the ultimate tubachristmas post

The Ultimate TUBACHRISTMAS Post



This is the megapost where I talk about TUBACHRISTMAS and add photos & video & anything else relating to the best holiday event ever.

The official TUBACHRISTMAS site has some general information. You can use it to locate your local TUBACHRISTMAS.

Jingle Bells @ Columbus 2006



What Is TUBACHRISTMAS?

TUBACHRISTMAS.

What could be more exciting, more beautiful, and more Christmas-y than a few hundred tuba & euphonium players coming together to perform Christmas carols?

It started when I was quite young, going to see my uncles and then my brother perform. By 6th grade I, too, was a tuba player. (Several years later my cousin would join our "elite" family group of tuba players). By far, one of the most amazing musical experiences I witnessed as a child was TUBACHRISTMAS. And it's never quite Christmas at our house until we've been to see or play.

It started in NYC and now I don't think there's a city in America without one - or at least there shouldn't be. A lot of smaller towns host them, too. (I know, I've played in a couple). I usually play in the Akron one, which is typically the second-largest after NYC (in large part due to Tucker Jolly, professor of tuba @ University of Akron).

Imagine 400+ tubas - just the sight of it! Now imagine 400+ tubas, but about 1/2 are decorated - garland and tinsel, Christmas lights gleaming off of the shiny - or sometimes dull- silver and gold and brass. Christmas scenes across the bells. And there's every size and shape imaginable.

You would expect a few hundred tubas playing together to sound muddy and dull, boomy and - well - boring. I assure you it's anything from boring. It's loud and sometimes boomy and majestic.... the way the instruments blend together is astonishing. The tuba players, used to being the foundation of any band, play their melodies out whenever they get the chance, but pull back when they're supposed to. And hearing 400 tubas playing pianissimo (very quietly) is like a beautiful, quiet rumble of thunder.

Tuba Christmas is an audience-participation event, too. The tubas will play through a carol once, everyone listening in amazement at the beauty of the tubas. Then they play again, with the audience singing along. So now, the roaring of the tubas is accompanied by voices of all shapes and sizes. Except for when they play The Holly and the Ivy because no one except my mom knows the words to that carol. And I suspect she learned them immediately following her first TUBACHRISTMAS experience, knowing she would now be singing it every year.

So what are you waiting for? Go find the TUBACHRISTMAS in your city and experience the most amazing Christmas show there is.

Sights & Sounds

Columbus 2006

VIDEO: God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen

VIDEO: Good King Wenceslas

VIDEO: Ever wonder how tuba players cheer?

VIDEO: Silent Night

VIDEO: (The Best Version EVER of) Jingle Bells

PHOTOS:

The Stage - There were about 160 tuba & euphonium players - several of them sitting in the audience in addition to what you see on stage.

The Sousaphone line

Tubas New & Old, Shiny & Dull

Shut Up & Play! - Just look @ the Sousa's faces!

Tubas up close

Ah, the decorations... it's a TUBACHRISTMAS tree!

Service men & women stand to be recognized

A view from the balcony

Baltimore 2006

VIDEO: Tuba Family of Instruments

VIDEO: Carol of the Bells

Columbus 2005

Rehersal with conductor Tony Zilnic

Some Service Men & Women at Tuba Christmas

A Tuba Player's View (my left)

A Tuba Player's View (my right)

Pretty Tubas during the first break

Shiny Sousaphone (Decorated) during a break

The Finale


All the TUBACHRISTMAS photos on flickr!

All the TUBACHRISTMAS videos on YouTube!

All the TUBACHRISTMAS videos on Google video

Merry TUBACHRISTMAS Everyone!