>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

Teun Fetz, assistant professor of music at Eastern Oregon University, will be among more than 200 performers at the Holiday Music Festival Dec. 4-5. (The Observer/JEFF PETERSEN).

By Jeff Petersen

Staff Writer

First, let's get one thing straight.

The name is "pronounced Tone."

Teun Fetz, assistant professor of music at Eastern Oregon University, is probably too nice to correct you if you pronounce it "Tune."

Fetz will do triple duty at the 13th annual Holiday Music Festival sponsored by The Observer. The percussionist is among over 200 performers at the gala event Dec. 4-5.

"You have to be focused and stay in the moment," he says of switching from group to group.

The 31-year-old will start by doing hand drums on four tunes with the African drumming group. Then he will join the EOU Jazz Ensemble, sitting behind a drum set and perform jazz swing style.

"I think about the sound quality I want," he says of jazz drumming. "I want to make it expressive and poignant for the audience."

Then it's on to performing timpani with the Grande Ronde Symphony as the orchestra and several choruses join for Handel's "Messiah." Fetz is principal timpanist for not only the Grande Ronde Symphony but also the Eastern Oregon Symphony.

Fetz began work at EOU this fall on a one-year contract. But he is no stranger to La Grande.

The 1990 LHS graduate lists band conductor Jim Howell as a major influence on him musically.

"He took us to festivals like the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival (in Moscow, Idaho) that broadened our horizons and made us aware of the potential that is out there no matter where you're from," Fetz recalls.

Howell has fond memories of Fetz as well.

"I saw somebody that always had their head down working," Howell says. "He'd come into my office and ask, ‘What's next? What do I need to work on now?' That's pretty unusual.

"He always gave a real consistent effort, and consistency and teenage don't always go together, even for the best of them."

After graduation, Fetz went on to the University of Oregon to study music education and percussion performance.

"He was such a nice person and the program is so aggressive there I was afraid he would be chewed up and spit out," Howell remembers. "But he put his head down and went to work just like in high school. He's never really stopped since then."

Fetz earned his master's degree in percussion performance from the University of Michigan and his doctor of musical arts in percussion performance from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne. For the past seven years he's performed with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra.

The return to La Grande is a homecoming for Fetz. Ironically, though, the rest of his family has since moved away. Many remember his father Howard Fetz as a longtime EOU head baseball coach and English professor. His mother, Billie Fetz, meantime, taught in the La Grande School District for almost 30 years.

"Living elsewhere, you get a new perspective on the beauty and quality of life available in this valley," the younger Fetz says. "People who have always lived here kind of take for granted how beautiful it is, and how pleasant the lifestyle can be."

Not all is peaches and cream,

however.

Fetz notes the limitations: lack of professional opportunities, and lack of professional musicians who visit here on a consistent basis.

But a person needs to bloom where he is planted, Fetz says.

"You can play in groups at a professional level in your own community here, providing audiences with inspiring and noteworthy works," Fetz says.

That's just what the Holiday Music Festival is all about. It gives a sampler of what's available in the community and helps kick off a month of holiday celebration.

Fetz recalls at the University of Michigan there was a similar concert known as the Fall Collage.

Fetz hopes to reapply next year for a tenure-tract job filling the shoes of Keith Koster, who moved on to Virginia. Fetz did a lot of teaching assistantships, private lessons and summer camps before, but this is first taste of being an assistant prof. He says he's learned a lot from his colleagues and from the students.

"It's very beneficial to work with great colleagues and to help those in my classes grow and develop as students, musicians and people," he says. "I can't say enough about my colleagues. They're friendly, down-to-earth people, easy to relate to and good at what they do."

Fetz knows when opportunity knocks, whether it sounds like a snare drum or a kettle drum, one should answer.

"I really appreciate the opportunity to come home and play and teach at the university and be part of the community again."