Fairey's principal euphonium player Mark Bousie recently enjoyed his trip to Ohio where he played a major part in the success of the 2009 Brass Arts Festival.

Major event

Twelve brass bands and seven brass ensembles recently converged on the campus of Ohio State University for, what is quickly becoming one of the major events on the North American brass band calendar — the Ohio Brass Arts Festival (OBAF).

Now in it’s third year, the event is becoming well established with a great deal of interest from bands in and around Ohio State.

Mark Bousie

This year’s event began late Friday afternoon with a euphonium workshop presented by Fairey’s star Mark Bousie. Mark had the opportunity to also work at Capital University earlier in the week, and two of their brass ensembles were featured later that evening.

Mark had the opportunity to also work at Capital University earlier in the week, and two of their brass ensembles were featured later that evening4BR

Opening concert

An opening concert by the Ohio Brass Band (Winners of the 2008 US Open Most Entertaining Award), several high-school percussion ensembles and soloists and a performance by one of the local Salvation Army bands (Chapel at Worthington Woods), rounded out the performances for the evening.

New music

Friday evening concluded with the Repertoire Band. All were invited to take the stage and sight-read through new brass band repertoire (much of it provided by MMI Music) as well performing with the three finalists for the Ohio Brass Arts Festival composition contest sponsored by Jagrins Music.

American Landscape

The winning piece was ‘American Landscape’ by Benjamin Tubb, with the other two finalists an American spiritual “Talk About Sufferin’ Here Below” by Martin Tousignant, who was present to talk about his piece, and a traditional Irish piece, “She Moved Through the Fair” by James E. Patrick.

Both the Ohio Brass Arts Festival committee and Jagrins were pleased with the improvements in numbers and quality of entrants this year.

Marathon Day

Saturday’s marathon day, which ran from 9am-9pm, began with several youth bands and university brass ensembles.

Alan Couch, formerly a trumpet player with the Cleveland Orchestra, guest conducted the Otterbein Trumpet Ensemble and later gave a trumpet masterclass, bringing a unique perspective to the primarily brass band audience.

Fast pace

Many other bands played throughout the day with fast-paced stage changes keeping the festival moving along, until the afternoon concluded with a performance by the host Central Ohio Brass Band.

It is quite remarkable to note the improved musicality of many of the groups from the first year of OBAF. While many might argue nothing helps improve fine-tuning music like a contest, OBAF has done a great job of giving bands a musical focus, yet providing an encouraging atmosphere.

Performers

Many of the performers would stay and watch the other groups no matter the skill level of the band on stage.

The audience was a bit sparse for some of the day, and this is the area the festival has the most room to grow. However, the evening Gala Concert, the ‘God & Country’ concert featuring the Brass Band of Columbus and London Citadel Band had quite a full hall and some real excitement as both groups were at the top of their game.

Next year

Next years Ohio Brass Arts Festival will take place April 2nd-3rd, 2010, once more at The Ohio State University in Columbus.

More information (including how to become a participating band) can be found at www.ohiobrassbands.com.

Pat Herak