Dan Perantoni has a habit of being involved with first-rate musical organizations, and one suspects that he just might have something to do with their successes. It may have begun when he started studying tuba with the legendary Paganini of the Tuba-Harvey Phillips. An impressive soloist, Perantoni established a long standing chamber music relationship with the St. Louis Brass Quintet, and was a founding member of Summit Brass. As a teacher, he has graced the University of Illinois, Arizona State, and is currently provost-professor at The Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. “The Fourth Valve” is delighted to listen as provost professor Perantoni perfectly picks his points. Enjoy!
1. Who are your inspirations?
Musical?
Harvey Phillips, Arnold Jacobs,
Bill Evans, Frank Sinatra.
& non-musical?
Fred Marrach, Gerhard Meinl, Perter Hirsbruner Sr.
2. What does it take to have a really happening studio beyond being a great teacher and performer?
Effective recruiting, Communication
3. How do you approach solo tuba differently with regard to classical music and jazz. How do you attract or find audiences most effectively?
Same approach for all- listening and singing.
Building an audience –Years of marketing – name recognition- good products- commissioning good new works- word of mouth.
4. Who are the most interesting young orchestral tubists out there today?
Jeff Anderson, San Francisco; Steve Campbell,
Minnesota—my all time favorite orchestra Pro—Gene Pokorney, Chicago Symphony
5. What do you look for in a Bb, C or Eb tuba?
For all- evenness of good sound and response in all registers- great intonation- quality workmanship.
6. How would you compare the approach to brass quintet of Charles Daellenbach, Arnold Jacobs, and Harvey Phillips?
Harvey Phillips was really the most important person for the future of the Brass Quintet with the founding of the New York Brass Quintet [replacing Julian Menken-bass trombone-ed.]. There were the brass version of the “set”, famous String Quartets. There were hardly any serious music for brass quintet other than Ewald and then the many Robert King arrangements. So NYBQ commissioned numerous new works by serious composers such as Gunther Schuller, Alvan Etler, Eugene Bozza, etc. They were the first to introduce performing for young audiences. They were the first Bras Quintet group to be presented by Columbia Artists. As a result, they did many concerts at Major Universities and concert halls throughout the United States. They were the inspiration for the many groups in the world today.
Arnold Jacobs. The CSO quintet was a spin off of the Chicago Symphony.
They played mostly standard transcriptions and never was never that actice as compared to the New York Brass Quintet.
Charles DaellenbachWith Canadian brass you have a full time Group. Charles took his young audience show and used it for mature audiences-made entertainment part of their show.
Over the years, he commissioned over 250 works!
The group has always kept high standards of performance.
Daellenbach hired gifted composers to do Canadian Brass arrangements-Luther Henderson, Arthur Frackenpol, etc. It helped that the Canadian Government supported them through grants.
7. What do you remember most of your professionals chamber music groups? What made the great ones great?
The Phillip Jones Brass Ensemble was a big influence into David Hickman and the members of the Saint Louis Brass to form the Summit Brass. We put together the best perfumers in the United States and got a record Contract before we had even played our first Concert.
What makes a group great is Great performers, Great arrangements and compositions, and musician who are always part of the team.
8. Baadsvik, Childs, Mead-most full time brass soloists seem to have four valves. What are they doing right that solo trumpeters, hornists, and trombonists are not?
Baadsvik and Childs are supported mostly by funding by their countries. David Childs, in particular, comes from the famous Child Brothers who are today the major conducotrs of the British Brass Bands.
You did have many soloists on trumpet in the past, such as Maurice Andre, and on horn, like Dennis Brain.
9. What are they key ingredients to a great music school at the University? What do IU and your other previous institutions do best?
The University of Illinois
New Music and Music Education
Arizona State University
Music Therapy
Indiana University
IU is rated the number one school in the country—a major university and conservatory tied into one. It is particularly known for its Opera Department
and its outstanding faculty on every instrument.
c. 2016 David William Brubeck All Rights Reserved. www.davidbrubeck.com
The Fourth Valve tm is an up-close, shoot-from-the-hip interview series dedicated to musicians who play the tuba or euphonium. We at davidbrubeck.com are delighted and grateful to share the musical, professional and personal insights of some of the world’s great musicians and masters of low brass. The interview series was launched with an interview of Deanna Swoboda as a tribute to our first published article-an interview with Connie Weldon. For now, let’s just focus on tuba, and leave the fantastic euphoniums for another post. You wouldn’t believe how many terrific tuba interviews we have, so we’ll tell you: Craig Knox, Mike Roylance, Sergio Carolina, Beth Wiese, R. Winston Morris, Aaron Tindall, Aaron McCalla, Chitate Kagawa, Marty Erickson, Oystein Baadsvik, Don Harry, John Stevens, Jim Self, Beth Mitchell, John van Houten, Mike Roylance and Deanna Swoboda!Enjoy!
Canadian Brass, Windsync, Boston Brass, Mnozil Brass, Spanish Brass, Dallas Brass, Seraph, Atlantic Brass Quintet