TubeNet

This was my third year playing a Tuba Christmas and I managed to get back to the site where I played my first. The founder of that Tuba Christmas retired from teaching at the college there this year and there was some concern that this Tuba Christmas just might go away. Earlier this year, the word was out, it's not going to happen. Folks stepped up to lend a hand and thankfully it came about and will go forth next year. The oldest guy there was near 80 and the youngest 13 (playing a horn about as big as himself). We have 5 Tuba Christmas in SC, and over the past three years I made it to three of the sites. However, the one at Newberry College has always been a special one for me for a lot of reasons. Newberry is this small town surrounded by the cites of Columbia, Greenwood, Spartanburg and Greenville; some people might even say "out in the middle of no where" but having grown up is a similar small town know the real truth, small towns can be very special places, and Newberry is certainly a very special one. There is a small college there and this year 54 folks showed up from all around the state in this small rural town for the concert that was truly awesome!

I hope this holiday season bring you unexpected joys of your own.

bloke wrote:
TC is all about fellowship. I would encourage TC's to do two shows with eats in between...so folks who show up can meet and jaw with each other more.

That's what we do in Sioux City. After a morning rehearsal we play a concert at a local nursing home (It's the best gig, those folks are so enthusiastic and appreciative), then have a quick chili and cornbread lunch at the home (yum! perfect for a cold midwestern day) before heading off to the two "public" concerts. It's a longer day than most TC's I've done, but everyone has a great time and we look forward to seeing each other each year.

bloke wrote: TC is all about fellowship. I would encourage TC's to do two shows with eats in between...so folks who show up can meet and jaw with each other more.

I went to my 7th tuba Christmas this year in Brenham, TX. My first time to this TC. It was last Friday Night, we had a 6 PM rehearsal, with pizza provided at 7PM, and then our concert at 8PM. It was a lot of fun. We had 42 participants.

Dayton had a great showing, maybe 50-60 horns by my visual estimate. Lots of fun with ages from 11-70. Norlan Bewley did the conducting and was quite the showman for the audience. It was my first, but only the first of many.

Nashville (150-200 players) will have two shows with pizza between. Packed house crowds for both shows if previous years are any indication. The "social" aspect is VERY important to the environment of TC, in my opinion.

**********

Sunday, the eighth, was Porterdale, Georgia's 5th annual TubaChristmas. It was cold and drizzly at the time of the performance; maybe it was in the low 40s. It was under roof, but still open air. I think there were about 35 to 40 participants. This is the only TC my one son and I made it to this year. Friday's TC in Atlanta was pre-empted by Heritage Day at the youngest son's school. The weather would have been much nicer on Friday.

As a family, we all went to St. Petersburg, Florida the weekend after Thanksgiving for another son's community band concert/lighting of the Christmas tree. He has to find his own TubaChristmas(es) down there.

I think I say this every year, but I will say it again. Since the one in St. Pete started going to TubaChristmas in middle school (mid 90s) at least one of us has been to at least one TC event every year. It isn't always easy; we are having car problems this year.

I always wanted to get at least four in the van (when we had a van) and commit random acts of TubaChristmas on the way to or from. The other three would have to be good enough to cover me.

alfredr, rank amateur

I played at the Naperville, IL TubaChristmas for maybe the 10th year. It always draws a good crowd and lots of players. This year we had 68, down a little because of the cold. It was so cold that part 1 of the performance was inside the excellent Naperville Municipal Band practice facility with the audience inside instead in front of a nearby bank and part 2 was at a big mall. Tuba player and municipal band conductor Ron Keller always leads us and does a great job of organizing.

We had 7 tubas and 13 euphoniums in Great Falls last Friday night for our primary concert. Saturday at Wal-Mart we had 4 and 4. For some reason they don't want us back unlike past years; my take is that it was a change of managers. Tomorrow we go to the local Episcopal Church; Tuesday and Thursday of next week we go to outlying school concerts; and Wednesday is a retirement facility.

110 in St. Paul. That is about what we normally have. The age range was 10 to 77. The oldest horn was from 1896. Boy was it a beat up euphonium. Two Helicons, a few Sousaphones and a lot of regular style horns. Very few played the first tuba part. Not a lot of time for talking with old friends.

Eugene's was postponed until this weekend. I will report later; early estimates were pretty good, but we are now going the same day as Portland's TubaChristmas, so we'll lose some of our northern friends.

Moved indoors last Sunday for the Lansdale, PA, TubaChristmas, due to the cold temp and a looming snow storm (we normally play at the train plaza, complete with hot chocolate, pretzels and hot dogs). But we had 75 players, and a good sized crowd in a beautiful old church setting.

When we were done, we walked out to a proverbial winter wonderland. Merry TubaChristmas to you all!

I second the notion that Newberry's Tuba Christmas is special. Depending on where you are in South Carolina, there are some in North Carolina that are not too far away. I did Fayetville's once and it was fun in a different way: it is held in conjunction with Fayetville's Victorian Christmas event so it allows a new audience to discover Tuba Christmas.

Bloke -----Come to DC TC--------We'll go over to eat and have fellowship with "The Pres" between rehearsal and concert .

Brown Mule wrote:Bloke -----Come to DC TC--------We'll go over to eat and have fellowship with "The Pres" between rehearsal and concert .

I am absolutely CERTAIN he will want to take you up on that offer. After all, what more could he possibly hope for, during this Christmas season?

It was my first Tuba Christmas this year. We had about 30 or so horns at the one in Elkhart, IN. One of which was a toilet seat horn. Overall it was a great experience.

Sandlapper wrote:This was my third year playing a Tuba Christmas and I managed to get back to the site where I played my first. The founder of that Tuba Christmas retired from teaching at the college there this year and there was some concern that this Tuba Christmas just might go away. Earlier this year, the word was out, it's not going to happen. Folks stepped up to lend a hand and thankfully it came about and will go forth next year. The oldest guy there was near 80 and the youngest 13 (playing a horn about as big as himself). We have 5 Tuba Christmas in SC, and over the past three years I made it to three of the sites. However, the one at Newberry College has always been a special one for me for a lot of reasons. Newberry is this small town surrounded by the cites of Columbia, Greenwood, Spartanburg and Greenville; some people might even say "out in the middle of no where" but having grown up is a similar small town know the real truth, small towns can be very special places, and Newberry is certainly a very special one. There is a small college there and this year 54 folks showed up from all around the state in this small rural town for the concert that was truly awesome!

I hope this holiday season bring you unexpected joys of your own.

You live in SC? What TCs have you been to?

We have our central NC event at the RDU airport the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We usually have about 25 players. The people waiting for their luggage are always very appreciative- lots of smiles! The players are usually the same bunch. This year a new fellow showed up - a recent immigrant from MN. It was his 1st TC and he had a great time.

We had ours yesterday. Due to a reschedule, and a very busy week scheduled with other music, we only had about 30, down from our usual 50-60. Age range was 16-91, and with a smaller group, the rehearsal went really well. Lots of good feedback about the sound.

bearphonium wrote:We had ours yesterday. Due to a reschedule, and a very busy week scheduled with other music, we only had about 30, down from our usual 50-60. Age range was 16-91, and with a smaller group, the rehearsal went really well. Lots of good feedback about the sound.

Thanks for the update. Portland had 270 registered this year. I personally would love to play in a smaller Tuba Xmas ensemble sometime. Maybe I'll check out Eugene's in the future.