]

Greetings. I don't solo much these days, but I did attempt to beat myself back into some semblance of playing shape to perform David Gillingham's "Vintage" with the Vermont Winds last month at the University of Vermont. It was fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OGqs7_w78U

We almost didn't get a recording of the concert, though, as the digital recording system crashed the night of the show. Three days later we found out a UVM student had recorded us on her iPhone and there was much rejoicing. So the sound quality isn't what it might be, but I'm just happy to have something to share.

I hope you enjoy it.

Dale

[RickF]

That sounds great Dale. Glad that someone was able to get a recording. Thanks for sharing.

[tampaworth]

Enjoyed your performance very much! Great articulation, endurance, range and a wonderful band accompaniment to boot. Something to aspire to

[davewerden]

Nice job on Vintage. Sounds like you found it rewarding to do, even though you had to work to get there. If you have the time within your general schedule, I hope you are able to keep going with some reasonable kind of solo pace - it's much easier to maintain chops than to build them.

You know, the sound quality is a lot better than I was expecting from a phone!

[Gallenod]

Thanks, all.

Dave: I do play fairly regularly, though it's mostly with students and during the school year with Winds (which is sponsored by UVM). A large part of the effort for Vintage was that the only solo playing I've done since finishing college in 1980 has been the old "warhorse" pieces like Carnival of Venice, Napoli, and various Clarke and Mantia solos. They're fun and showy but not particularly demanding. So while I periodically read through stuff like the Golland 1st concerto, various Sparke solos, and whatever I'm adjudicating for Vermont All-State any given year (Beautiful Colorado this year), I'd never done a serious contemporary euphonium solo. Vintage was too much fun not to try.

Thirty years ago I was the euphonium soloist with the US Air Force Band of the West. Twenty-nine years ago I was a freshly-commissioned second lieutenant assigned to a munitions maintenance squadron. Today I'm an IT specialist for the Department of Homeland Security. There have been chunks of time where I didn't have any opportunity to play for two or three years at a time. It's been pretty steady since I retired from the Air Force in 2001, though, and my students inspire me to try to be a better musician so I can be a good example for them.

So at this point, as long as I can still breathe and produce a decent sound, I'll play as much as I can.