Dallas Brass

For my birthday this year my parents surprised me with some tickets to a concert by the Dallas Brass at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts. I didn't really even know that this place existed. Although it is not 2 miles from our apartment it is sort of off the beaten path. Our seats were very good and the concert was outstanding. I was a little leery as part of the deal was that they had spent some time holding clinics at local schools and they had a group of middle schoolers play with them on one piece and a group of high schoolers play on another group. I was pleasantly surprised at the middle school performance, which was a Star Wars medley. It was excellently arranged so that the middle schoolers could carry some of the melody while staying well within their range of ability. The high schoolers did a patriotic number (the theme of the concert was "An American Journey") and did it very well.

The members of Dallas Brass were very impressive, and some point in the concert they each got a chance to steal the spotlight. They also injected a lot of humor (especially from leader Michael Levine) which the young audience especially appreciated. I think my favorite thing was the horn player. His tone was gorgeous and you don't hear a lot of horn these days (unless you are watching Star Trek). They also did a vocal piece in which most of the audience really liked the soloists, but I heard some outstanding falsetto coming from his general direction. The trumpet players showed off quite a few different instruments including some very nice piccolo trumpet work. The tuba player was extremely familiar, but I can't figure out where I've seen him before. Ferris? Western? Somewhere. He played an outstanding solo featuring some very innovative techniques that clinched my feeling that I've seen him somewhere before.

This was a really nice evening and I'm very thankful that my parents are so thoughtful.