the cameo march in Jingle Bells is from the trio of E.E. Begley's "National Emblem,"
Darn, I should have known that!
Hey Dean, you made the local newspaper!
Here's the pic!
And a back row shot with the Contrabass Bugle on the left,
and here is the article that went with it,
It's beginning to look a lot like … tubas?
Players flock to Musikfest to celebrate Christmas in August.
By Matt Assad
Of The Morning Call
August 9, 2004
Lugging heavy brass instruments, they flocked to Bethlehem from as far as Boston, Baltimore and Milwaukee with a single goal: to fill AmericaPlatz with Christmas carols blown from their tubas.
Tuba Christmas hit Musikfest on Sunday as 45 tuba players — most of whom had never met before — came together to play a ''Christmas in August'' concert.
''I have never seen so many tubas in one place,'' Laura Direnzo said as she sat in the front row with her Bethlehem family. ''We're pretty excited.''
Tuba Christmas was conceived in 1974 by musician Harvey G. Phillips as a tribute to his late teacher, William J. Bell, who was born on Christmas Day 1902. Since it was first performed Christmas week 1974 on New York City's Rockefeller Plaza Ice Rink, it has become an event with 700 performances a year, including one last year before American troops in Tikrit, Iraq. In three decades it has amassed a cult following of musicians who sometimes travel hundreds of miles to perform in it.
It appears that, with the tuba not having the sex appeal of, say, guitar or saxophone, tuba players are tight-knit musicians who look for any opportunity to play together.
''Actually, when I started playing the tuba when I was 14, I thought it would be a chick magnet,'' said Gary Press, a Tuba Christmas player and spokesman. ''Boy was I wrong.''
With that established, Tuba Christmas lives off its philosophy that everyone with a giant brass horn is invited — no talent required. Before each planned event, organizers simply put out an open invitation and tuba players come running. Sunday's event in Bethlehem included players ages 12 to 67 from across the Northeast. Despite having only about an hour to rehearse, they sounded remarkably in sync.
Randy A. Maciver, a Harleysville tuba teacher, attended with his 12-year-old student, Dan Yocum of Souderton.
''There ain't a lot of tuba events, so when we get a chance to get together, we take it,'' Maciver said. ''We're just a group of musicians sharing our love of the tuba.''
And the more than 1,000 people who packed AmericaPlatz seemed to love them back, at times singing along with some of the songs. Some came for the novelty of seeing all that brass in one place, but others came out of loyalty.
''I'm a trumpet player,'' said Bryan Gerhab of Bethlehem. ''I'd never pass up a chance to see this.''
Tuba Christmas didn't have the draw of main stage acts such as Clay Aiken or Alice Cooper, but it may have set a new Musikfest record for most combined weight of instruments.
''Yeah, all those tubas in one place worried us a little,'' said Robin Zaremski, Musikfest's director of performing arts. ''We decided to reinforce the platform before the concert.''
While Tuba Christmas has been spouting up in towns across the nation, virtually all of them are held Christmas week. Only in Bethlehem could people sit in 82-degree weather and see a man in a Hawaiian shirt blowing ''O Little Town of Bethlehem'' out of a 25-pound instrument.
''This was a rare opportunity for our musicians to play and not freeze,'' Press said.
Of course, there were drawbacks. The scarves and wool hats weren't exactly flying out of the Tuba Christmas merchandise hut.
Musikfest officials weren't sure if Tuba Christmas would be back at the festival next year, but then again, Harvey Phillips organized the first Tuba Christmas in New York City as a one-time event.
''Are you kidding me?'' said a satisfied Musikfest Executive Director Jeff Parks as he scanned the crowd. ''With crowds like this, how could this not become an annual event?''
matthew.assad@mcall.com
