The Texas Tech University Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble has existed in various incarnations since the late 1960's, with

ensembles formed

TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY

under professor of tuba and euphonium David Payne for what later became annual "Groundhog Day" concerts and culminating in the
TUBAPOWER ensemble in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The ensemble re-formed as a large performing group under the direction of Kevin Wass in
2002. Since that time, the ensemble has performed at the International Tuba Euphonium Conferences in Denver, Cincinnati, Tucson,
Bloomington, Knoxville, Iowa City, and Linz, Austria, as well as the 2021 Virtual Tuba Euphonium Conference and eight regional ITEA

TUBA-EUPHONIUM ENSEMBLE
conferences. Other appearances include the Texas Music Educators Association Clinic/Convention in San Antonio, the TTU School of Music
"Sound Encounters" and “Ignite!” concerts, the TTU Relay for Life, the TTU College of Visual and Performing Arts "Christmas in November"
event, and the “Plainview Symphony Presents” series.
Kevin Wass, Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at Texas Tech University, holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree
from the University of Michigan, the Bachelor of Science degree (Summa cum laude) in Music Education from Dana
College, and the Master of Music degree and Performer's Certificate from Indiana University. He has performed
KEVIN WASS, DIRECTOR
with a wide range of ensembles, including the Disneyland All-American College Band, the Music Academy of the
West Festival Orchestra, the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, the Omaha, Lincoln, and Honolulu Symphony Orchestras,
DARION JACKSON, GUEST CONDUCTOR
Santa Fe Pro Musica and various brass chamber groups. Solo appearances have included competitions in the United
States, Canada, and the Czech Republic, and recitals and concerto appearances at colleges, universities, and regional
and international tuba-euphonium conferences. His teaching background is equally varied, with experience as a band
and orchestra director at the elementary and high school levels as well as private studio and classroom teaching at
the college level. In addition to his duties at Tech, Dr. Wass has served on the faculty of the Las Vegas Music Festival
and currently serves as Principal Tuba of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra. His principal studies have been with
Fritz Kaenzig, Daniel Perantoni, Harvey Phillips, and Craig Fuller.

EUPHONIUMS
Kyle Boschen 1st year, MUED/MUPF Amarillo, TX Randall HS
Beth Hermanson MM Wind Conducting Phoenix, AZ BM Northern Arizona Univ.
Cody Hutchison DMA Performance Jonesboro, AR BM/BME Arkansas State Univ.,
MM Univ. of Arkansas
Brigit Johnson 3rd year, MUED Santa Fe, NM Santa Fe HS
st
Matthew Jourdan 1 year, MUED Austin, TX Westwood HS
Julia Krawietz 4th year, MUED Bulverde, TX Smithson Valley HS
Reno Ruiz 2nd year, MUED/MUPF Katy, TX College Station HS
Katie Rumbo 4th year, MUED Frisco, TX Centennial HS

