ITEA Journal Volume 48 Number 3 (Spring 2021)
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President's Corner:
by Gail Robertson
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. - Eleanor Roosevelt
Here we are again! We have made it to spring, a time of renewal and a "brand new look" at budding colors and growth as we glance all around. Paralleled with the visual growth we "see," we are slowly coming back to "hearing" more sounds as we once did. Little by little, our worlds are opening back up with the return of live performances, collaborations, and travels. To me, the past year has felt like someone pressed the pause button. While my mind never stopped dreaming, I understood we all had to learn how to share our dreams in new ways. We have all been practicing hard and are ready to get going again, this time with more passion and a renewed support for each other.
Gail Robertson, ITEA President
Many exciting things have been happening behind the scenes. Thanks to John Manning and his conference planning team, we will host our first ever Virtual Tuba Euphonium Conference (VTEC) (May 29 - June 2, 2021). Kudos to Vice President James Gourlay and Jamie Lipton (our newly appointed ITEC Competitions Coordinator), we will also host our brand-new Virtual Solo and "Tuba-plus" Ensemble Competition. We are excited to offer five different categories of age groups to reach as many members as possible and a diverse list of solo works for you to discover and prepare. To encourage more international competitors, our good friend of Cimarron Music Press, Bryan Doughty, has converted many of the competition tuba parts for B-flat and E-flat tubas. I hope you all have recorded your parts for our first ITEA Virtual Ensemble. I chose the title, "The Persistence March." In this title, the word persistence bears within it two related words, "perseverance" - continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition and the state of being "steadfast" - resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering. Be determined. Refuse to give up. May new music continue to give us voice, uplift audiences, infuse our lives with meaning, bolster our indefatigable will, and steady us as we successfully navigate hard times. Thank you, Scott Sutherland, for your expertise in creating a masterful video collaboration for us all to cherish forever. For more information about these events, please see a VTEC announcement in this issue from our Conference Coordinator, John Manning.
In May 1973, my former teacher, Harvey Phillips, hosted the First International Tuba Symposium-Workshop in Bloomington, Indiana. The goals of the symposium workshop were "to redefine the role of the tuba, reshape both the self-concept of tubists and their public persona, explore new direction in techniques and performance, improve methods and teaching materials, generate new compositions, and expand performance opportunities." These principles transitioned into areas of focus for the newly founded Tubists Universal Brotherhood Association and they continue on in ITEA while we strive for a new and diverse membership from around the world.
To offer more options for our international friends of the tuba and euphonium, Eduardo Nogueroles (ITEA Board Member and former President of the Spanish Association of Tubas and Euphoniums) offered a wonderful suggestion to make our website more accessible. Due to the efforts of ITEA "web-king" Jason Smith, we are happy to announce that our website is now available in over 100 languages!
By the time you read this, our new ITEA Vice-President/President-Elect will have been decided from your votes! Thank you to Adam Frey and Øystein Baadsvik for accepting the nomination. We are very fortunate to have such powerful candidates and I feel confident that our organization will continue to be led to many new endeavors with much success.
In closing what is my final President's Corner column, I must thank you all for having faith in me and for giving me the honor to serve as your president. "To serve as Vice President-President of ITEA is beyond any dream. " These are the words that I wrote four years ago in my candidate's message. Even during a pandemic, the past two years have proven to be that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (and my dream). Thank you to the Executive Committee for your support and for always putting ITEA first. It has been an honor to work alongside and be part of such a resourceful and talented leadership team. Special thanks to Kevin Wass, Scott Hanson, and Jerry Young, whose guidance and mentorship kept me on track and will sustain me into the future! Let us all welcome incoming President James Gourlay, who will carry on ITEA's traditions of leadership and excellence. James, I look forward to our virtual duets and working alongside you as Past-President.
Please join in celebrating all things tuba and euphonium at VTEC. Continue to be kind and support each other. We are stronger together.
Respectfully at your service,
Gail Robertson
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