TubaChristmas, an event that takes place during the holiday season, brings together musicians that play a member of the tuba family for concerts all over the world. For Athens residents, the closest TubaChristmas event will be in Gallipolis, Ohio.
Tuba and euphonium players all over the world filled with cheer will be playing Saturday in hopes that tuba recognition and Christmas will soon be near.
TubaChristmas is an event that unifies musicians all over the world each holiday season through performances featuring instruments in the tuba family. Those hoping to participate in one of the global performances taking place can sign up at the event happening closest to them.
For those residing in Athens, this means heading to the Ariel Theatre in Gallipolis, where this year’s TubaChristmas will take place Saturday at 2 p.m.
“Of the majority, I would say most are in public spaces, usually outside so they’re not meant too much for a captured audience but an impromptu audience, like shopping malls and busy areas, such as Rockefeller Center,” said Jason Roland Smith, professor of tuba and euphonium at Ohio University. “Ours is a little different.”
The late Harvey Phillips, a legendary tubist, started TubaChristmas in New York at the Rockefeller Center in 1974 to honor his tuba professor, William Bell, who was born on Christmas.
“Hundreds of tuba players showed up,” Smith said. “To this day, they still do every year.”
TubaChristmas events in Chicago and New York can easily bring a crowd of 500 musicians. The TubaChristmas in Gallipolis will be a smaller scale, but has brought in a large crowd in past years, Smith said.
The TubaChristmas at the Ariel Theatre, which is taking place inside, will be a “festive and low-key” production and will include a tuba-euphonium ensemble of all ages playing cheerful Christmas carols, said Joan Engel, a junior studying tuba performance.
The festive event is informal and allows for the players to get into the Christmas spirit by decorating their instruments with Christmas lights and gnarling, Smith said.
“We always encourage people to sing along to the carols,” said Lindsay Tolle, a senior studying music education and euphonium player participating in the event for the third year. “Its stuff everyone grew up with and everyone knows.”
The pieces are easy to play and are arranged to help the tuba and euphonium blend together well, which creates a new, enticing arrangement for the audience to listen to, Tolle said.
Smith said the ensemble is playing an hour-long set of back-to-back Christmas music, such as ‘Deck the Halls,’ ‘Good King Wenceslas’ and ‘Silent Night.’
“Every Christmas carol you know, we play,” Smith said.
The event is free for the audience, but players pay to register and the money goes toward a non-profit organization called the Harvey Phillips Foundation, which benefits music education in America, Smith said.
But the event is more than carols and colorful lights – it allows the musicians to come together and share their admiration for an instrument that is not as well known.
“Its really cool to meet other tuba players who you don’t see everyday,” Engel said. “It’s cool to hear their stories, why they wanted to play and what brought them here.”
@lizb143
eb823313@ohio.edu
