Tuba players fest on music

By CHANCE PRIGGE

Journal Staff Writer

Tubas, tubas, tubas.

Dozens of them came marching into the Edelweiss Tent Sunday afternoon at Heritagefest after a march down the festgrounds' parade strip.

It was time for the annual Tuba Mania.

Perched a few feet off the ground was Martin Meidl, who conducted the sea of tuba players in front of him.

"It's always a pleasure for me to get this group back together," he said.

The event kicked off with the German and American national anthems.

The group played a diverse selection of songs, at least as diverse as a tuba will allow. It played polka songs, marches and patriotic tunes.

Most of the songs were arranged or written by Curt Iverson, Red McLeod or Tom Wells, who was featured at the event.

"For me it's a good opportunity to do something fun and new," Wells said.

Wells performed as a soloist this year, which he also did last year. This is his third appearance in Tuba Mania, his first being five years ago.

"It's fun just to be with other tuba players," Wells said. "There's a lot of camaraderie that goes with that."

One of the pieces performed was "Doo Dittle Bo Bittle," a piece Wells wrote for Heritagefest and also performed last year.

It was noticeably different from the rest of the event's pieces. Wells played a sousaphone and tap-danced, all to the audience's excitement.

"It's sort of a funky little tune," Wells said. "Meidl lets me come up with something new each time."

The arrangements are prepared for the tuba players about a year ahead of time. Meidl compiles a book with all the music.

"For Martin there's a lot of organizational work that he does," Wells said.

The group only practices once before the show, which is the morning of Tuba Mania.

"Some people have done it for a number of years, so it gets easier to practice," Wells said.

On Sunday, the group started with a German march McLeod wrote specifically for Heritagefest, and it then went into a medley of many German songs, also by McLeod.

A few songs in, the group played "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."

"We had these written for the ensemble a year ago," Meidl said, regarding the song being played after Sept. 11.

Other songs included "The Beer Barrel Polka," "The Cuckoo Waltz" and "Just Because I'm German Doesn't Mean I Can't be Hip," which had no tubas playing but was a clap- and sing-a-long song for the audience.

The song was fitting for a festival that had people walking around in T-shirts that said "Not only am I perfect, I'm German, too."

The event ended with "Stars and Stripes Forever," followed by German drinking song "Ein Prosit."

Wells was unsure when he was going to be back at Tuba Fest, though he wanted to return.

"I think I'll be back in the future," Wells said. "I don't know if it will be next year -- sometime in the future. I'd very much love to come back."

Another musical activity at Heritagefest is the Native American Musical Instruments stand.

It features Native American crafts and the music of Wind Rodriguez.

The music, which is always playing at the stand, is Rodriguez covering various popular American music. Everything from The Beatles' "Yesterday" to Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" can be heard.

Rodriguez plays a Native American flute and a siqu, another wind instrument, which he got from South America.

"We travel all around the states," said Rodriguez, who is originally from New Mexico. "I've been traveling for six or seven months."

He said business was bad at his booth Friday but picked up Saturday, with a lot of people showing interest.

"This is everybody's popular music," he said.

Although Heritagefest finished its first weekend, the merriment resumes Friday and concludes for the year Sunday.

New acts next weekend include Austria's Hohberg Buam, the Melody Sextett, Mexican folk dancers, The Larsons and The Keynotes, St. Paul's Bavarian Musikmeisters, Germany's Tanz und Trachtengruppe, Cansa 'yapi Oyate, the Schell's Hobo Band, the Minnesota Traditional Morris Dancers, Germany's Nauheimer Jugenorchester, and Hanka's Lin Hans Rud Dancers.

A parade will be at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, and many more Zicke Zackes will likely be yelled.