Tuba Christmas in August Roundup
Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 1:09 pm
This past Sunday, 33 tuba and euphonium players braved the intense heat to join Harvey Phillips, Ron Demkee and myself for the 2nd Annual Merry Tuba Christmas in August at Musikfest.
In spite of a heat index above 100 degrees in Bethlehem, PA, the group sounded wonderful, much to the delight of Mr. Phillips. Our performers ranged from 11 years old to 65 years young and from as far away as Elmira, NY. The audience responded enthusiastically as the ensemble performed tunes from "Carols for a Merry Tuba Christmas" and "Summer Tuba Time".
Harvey, Carol and Tom Phillips drove out from Bloomington earlier in the week and everyone was noticeably thrilled to have them in attendance.
Mr. Phillips spoke for nearly 10 minutes about how far we as tubists/euphoniumists have come as musicians, the history of Tuba Christmas and the pride we all take in our instruments. He made himself available for photos and to sign autographs.
Carol and Tom worked their organizational magic in keeping everything running smoothly. Phil Ioanna and a few members of the Allentown Band were extremely helpful with registration and merchandise sales. Phil even managed to sell a ski hat on a day like that!
An article on Tuba Christmas in August appeared in the July edition of The Instrumentalist, which I personally have not yet seen. As well, the local Bethelehem paper, the Morning Call ran an interview with Mr. Phillips in their paper last week.
I am planning to post those as well as photos from MTCIA 2005 sometime soon.
Thanks again to everyone who attended and performed so wonderfully.
See you next year!
In spite of a heat index above 100 degrees in Bethlehem, PA, the group sounded wonderful, much to the delight of Mr. Phillips. Our performers ranged from 11 years old to 65 years young and from as far away as Elmira, NY. The audience responded enthusiastically as the ensemble performed tunes from "Carols for a Merry Tuba Christmas" and "Summer Tuba Time".
Harvey, Carol and Tom Phillips drove out from Bloomington earlier in the week and everyone was noticeably thrilled to have them in attendance.
Mr. Phillips spoke for nearly 10 minutes about how far we as tubists/euphoniumists have come as musicians, the history of Tuba Christmas and the pride we all take in our instruments. He made himself available for photos and to sign autographs.
Carol and Tom worked their organizational magic in keeping everything running smoothly. Phil Ioanna and a few members of the Allentown Band were extremely helpful with registration and merchandise sales. Phil even managed to sell a ski hat on a day like that!
An article on Tuba Christmas in August appeared in the July edition of The Instrumentalist, which I personally have not yet seen. As well, the local Bethelehem paper, the Morning Call ran an interview with Mr. Phillips in their paper last week.
I am planning to post those as well as photos from MTCIA 2005 sometime soon.
Thanks again to everyone who attended and performed so wonderfully.
See you next year!