Music for Two Big Instruments (Tuba and Piano). Total duration ca. 7 minutes (2000) Published by Activist Music (ASCAP). Commissioned in 2000 by tubist Norman Pearson and pianist Cynthia Bauhof-Williams. One movement work. 16 pages, 8.5" x 11". Premiered in February 2001 in Los Angeles, CA. by Norman Pearson, tuba and Cynthia Bauhof-Williams, piano. Recorded in September 2003 in Glendora, CA. by Norman Pearson, tuba and Cynthia Bauhof-Williams, piano. Recorded in May 2005 in Long Beach, CA. by Alan Baer, tuba and Bradley Haag, piano. Audio clip performed by Alan Baer, tuba and Brad Haag, piano. Also available as: Music for Four Big Instruments (jazz quartet adaptation for Tuba, Piano, Double Bass and Drum Set). Total duration ca. 7 or more minutes (2006) Published by Activist Music (ASCAP). Commissioned in 2006 by Alan Baer, Steve Dillon of Dillon Music of Woodbridge, New Jersey and Gerhard Meinl of the Wenzel Meinl Company of Geretsried Germany, makers of Meinl-Weston tubas. One movement work. 21 pages, 8.5" x 11".

Music for Two Big Instruments is featured on Alan Baer's 2005 CD, Coast to Coast, on Baer Tracks Records BTM 001. Click CD for more info, plus a full review.

Music for Two Big Instruments is featured on the 2007 Innova Recordings CD, Notes from the Kelp (innova 683). Click CD for more info.

"Music for Two Big Instruments is brilliantly crafted. It takes commitment to be other than clever, and Alex has it. She treats the tuba exactly like a French horn with an extended lower range, but takes advantage of its power without losing lyricism." -------— Dennis Bathory-Kitsz "...a very powerful piece.... the perfect intro for an excellent CD!" -------— Sérgio Carolino, Tuba News "First think of two really big instruments, and then mentally pair them in a duet. Bet you didnít think of a piano and a tuba. But Ms. Shapiro did, then imaginatively named the resulting duet, ìMusic for Two Big Instrumentsî. And a more surprising lyrical pairing would be hard to imagine except it be the music of Ponchielliís ìDance of The Hoursî and Walt Disneyís impossibly graceful hippo ballerinas. Say what? A lyrical tuba? Betcherass ó and beautifully, too." -------— A.C. Douglas, Sounds & Fury "Music for Two Big Instruments is remarkable... I think this deserves some kind of award. I wouldn't automatically think that just the tuba and piano couldn't work together for very long, but [Alex has] succeeded in making them do so, and very well at that." -------— Barry Schrader "...lovely and delicately complex..." -------— Peggy Hall Kaplan, Malibu Surfside News "One might consider this a sound track for the movie of your dreams." -------— Sherry Kloss, Mu Phi Epsilon's "The Triangle" "The tuba works very well in this piece, and it’s great to hear the instrument being used so lyrically and in a way that it is so exposed." -------— David Toub, Sequenza21

View page one of the score Listen to audio clips of this piece 1.   2. See a list of performers __________________ Purchase the scores Score and part for the duet version available from Activist Music for $25.00. Score and part for the jazz quartet version available from Activist Music for $40.00.

Whenever I mentioned to non-musician friends that I was composing a work for tuba and piano, the response was usually one of surprise and barely muffled laughter. The exclamation, "Tuba, eh? What a funny instrument!" was often accompanied by exaggerated hand and mouth gestures that somewhat resembled a trout attempting to inflate a balloon. I knew I had my work cut out for me. Thus, the arrival of Music for Two Big Instruments, born of my desire to create good PR for a sometimes beleaguered and misunderstood instrument.

I was delighted when L.A. Phil tubist Norm Pearson and his pianist wife Cindy Williams invited me to write this duet for them, because although people understand the orchestral tuba's gallant role in seating the pitch and rhythm for the rest of the band, they know little of the F tuba's agility or gorgeous lyrical qualities. Thus, I chose two contrasting themes, one uptempo and the other nearly a jazz ballad, to showcase just how beautiful and diverse this instrument really is.

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