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Now

The "Now" page for Andrew Hitz. This page is updated regularly with what tuba player, author and speaker Andrew Hitz is up to.

What I'm Doing Now

(This is my now page. You should make one too.)

I just made my Washington National Opera debut! I played on-stage sousaphone in an adaptation of Offenbach’s La Périchole that is set in Prohibition-era New Orleans called Songbird. There was no pit for this opera. It was just 11 of us on stage on a bandstand and I played probably two thirds of the time - everything from New Orleans street beat grooves to precarious, one-off opera-style downbeats that follows a singer’s recitative. One foot in each world was challenging and wonderful. The lead was opera superstar Isabel Leonard whose performance was enchanting. It was an h0nor to share the stage with these musicians.

Earlier this month I had the opportunity to play the orchestral music from the video game series Final Fantasy. The crowd was electric! They knew every single piece, each composer, and all screamed in unison at different parts. It is so rewarding to get to play for an audience that are all so over the top passionate about the same thing. It is what makes live music so special. And the tuba parts! Lots of double and triple forte whole notes. But well written! It was athletic and a total blast.

In April I will be making my debut with the Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass. It will be good to perform with a brass chamber group again - it’s been far too long!

Over the next month I am visiting a number of schools for clinics and residencies including Hartt, UNC Greensboro, and East Tennessee State University as well as various online clinics including Lynn Conservatory and Middle Tennessee State. I love connecting with college students and encouraging them to get started on what comes after college, whatever that may be, now rather than waiting until they get handed their diploma. I also love to encourage them to dream big - ideally bigger than they are comfortable doing.

I am presenting a clinic on practicing at two different regional tuba conferences this spring. I will be presenting “Nine Strategies for Building Momentum in the Practice Room” at both the Southeast Regional Tuba Euphonium Conference in Murfreesboro, TN and at the Northeast Regional Tuba Euphonium Conference in Fairfax, VA.

My world was rocked when my dear friend and most frequent creative collaborator, Lance LaDuke, passed away in December at the age of 56. He suffered a very serious fall and was never able to recover. I miss him every single day and I’m only now starting to feel like I’m getting my brain wrapped around it all. He is so dearly missed as a friend, colleague, and human. Hug your loved ones.

Lance and I started talking about impact about five years ago. Everything we did, both together and individually, was put through the lens of will this have a lasting impact on the world. And if the answer was no, we didn’t do it. Or we phased it out. His passing has inspired a really big idea that I am moving forward. It is big enough and scary enough that part of me is telling myself that I can’t do it. But those are the ideas you lean into because the scary ones are the most impactful ones. Stay tuned…

Back in February I helped to host the Wind Band Symposium at West Chester University that is sponsored by the National Band Association. I hosted the online feed which included interviewing the three clinicians about the work they were doing with their respective bands. This year’s special guest clinician was Dr. Rebecca Phillips from Colorado State University. I also got to clinic six high school bands over a 2-day period. There is nothing I enjoy in the world more than working with young musicians and this was very recharging.

I had a very special master class outside Nashville this past fall. I taught students at a school that had previously received a grant from The Mockingbird Foundation, an organization which I have served as a member of the board of directors for the last dozen years. I actually got to meet the student who plays the brand new tuba the school was able to buy because of the grant which was a cool moment for me. You can see the photo of the two of us below! A big thank you to Jupiter Band Instruments who generously made that master class possible.

Over the summer I returned to my old stomping grounds to do a couple of masterclasses at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute in Lenox, MA. I coached three different groups of phenomenal high school musicians. The level of the best high school students in the country just keeps going up and up and up. I have given many classes there over the years, but it never gets old to teach at a place where I learned from the ages of 14-18.

The Brass Junkies is at 223 episodes and counting! I had to take an extended break after Lance passed away but I am looking to get it moving forward again soon.

The Entrepreneurial Musician has blown past episode 300! Thank you to everyone who has supported the show in any way over the years. You are appreciated!

I’m currently brainstorming the formation of a new ensemble. Itching to get creative. Stay tuned!

The first new project from Hitz Academy is called Inside the Practice Room. It kicked off with Jeff Nelsen of Canadian Brass, Principal Trumpet of the Cleveland Orchestra Michael Sachs, euphonium superstar Demondrae Thurman, Patrick Sheridan, Rex Richardson and Julie Landsman and Weston Sprott. More events will be announced soon!

Winning the Audition with Hiram Diaz was really incredible. He is such a gifted teacher. He blew me away.

After years of talking about doing it I finally launched a website just for The Entrepreneurial Musician. Check out tem.fm and let me know what you think!

What I’m Listening To: I was deeply moved by the recent passing of Seiji Ozawa. I saw the Boston Symphony perform at least 200 times before I graduated from high school and he was on the podium for at least 50 of those concerts. I have been exploring all of his recordings on the Apple Classical app and it is bringing me back to a simpler time when my father was still alive and we were attending so many concerts together.

What I’m Watching: I’m watching the show Billions. It is incredible storytelling. But I hate every single character in the entire show - even the children! Just awful people. But because the writing is so good it is riveting. Two thumbs up.

What I’m Reading: I am re-reading Seth Godin’s Linchpin and I have started The Mote in God’s Eye, a famous science fiction novel by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Both are making me think in very different ways.

What I’m Making: I am making my first online course for Hitz Academy! It is a course about practicing and it is coming soon.

What I’m Practicing: I am working up a solo called Let There Be Funk which I am performing for the closing concert of the Northeast Regional Tuba Euphonium Conference at George Mason University in May. It is fun as hell


(Last updated March 27, 2024)

Posing with a tuba student at a school outside Nashville. The school purchased the tuba with a grant from The Mockingbird Foundation.