Leading tuba player to be soloist at CSC concert Sunday

Patrick Sheridan will conduct a “breathing clinic” for brass players on Saturday, April 9 and be the featured soloist at a concert with the CSC wind ensemble the following day.

The concert, which will be at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Student Center, will be a benefit for the William and Carola Winkle Music Scholarship. Dr. Winkle is retiring after serving as Chadron State’s director of bands 34 years. His wife, Carola Winkle, is the CSC woodwinds instructor and conductor of the Bordeaux Community Band. She has been associated with the CSC Music Department 18 years.

Numerous CSC alumni, some from as far away as Texas and Arizona, are expected to participate in the concert.

Sheridan and Winkle met at the International Music Camp on the U.S.-Canadian border when Sheridan was a teen-ager. After the first summer, Sheridan told his parents he wanted “a tuba just like Dr. Winkle’s.” The pair worked together the next five summers, and have remained in contact ever since.

Sheridan often spent several weeks at the music camp so he could absorb more of Winkle’s teaching.

This year, Sheridan, who grew up in the Twin Cities and now lives in Chandler, Ariz., will perform in 35 states and 20 nations. He has been a member of “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band, and is the visiting professor of tuba at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. He recently was featured on NBC’s Today Show and regularly performs on public radio broadcasts in both Great Britain and the United States.

During the concert, Sheridan will be the soloist with the CSC wind ensemble on selections he has arranged for band and tuba including “Carmen Fantasie,” “Esterlitta,” “Hot Canary,” “Black and Tan Fantasy” and “Flight of the Tuba Bee.”

The concert will open with what Dr. Winkle calls “exciting rhythms” of “Awakening” and include “the intense energy” of “Olympiada.”

The second half the concert will open with “The Symphonic Gershwin,” which includes the popular “Rhapsody in Blue,” “An American in Paris” and “Cuban Overture.”

The program also will include “Sun Dance.” It will be directed by Dr. Gary Davis, director of bands at the University of Nebraska-Kearney.

A CSC alumni band will help conclude the concert. It will join the wind ensemble in performing “Chorale Prelude: Be Thou My Vision,” “Celebration of a New Era” and “Them Basses March.”

The latter number was to have been conducted by Dr. Harry Holmberg, a music professor at Chadron State for nearly 30 years and chairman of the Division of Fine Arts for 22 of those years. However, Holmberg is now hospitalized and will not be able to participate.

Tickets for the concert may be obtained in advance through the Memorial Hall box office at 432-6360. They will be $5 for adults and $3 for senior citizens and youths 18 and under.

The breathing clinic that Sheridan will conduct Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon in the Student Center will be open to brass students of all ages. He will demonstrate the correct breathing concepts and strengthening the endurance of brass players. He is the co-author of the video and book, “The Breathing Gym.” There will be a $10 fee for participating in the clinic.