" data-original-title="" title="">Ralph Hepola
musician | Springfield

JAZZIZ Magazine has called me ��a musician who plays the language of contemporary jazz on the tuba.�� I play the same types of ideas as trumpeters, saxophonists, and pianists.

One of the main goals in the arts world is to create something new. That��s what everyone including me is trying to do. I believe that creating something new, even in a ��niche�� of the arts world, is truly an accomplishment. I��ve always improvised on the tuba, but as a teen I won a position in the U.S. Army Band of Washington, D.C., followed by a music degree at Northwestern University, the Basel Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland, then freelancing in New York City and Minneapolis/St. Paul. I��ve played on 41 recordings and 34 video productions. Two years ago, my creative life entered this new era of exclusively improvising on the tuba.