In February 2018, Robin was inducted into the Washington Music Educators Hall of Fame! In 2020, she finally retired after decades of teaching children.

When not preparing for the BASH, I'm usually out with my tuba quartet spreading joy & enjoying life (& maybe a beer or two?!) We've parlayed TubaChristmas into TubaSanta (with Harvey's blessing). A quartet is so much easier to get around and book into various venues. I fell into a tubavan, so we all pile in and off to the gig; maybe a private party, a regional tour, a pub crawl...just spreading Christmas joy. We've got Santa gear (after several years of rentals) and have added arrangements beyond THE book. To prep that holiday season (& again borrowed from Harvey), OkTubaFest! has really taken off in the micro brewery craze. All these independent shops are easily kow-towed into wanting something 'authentic' to the event - & again, a quartet is so much easier to sell than an entire oompah band! We've all got lederhosen and schtick and do half a dozen of so events in the early fall. I usually carry an extra 'Hans' for these gigs, and lead the sing alongs, complete w/beer stained songsheets. We started getting lonely for each other during our long cold winters, and brainstormed TubraChaun! yep, something a little more original! All dressed up as leprechauns, and a book full of Irish tunes, we're back together blowing. We do events, pub crawls & parades- not marching, mind you; but sitting on a decorated float. We were all set for our third annual season this March when the coronavirus curtailed the parade 30 minutes from step off - & most of life since! We retreated into our favorite chicken pub (& sponsor); playing our last notes of freedom together (with a little Irish whiskey on the side!). Here we are in last years' parade. And now, I am jumping through the health department hoops with our Missoula City (Corona) Band!! We are all socially distanced with just 35 in the band - rehearsing on-site in the bandshell & our audiences laid out on a grid all over the park. We're making it work, sharing music and wishing Tubas were here!

Up here in British Columbia we have a low-Brass group – Tuba & Euphonium – called the “Plumbers Union Brass” (PUB) We call on players from the East and West Kootenays plus interested parties from Calgary. We have played Summer and Winter concerts at the Wild Horse Theatre in Fort Steele, a Heritage Town close to Cranbrook and play to full houses; the audience have nearly as much fun as the PUBsters. We are conducted by a non-brass player –Steen Jorgensen – and interested members of the audience are invited on stage to “have a blow”which can become hilarious at times. This part of the programme is usually supervised by our furtherest travelling member who actually teaches in Taiwan, but comes home for the holidays. (a really well blown note will earn you a piece of Taiwan Sushi!) At the time of writing there are 23 member, we usually can’t all make it to the concert, and at the last winter concert we had 17 players, which was pretty good considering the –18 C and the road conditions through the Rocky Mountains. We find that the audience really warm to the low-brass sound and we love it when they tell us that they can “feel” the music as well as hear it (the tubas are probably playing too loud). Next performance I am hoping we can have audience participation with a a real good old fashioned sing-a-long as part of the performance. No doubt some Pubsters will stop playing and join the singing . . . ! It really does ring true, “If you don’t have a sense of humour, don’t play “low-brass”! We have a great time, and so does the audience.

My “special happenings” seem to center around music, despite being a late blooming tuba player. Nothing in my somewhat-successful public service career matches what I enjoy through, and because of, music. I am proud of co-founding, with Tom Mazanec, the Continental Divide Tuba Society here in Helena, MT. By any account, it shouldn’t succeed. There is no formal organization, no bylaws, no dues, no audition, no nothing. The only participation requirement is to want to have fun playing the tuba or euphonium. Yet here we are, some 26 years later, still making music. Although it fluctuates, we currently have 10 “regular” players. I was Secretary of our local city band, State Capital Band, from 1994 to 2003. During that time I spearheaded a project to celebrate 100 years of the Band, culminating in a historical booklet in 2002 that recorded the Band’s past. It was during the time of my first efforts in State Capital Band that I joined Local 642 (now 498-642) of the American Federation of Musicians in 1996. I acted as Secretary-Treasurer of the local July 1, 2008 to July, 2012 and since 2017 have been on the Executive Board until 12/31/2020. During these years I helped to manage the local’s affairs and in 2018 to co-author a grant for membership recruitment. In 2011 I joined the Helena New Horizons Concert Band (in addition to the State Capital Band), enjoying winter time music making. Following Harvey’s advice, I’ve played where ever I can and whenever someone lets me. Besides the wind bands, I played in a local dance band, Queen City Swing, for almost 23 years. Although not a full-time member any more, I’m happy to sub whenever their personnel needs require it. I’ve also been blessed to play with some fine Dixieland players on occasion. Last Chance Dixieland Band and Anything Goes Jazz Band have been fun to play with. And I play regularly with two accordion playing buddies at local retirement homes. Along the way I’ve had the honor and pleasure to meet and shake hands with folks such as: Tennessee Ernie Ford, Harvey Phillips, Patrick Sheridan, Gene Pokorny, Sam Pilafian, Velvet Brown, Deana Swoboda, among others. I’ve also been blessed to play music with some awesome local Helena musicians like Everett (Doc) Lynn, Don Stone, John Dorr, Jeremy Slead, Wilbur Rehman, Wally Stromberg and many others. Keep Calm. Play On!