TUBAS
Zach Bixler 4th year, MUED Round Rock, TX Round Rock HS
st
Bailey Dorsey 1 year, MUED Monument, CO Lakewood HS
Zachary Dukeminier 2nd year, MUED/MUPF Santa Fe, NM New Mexico School for the Arts
Andrew Fowler 5th year, MUED Allen, TX Allen HS
2022 T EXAS M USIC E DUCATORS A SSOCIATION CONVENTION
Darion Jackson 4th year, MUED Greenville, MS North Mesquite HS (TX)
CC B RIDGE HALL M USIC S HOWCASE
Seth Shaffer DMA Performance Southlake, TX BME Texas Christian Univ.,
F RIDAY , F EBRUARY 11, 11:00 AM
MM Univ. of California Los Angeles
nd
David Stepanenko 2 year, BBA Management Kingwood, TX Kingwood HS
Elaine Unger 5th year, MUED Pleasanton, TX Pleasanton HS
Ignition (2019) Kevin Day (b. 1996)
ig ni tion /ig' niSH(Ə)n/ noun
• the action of setting something on fire or starting to burn
• the process of starting the combustion of fuel in the cylinders of an internal combustion engine
Ignition (2019) is only the second tuba-euphonium ensemble piece that I have written. I myself play tuba and euphonium, but I strangely enough haven't
written a lot of tuba or euphonium music. Most of my music is for band, orchestra, and chamber works. Writing this work was a chance to try new things
and create something fun and challenging for other tuba and euphonium players.
Ignition was commissioned by Dr. James Jackson Ill for The Hartt School Tuba Euphonium Ensemble at the University of Hartford, Connecticut. The piece
is a fast, energetic, and high-octane composition that features the more technical and virtuosic side of low brass playing, while also having contrasting lyrical
sections. The piece depicts the ignition of a racecar on its journey to win a race and the obstacles that it must maneuver around in order to be victorious.
-program note by the composer
Sara Bill Photography/Karen Cubides
An American whose music has been characterized by “propulsive, syncopated rhythms, colorful orchestration, and
instrumental virtuosity,” (Robert Kirzinger, BSO) Miami-based Composer Kevin Day has quickly emerged as one of
Agency
the leading young voices in the world of music composition today, whose music ranges from powerfully introspective
to joyous exuberance. Day was born in Charleston, West Virginia and is a native of Arlington, Texas. His father was
a prominent hip-hop producer in the late-1980s to early 90s in Southern California, and his mother was a sought-
after gospel singer from West Virginia, singing alongside the likes of Mel Torme and Kirk Franklin. Kevin Day is an
internationally acclaimed composer, conductor, and pianist, whose music often intersects between the worlds of
jazz, minimalism, Latin music, fusion, and contemporary classical idioms.
A winner of the BMI Student Composer Award and many other honors, Day has composed over 200 works, and
has had numerous performances throughout the United States, Russia, Austria, Australia, Taiwan, South Africa, and
Japan. His works have been programmed by major orchestras and wind bands, including the Boston Symphony,
Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony, Tulsa Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, the UT Wind Ensemble, several
top military bands, and more. His works have also been performed at Carnegie Hall, Rachmaninov Hall (Russia), The Midwest Clinic, TMEA,
and other major venues. Day has collaborated with the likes of David Childs, Nicki Roman, James Markey, Wendy Richman, Jens Lindemann,
Demondrae Thurman, Hiram Diaz, Steven Cohen, Jeremy Lewis, and more on works for their respective instruments, as well as chamber
ensembles like ONE FOUND SOUND, Axiom Brass, Ensemble Dal Niente, The Sheffield Chamber Players, The Puerto Rican Trombone
Ensemble, The Zenith Saxophone Quartet, The Tesla Quartet, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra Low Brass Section. He has been mentored
by composers Gabriela Lena Frank, Frank Ticheli, John Mackey, William Owens, Julie Giroux, Marcos Balter, Anthony Cheung, Matthew Evan
Taylor, and Valerie Coleman.
Day is currently earning his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Composition at the University of Miami Frost School of Music, and is a recipient
of the UMiami Graduate School Dean's Fellowship. He currently studies composition with Lansing McLoskey, Charles Norman Mason, and
Dorothy Hindman, as well as jazz piano with Shelly Berg and Martin Bejeramo. Day holds a Master of Music in Composition Degree from the
University of Georgia, where he studied with Peter Van Zandt Lane, Emily Koh, and Cynthia Johnston Turner. He received his Bachelor of
Music Degree in Performance from Texas Christian University (TCU), where he studied with Richard Murrow, Till Meyn, Blaise Ferrandino,
and Neil Anderson-Himmelspach. His works are published with Murphy Music Press, Dev Music Publishing, Cimarron Music, M&M Music Press,
and Kevin Day Music. Day currently serves as the Vice President for the Millennium Composers Initiative and is an alumnus of Kappa Kappa
Psi and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.
Octet No. 2: Frescos de Bonampak (2003) Leroy Osmon (b. 1948)
When Bonampak was constructed it was a site of average or little importance; however, today it is one of the most comprehensive collections of Mayan
paintings providing historians with vital information. Discovered in 1946 it is situated on the edge of the Lancandon Forest in Chiapas, Mexico. The paintings
consist of battle depictions, brutality and cruelty, a fertility dance (the music performed on trumpets, turtle shells and rattles), human sacrifice, judgement
