(Above: Players in the Nov. 21, 2021 Blugene Brass concert at First United Methodist Church in downtown Eugene include, from left, guest trumpet soloist Sarah Viens; Carla Lamb, trumpet; Caroline Earnhardt, tuba; Shira Fadeley, trombone; and Sheri Pyron, (French) horn. Group member Sydney Hoehl, not pictured here, also is a trumpet player with the quintet.)

By Randi Bjornstad

They joke around like old friends, and that’s really what they are. The women originally met as high schoolers but went on to pursue different career paths — Sheri Pyron became an architect and Shira Fadeley a middle school teacher — before they reconnected several years ago as musicians in a newly formed group called the Blugene Brass Quintet.

It all started as a conversation among several women players in the Eugene Symphonic Band about starting their own small performing group, Sheri Pyron recalled.

“We had two trumpets, a horn, and a trombone, and we found a tuba player,” Pyron said. “Then when the trombone player moved to Portland, Shira very quickly found us, which was amazing.”

Sydney Hoehl and Carla Lamb are trumpeters with the Blugene Brass Quintet

Performances by the all-women Blugene Brass Quintet sometimes may seem a bit confusing, Pyron acknowledged, because in addition to the required two trumpets, (French) horn, trombone, and tuba, the group frequently adds percussion and vocal to the mix.

For example, when Blugene Brass performs as part of the Concerts at First series at the First United Methodist Church on Nov. 21, the players will include trumpeters Carla Lamb and Sydney Hoehl, horn player Sheri Pyron, trombonist Shira Fadeley, and tuba player Caroline Earnhardt, plus guest trumpeter Sarah Viens.

Organist Brad Schultz will join the group on the Hochhalter organ for one piece on the program. Percussionist Julie Bounds and vocalist Sarah B. Rose are not performing this time around but will be at the group’s next concert in February.

At one time, it would have been highly unusual to see women playing trombone, but Fadeley said she was lucky when she decided to take up an instrument.

“In many places, girls used to have to choose what was considered a ‘girl’s instrument,’ and that did not include trombone,” she said. “But we happened to have a trombone in the closet at home, and that’s what I decided to do. Fortunately these days, if girls want to play trombone, they do it.”

In Pyron’s case, her fifth-grade band teacher played French horn, “and he thought it was the right instrument for me,” she said. “I played all through college, but then it was 30 more years before I returned to it.” Instead, she majored in art as an undergraduate and then did a master’s degree in architecture, which she practiced until she married and had children. “That was all-consuming, but I wanted to be the kind of parent who spent time with children and stoked their passions,” she said.

Fadeley grew up to became a journalist and worked for the Blue Mountain Echo newspaper in eastern Oregon, “where I didn’t have anyone to play music with,” before returning to the University of Oregon for a degree in education. She now teaches at Eugene’s Roosevelt Middle School and also is a teacher on special assignment for music coordination for the Eugene School District.

The Blugene Brass continues to expand its repertoire, which ranges from Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical periods to modern modern genres of folk, tango, and jazz, all of which will be represented on the Nov. 21 program.

They play whenever and wherever they can, “from Perugino to churches, to the Jazz Station to the Dexter Lake Club,” Fadeley said.

Oddly enough, the pandemic in a way was good for the group “because we were able to use that time to really hone our individual skills for when we would be working together again,” Pyron said.

That time has come, and they are happy to be back in the groove of weekly rehearsals and planned performances.

“We love the music, plus we all really like each other,” Pyron said. “An all-female group is a completely different vibe — we chat, we talk about things, it’s a little bit of therapy. Just being together with these people is nice.”

Concerts at First with the Blugene Brass Quintet

When: 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021

Where: First United Methodist Church, 1376 Olive St., Eugene; livestream at concertsatfirsteugene.com

Admission: No charge, but donations appreciated

Information: Blugene Brass Quintet on Facebook

Program:

Fantasia and Fugue by Johann Sebastian Bach (Baroque)
Alleluia Alleluia by William Byrd (Early English)
Muy Linda and Pavane by Anthony Holborne (Early English)
My Heart Ever Faithful by JS Bach (Baroque)
Tuba Mirum by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Classical)
Kingsfold by Franklin D. Ashdown (Traditional English hymn tune)
Greensleeves (Old English tune, modern setting)
Shenandoah (American folk song)
Down in the River (American hymn tune, performed in 2000 movie, O Brother Where Art Thou?)
Prayer of St Gregory with Organ by Alan Hohvaness
Oblivion by Astor Piazzola (Brazilian)
Ramona by Mabel Wayne (American waltz)
Vals #2 Andreina by Antonio Lauro (Venezuelan)
Skating by Vince Guaraldi (Jazz from television’s A Charlie Brown Christmas)