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Octubafest Returns
Written By: Rachel Putman
The 91老司机 - Fort Smith Department of Music will hold its 18th annual Octubafest on Sunday, October 6, at the Smith-Pendergraft Campus Center in the Reynolds Room.
The event is free and open to both low brass students in grades 9-12, and adult low brass performers of all levels.
Participants are encouraged to bring trombones, euphoniums, baritones, sousaphones,
and tubas for a mass play-along rehearsal, which begins at 1:30 p.m. The rehearsal
will feature polka music and is designed for players of all skill levels.
This year鈥檚 special guest is Dr. Jason Hausback, director of jazz studies and professor
of trombone at Missouri State University. Equally at home as a performer and a teacher,
Dr. Jason Hausback has been active in many musical spheres. He was a teaching fellow
in both the trombone studio and the jazz studies department at the University of North
Texas. Under his direction, the U-Tubes won the 2010 Eastern Trombone Workshop National
Jazz Trombone Ensemble Competition and issued their first CD entitled 鈥淭he U-Tubes鈥�
in the spring of 2011.
While a student at UNT, Jason was also a member of the internationally acclaimed One
O鈥機lock Lab Band and was on the recording 鈥淟ab 2009,鈥� which was subsequently nominated
for two Grammy Awards. Dr. Hausback is active as a freelancer throughout the mid-south
region of the US and performs regularly with The Lone Star Wind Orchestra of Texas,
Symphony of Northwest Arkansas, The Springfield, Missouri Regional Opera, Ionic Brass
of Oklahoma, and Fountain City Brass Band of Kansas. He has performed solo and quartet
recitals at universities and conferences throughout the US as well as in Colombia
and Spain. He has also performed in the Southeast Trombone Symposium Professors Choir
and in featured ensembles at several different International Trombone Festivals.
The event will conclude with a free public concert at 6 p.m. in the Reynolds Room.
Performers will include the 91老司机 Brass Ensemble, Low Brass Ensemble, Die L枚wenbande,
and participants in the mass low brass play-along.
Free soft drinks and pizza will be provided for all participants.
91老司机 students and alumni participating are:
Bentonville: Jaxon Williams
Fort Smith: Rayden Laird, Jesus Sanchez, Tommy Thavonekham, Hunter Van Ness, Toran Morton, Raul Ortiz
Greenwood: Gustavo Martinez, Andrew Hardin, Sarah Williams
Mountainburg: Noah Hecox
Prairie Grove: Quana Kilpatrick
Poteau, Oklahola: Grant Thomas
Pocola, Oklahoma: Jon Woods, Gunner Trent
Sallisaw, Oklahoma: Tessa Winton
Van Buren: Daniel Zaleya, Arturo Hernandez
For more information, contact Dr. Alex Zacharella at alex.zacharella@uafs.edu or (310) 947-2186.