and torture of prisoners, the sovereign Chaan-Muan, constellations (including a cosmic monster), and daily life and dress.
The "Frescos de Bonampak" (Octet No. 2) was commissioned by Mark Morette (Mark Custom Recording Service) for performance by the Tennessee Tech
University Tuba Ensemble (R. Winston Morris, Director) and premiered in Carnegie Hall, New York, NY, January 2003. This work can be performed by
any combination of 8 (or more) bass clef instruments. This work is dedicated to my wife Cay Smith Osmon and my dear Yucatecan (some being Mayan)
friends: Desiderio Caamal, David Torres, Ronnie Beth Bush and Daniel Ninburg.
-program note by the composer
Dr. Leroy Osmon (B.S., M.M., D.M.A.) is an internationally-known composer/conductor/educator who is presently
living in Merida, Yucatan. His published compositions number more than 125 and are represented by seven
publishers in the United States, Mexico, England, and The Netherlands. For more than twenty years, Osmon has
worked as an advisor/consultant to the University of Yucatan (UADY) Orquesta de Camara.
Osmon receives commissions for all music genres and he has received the American Society of Composers,
Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Standard Music Award for Composition 23 times and the Medallion La Ville De
Contrexeville (Contrexeville, France) twice. His works have been performed at every major music conference in
the United States. His music has been performed as well in Europe, Australia, Japan, Israel, India and Mexico. He
has received 11 Grammy List Nominations: 2004, 2008, 2019, and 2020. For 23 consecutive years, Osmon has
had a work performed at the prestigious Midwest International Band and Orchestra Convention in Chicago, Illinois.
In January 2008, Leroy Osmon was nominated for both a Pulitzer Prize and the University of Louisville Graweme
er Award for Music composition for “Zeraim from the Book of Ruth.” Again, in 2021, Dr. Osmon was nominated
for a Pulitzer Prize for his composition “Charuhas: Sinfonia Concertante for 10 Musicians.”
Earth 2020 (2022) Darion Jackson (b. 2000)
WORLD PREMIERE
Earth 2020 is an original work created for the Texas Tech University Tuba and Euphonium ensemble. The piece invites the
listener to voyage on a musical journey of Premonition, Joy, Confrontation, Destruction, and Rebirth as it relates to the current
climate crisis that threatens all life on Earth. Please enjoy Earth 2020.
-program note by the composer
Darion Jackson is a 4th year student at Texas Tech University studying Music Education. Darion is originally from
Greenville, Mississippi. The Magnolia state is also referred as "The Birthplace of American Music", and has produced
several well-known musicians such as Elvis Presley, Robert Johnson, B.B. King, Britney Spears, etc. He is a graduate
of North Mesquite High School in Mesquite, TX, where he was an all-state tuba player. Darion began studying the
art of composition during the initial outbreak of Covid-19 and wrote his first composition for tuba-euphonium
ensemble, “Gods Upon Medusa,” in 2020. He intends to pursue a career in Media and Film Composition.
Patterns (1954/1978) Mary Jeanne van Appledorn (1927-2014)
Patterns was originally written for horn quintet in 1954 and later adapted for three euphoniums and two tubas on the suggestion (and with the
participation) of Texas Tech Tuba and Euphonium Professor David Payne. Current TTU professor Kevin Wass found the manuscript of the
tuba and euphonium arrangement in a file cabinet and after reading it with the full tuba-euphonium ensemble had it re-engraved and edited by
a group of composition students. The TTU ensemble has performed Patterns at several events, including regional and international conferences
of the International Tuba Euphonium Association. We believe this is the first time it has been performed at a TMEA conference, though!
Dr. Mary Jeanne van Appledorn, or “Dr. Van” as she was affectionately known at TTU, was a fixture of the
Texas Tech University Music faculty for more than 50 years. She was born in Holland, Michigan, and studied at
the Eastman School of Music, where she received Bachelor of Music (1948) and Master of Music (1950) degrees
along with a PhD (1966). While at Eastman, she studied composition with Bernard Rogers and Alan Hovhaness,
and she had further studies in computer-synthesized sound at MIT in the early 1980’s. She joined the faculty of
the department of music at then-Texas Technological College in 1950 and was appointed Paul Whitfield Horn
Professor in 1989, serving under that title until her retirement in 2008. Her prizes include the Premier Prix,
Dijon, and awards from the Texas Composers Guild and ASCAP.
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians says : “Van Appledorn’s music displays a wide range of styles
and compositional procedures. The character of each work is rooted in its text or in the performance context
of the group for which it was composed. Many works combine strong jazz influences, unusual timbres and
extended instrumental techniques with highly organic structures, intricate contrapuntal procedures and substantial motivic development. Some
compositions are inspired by programmes or descriptive titles; others require virtuoso technique.”
The TTU Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble presents Patterns in this performance in loving memory of both Dr. Van and Prof. David Payne, who died
in June 2021.