Scores of

horns blow

in Tubamania

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- The absence of the Saturday tourist crowds was noticeable upon entry into Heritagefest at the Brown County Fairgrounds on Sunday.

It wasn't deserted. It was just less packed than Saturday.

The streets of New Ulm were missing the large coaches and shuttle buses. The sidewalks seemed their usual, quiet selves. The lines for coupons and food and beer weren't as long and the souvenir stands weren't as crowded.

"Sunday always sees more of a local crowd," said Heritagefest, Inc. President Hugh Nierengarten. "It's a little less the family reunion crowd, but there are a lot of folks who just come here and plant themselves."

Sunday festgoers planted themselves mainly in the music tents where the New Ulm Municipal Band played its share of German marches and polkas. German visitors played their last sets before embarking on tours of the Midwest. The fesitval's next set of German bands will arrive later this week.

But if there was one thing people planted themselves for, it was Tubamania. Yes, that's right. Tubamania.

Scores of tuba players marched into the Edelweiss Tent at 2:30 led by the Heritagefest Narren and a color guard bearing German and American flags. The audience, which packed the tent, stood in recognition of the parade. Heritagefest Executive Director Leo Berg introduced director Martin Meidl.

Meidl conducted the group from the third step of a high step ladder. In front of him sat 75 players, all with some type of tuba in hand. Meidl can name every type of tuba in the group. Helicons, euphoniums, baritones, sousaphones, bell-front tubas and upright tubas.

There are some unique horns in the band, Meidl pointed out. There's a 98-year old wrap-around tuba at the back, which is the group's largest and lowest-sounding horn. It's also one of the oldest.

The sight of so many tubas together oomping away in one area was enough to get a couple tuba players from the German band Albtal interested in the goings-on. They stand to the side, watching. One of them, a tall, thickly-built, blond man with short hair in a black and red costume, walks into the fourth row and snaps a quick picture with his camera. Smiling, he walks returns to his bandmates. Another Albtal member stands at the edge of the wooden platform, an eye glued to a video camera, Heritagefest hat tipped back on his dark-haired head. The Germans seem to find it amusing and quietly laugh and joke about it in German around the Tubamania button and cassette stand.

Together, the whole group makes a deep, gooey brassy sound as thick as a bowl of sauerkraut. It might make those more used to higher instruments strain to hear the notes, but the audience applauds and claps along with practically every number.

"As I've said so many times, this is the best heavy metal music you're ever going to hear," Meidl joked to the audience.

The 7th Tubamania began by playing the German and American national anthems, and swung instantly into an original German march written by Minnesota composer Red McLeod expressly for Tubamania. The euphonium section from the New Ulm Municipal Band stood to play "O, Danny Boy," a British tune arranged for the tuba by a local composer, Curt Iverson. The band switched gears to a more American program, which included "The Battle Hymn of The Republic", "Little Brown Jug" and "America The Beautiful," but it also played "The Cuckoo Waltz" and a German polka called "Krittle Anna" and a Scandinavian tune called "My Scandinavian Johann Vasnippen."

The highlights of the performance came from Tom Wells of Minneapolis. Wells impressed the audience with his quick, staccato style of tuba playing and made them laugh later by pushing the boundaries of the standard tuba solo to new heights. Wells got his biggest laughs during a solo in a piece he wrote called "Doo Dittle Bo Bittle," a funky rock-style number in which Wells soloed by drumming on the bell of a small sousaphone, tapdancing on the floor, singing rhythms through his mouthpiece and drumming on the microphone and playing quick melodies, cheeks full of air, lips pressed evenly against the mouthpiece.

When it was over, the audience laughed loudly and clapped with great enthusiasm.

"You have to be a bit cuckoo, but you also have to be creative," Meidl told the audience. Tubamania closed with "America The Beautiful" and the German toast "Mein Brosset." The audience responded with a standing ovation.

"I was just messing around. I get bored with playing so I do something different," Wells explained after Tubamania left the stage. When asked what the most challenging thing about being a renegade tuba soloist was, Wells said, "It's not being afraid of doing something stupid."

There were more stupid human tricks at Heritagefest than what Wells was selling. One only needed to walk up to the Wintergarten Variety Tent Stage to see it. The one-two stage team called Theatre of Fools wooed passersby into their audience with duck callers. Once the poor, unfortunate souls were seated, the two clowns did their best to draw them out for the others' amusement. One woman got to stand on stage and have the fools go through her purse, only to find a hair piece, which they promptly dropped on the floor and pretended to shoot with a cap gun. Others in the audience were given the dubious honor of having coins removed from their hair. Those foolish enough to leave the Theatre of Fools were treated to several insulting gestures.

Meanwhile, back inside an airconditioned trailer a few hundred feet away from the New Ulm Battery's cannon demonstrations, Heritagefest, Inc. President Nierengarten relaxed in a chair.

"Today's a typical Sunday," says the 13-year veteran organizer. "This is typical Heritagefest weather. The second Sunday is a bigger draw because of the parade. The dinner crowd will start to come in about now, so this is about average."

Nierengarten says the most popular things to eat for dinner are the more well-known German foods. He said he sees plates "overflowing with brats, German potato salad and sauerkraut." Things like landjaeger and spaetzle aren't as popular because, he says, they're unique to the New Ulm area. When the topic shifts back to the attendance, Nierengarten talks about improvements he's seen in this year's festival versus Heritagefests past.

Weather is a key ingredient in its success, and rain has ruined the party more than once. Nonetheless, Heritagefest has bounced back.

"We look at it over the last three years," he said. "Friday and Saturday were in advance of what we did last year. If we can keep it up, we can come back next year."