Overtown Throwdown: Skr8 up Rude (2011) ~ 3 Minutes

Premiered in October 2012 by Dr. Rachel Matz

Overtown Throwdown: Skr8 up Rude is a short piece written over the summer of 2011 for the Big Boys Tuba Quartet. The piece was written to create an opportunity for the ensemble to depart from the regular tuba-euphonium repertoire and play something with a little more swagger. A fusion of hip-hop and funk feel allows the performers to play in a more aggressive style and explore some of the more fun performance techniques that the tuba and euphonium offer. The piece features the first euphonium with an improvised solo in the middle, where the lack of a complicated chord progression allows even the most classical of players to throw down some tasty licks.