Someone put our son on Youtube.

We were surfing through Youtube tonight and found out someone put our son playing his tuba on about 8 months ago. He was at the International Tuba Euphonium Convention in Cincinnati last year. He was not attending TCU yet but went with the TCU Tuba Ensemble to observe. The video was shot while he was in the Mirafone Tuba booth playing on the new prototype F tuba. He was just messing around and played the introduction to Through the Fire and Flames by Dragonforce. Someone was there with a camera and shot it and posted it.

It was quite a shock to find it without previously knowing about it. One of the guys who plays with him at TCU texted him and said "Man you have quite a following on Youtube". Made us go looking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFWbB5kGZQE

 

He is actually better now than he was then. After 2 semesters of solid 4 to 6 hour a day practice seems to have paid off. I am going to try to get him to record and post some more of the things he has done. I get to brag. He does not like to. He says that there is always someone out there better or trying to knock him off so he just focuses and goes about his business.

He got a real nice compliment from a well known in the tuba world performer and President of Mirafone tubas, Marcus Theinert. A few months ago he heard J.J. play and said that he holds the possibility of being one of the greatest tuba player of all time. His professor, in order to keep his head from overinflating, just replied, "yeah, he does pretty good. We will just have to wait and see".

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y75ryZC8LB0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYOsNp4O7AU&feature=related

This is J.J.'s mentor. J.J. has been through a number of masters classes with him. Oystein told him that he stands to be very renowned if he continues to improve like he is. Oystein is a fantastic player and shows the flexibility of the tuba and how it can do things most people never dreamed possible-----if you can get past his facial expressions........

When I hear the two of them play Carnival of Venice I have a hard time telling them apart. I don't know where the talent came from as it was not from me. I, like you, never knew a tuba could be played like that until he showed me. He has a couple of other rock guitar solos worked out that I need to get him to record.......so I can brag some more, since he will not brag about himself at all.

 

One of his friends at TCU transcribed Cliffs of Dover by Eric Johnson for tuba. He has it worked up pretty well. I really like the way Johnson does it on the guitar. I will wait until J.J. gets his part worked out before I say how it sounds on tuba.........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55nAwmVLQSk

J.J. says he may record a video response on Youtube but has not made up his mind. He says he does not want to draw a lot of attention to himself. I told him that if he is choosing music performance for his career that he needs all the exposure he can get. He performed his jury yesterday for his end of semester final in performance. The jurists were his tuba professor, the trumpet professor, trombone professor, french horn professor and the horn player from the Fort Worth Symphony. He was told that he nailed the solo piece and the scales.

We are still waiting to hear how he placed in the initial round of the Falcone International Tuba competition that he mailed his audition to. If he is selected he will be going to Detroit in August for semi-finals and finals competition. It would be a real feather in the cap to win this as a college freshman. His professor tells us that he stands a very good chance of doing it. And this professor has had two of his former students who won it and went on to be well known tubists.

We will let you know what we find out. J.J. (Shiloh Phoenix on Youtube) thanks you for all the good words and support. He loves Ferrarichat and wishes I still worked with Ferrari................Me too..........

 

Thanks guys.

We got some somewhat disappointing news today. J.J. placed first alternate in the Falcone. About 3000 players worldwide entered the competition. The top ten make the semi-finals in Detroit in August and he placed 11th.

We also found out that the audition tapes could be edited. He did not have his edited as he somehow assumed that the tapes had to be pure. Several of the players that he knows finished in the top ten and he has beaten them in every competition they have been in but that was in live competition, not recorded. But, it is all a learning experience and the more he learns as he begins in this the better it will make him in the long run.

This just makes him more determined to work harder for what he wants. I pity the poor guys in live competition against him. One player he knows who placed 10th is from Southlake and has never finished any closer than 13 chair positions behind J.J. J.J. called to congratulate him and that is when he found out that the tapes could be edited. The other player said they spent three days in the studio working out the best audition tape possible. J.J. did not have a studio to record in and was recorded in the Pepsico Recital Hall at TCU. Met with the accompanist at 9am and finished by 11am. The technician cut the raw tape to a finished tape and they sent it off the same day. Next time it is in the studio a couple of weeks in advance and get professional editing to level the playing field. Now we know.

Oh well, he is not as discouraged as I am for him. He works very hard and I just want it all to be equal for all involved. But, he is just a freshman and has a lot of time left to prove what he can really do.

The TCU marching band is going to feature the tuba section during next years shows playing "Fire" and "Voodoo Child" by Hendrix. The director said they are going to mike J.J. and have him play the guitar part. This should be interesting. I am really surprised they are not going to play "Purple Haze". If you know TCU, you know what I mean. They are purple crazy there. Their catch phrase this year is "Bleed purple, think green".....

 

You are right, totally......

I made a slight mistake when I posted the results. I thought the top 10 advance to the finals. Actually it is the top 7 so he finished 8th. And there were not 3000 worldwide entrants in the competition but a few over 5600 worldwide. So, 7th out of 5600 is pretty good I think.

A friend of J.J.'s who was 1st chair all-state in Texas the year before J.J. was 1st chair all-state did not even make the list of alternates and he has won the Falcone four times in a row. He is not pleased with the judging this year. But, maybe the competition has just gotten better.......who knows.

Onward and upward,,,,,,,,,through the fog!!!!!!!!!1

 

It will be an open invitation to all F/Chat enthusiasts.....thanks for the words....he knows.........

I was reading the responses on Youtube. From the last one, I would say there is at least one person out there who really thinks a lot of him...........besides all of us...