“[Beth McDonald] earned MVP stripes with meaty tone, clean articulation and all-around command of the unwieldy ax, at one point pumping low notes worthy of Bernard Herrmann’s score to Journey to the Center of the Earth. ”
Beth McDonald is a classically trained tuba player gone awry. She performs mostly as an improviser, using the tuba acoustically or in conjunction with electronic processing.
Her current musical projects include:
Edition Redux - Ken Vandermark (reeds), Lily Finnegan (drums), Erez Dessel (keys)
Three Grebes - Franki Hand (voice, guitar, accordion, violin, etc.), Ike Turner (guitar, drums, percussion, etc.)
Where Were We - Erez Dessel (keys), Tyler Damon (drums)
She has also recently collaborated in other contexts with Chicago-based artists such as Kim Alpert, Josh Berman, Hannah Bureau, Andrew Clinkman, Becky Grajeda, Lia Kohl, Mabel Kwan, Riley Leitch, Ro(b)//ert Lundberg, Nick Macri, Zander Raymond, Macie Stewart, and Ken Vandermark.
Previous projects include the Duck Brain Ragtime Band, No Trust, the Lindenbomber Fleet, Boston Modern Brass.
Duck Brain Ragtime Band, about which one might say, “There’s even a TUBA in the band!” or “WOW”
No Trust bewildering and enraging onlookers in Kalamazoo, MI.
Her solo albums are all available on Bandcamp. See her other recordings & albums here.
In a previous musical life, Beth toured and played as a contemporary classical, orchestral, and chamber musician. Among other highlights, she has performed in the Lucerne Festival Academy, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and Lieksa Brass Week.
From 2011 through 2014, Beth was the Artistic Director of the August Noise JP, where she worked to bring unexpected music to public spaces and to engage her fellow musicians in their community. During this time, Beth also performed with Sound Icon, Discovery Ensemble, and the Brian Friedland Big Band.
Beth holds degrees from the University of Kentucky, New England Conservatory of Music, and Northeastern Illinois University. She has worked under the guidance of John Mallia (electronics), Stephen Drury (contemporary classical music), Tanya Kalmanovitch (improvisation), Ted Reichman (improvisation), Skip Gray (tuba), John Cradler (tuba), and John Heiss (chamber music).
Musical equipment for the nerds:
Tubas: Meinl Weston 45 SLZ (F), Miraphone Firebird (F), PT-65-S mouthpiece
Some Pedals: (alphabetical order)
Chase Bliss Generation Loss MKII (modeller)
Digitech Luxe (polyphonic detune/chorus)
Ditto X2 Looper
Earthquaker Devices Bit Commander (bit crusher)
Earthquaker Devices Cloven Hoof (fuzz)
EHX Freeze (sustain)
EHX Deep Freeze (sustain)
EHX Holy Grail mini (reverb)
Montreal Assembly Count to 5 (delay/looper/weird)
Red Panda Particle (granular delay)
Saturnworks Momentary Kill Switches
Walrus Audio Lore (reverb)
I use (and highly recommend) Rattlesnake cables