A serenade to mom

Tuba soloist Velvet Brown takes concert to new low

By R. Overdorff

- For the CDT

Make this Mother’s Day tuba terrific by serenading mom with some Tchaikovsky and Gershwin. It’s not time to run out and take tuba lessons, however. The State College Area Municipal Band will do the work for you.

Photo provided

Penn State associate professor of tuba and euphonium Velvet Brown will be the featured soloist at the State College Area Municipal Band’s Mother’s Day concert.

The band will hold its annual Mother’s Day concert, which is open to the public free of charge.

“What better why to spend time with your mother than to bring her to hear a great band, a great soloist and some great music,” band conductor Ned Deihl said. “Plus, all mothers will receive a carnation.”

For the past 27 years, the Mother’s Day concert has attracted music fans from across the area in addition to soloists who help make the event sparkle even more.

“We are honored to have this year as our soloist, internationally known tuba performed by Velvet Brown,” Deihl said. “Many of the soloists we have worked with over the years came from outside the area. It is nice to have someone this year from our own community.”

Brown, an associate professor of tuba and euphonium at Penn State, has been a featured musician around the world. She recently returned from Japan after teaching a tuba clinic.

That same instrument will certainly get a workout during the concert, when Brown takes to the stage to perform two popular pieces: Curnow’s “Fantasia for Tuba” and the virtuosic “Czardas.”

“For many years, the tuba was considered an instrument for a male,” Deihl said. “Velvet Brown does an outstanding job. She has great control and ease with the instrument.”

Highlights of Brown’s career include appearing in more than a dozen countries, performing with the Altoona Symphony Orchestra and the River City Brass Band, as well as founding three brass ensembles. She has also released three solo CDs featuring her passion for music.

“We always try and have a good mix of music and always have a march,” Deihl said. “We tend to get an older audience, so we always try and have music that is from that era.”

For the past seven weeks, the band has practiced and prepared for the concert, which will also include tunes such as “Stardust” and “An American in Paris.” The rousing “1812 Overture” by Tchaikovsky and a symphonic march also will be performed by the band.

The State College Area Municipal Band's Mother's Day concert will be at 3 p.m. Sunday at the State College Area High School South Building auditorium. Visit http://crpr.centreconnect.org for more information.