Westman tuba players make merry music
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/11/2015 (3778 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The halls of the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba were filled with a festive rumble on Saturday afternoon as local musicians took part in the city’s second annual TubaChristmas concert.
Thirty-seven tuba and euphonium players of all stripes and skill levels played classic holiday tunes, like “Jingle Bells” and “Silent Night,” for a packed house in one of the gallery’s studios.
“I used to participate in TubaChristmas down in North Carolina, where I’m from, and it was always fun … I knew that it would be a wonderful thing for this community,” said Aaron Wilson, concert organizer and associate professor of low brass at Brandon University’s School of Music.
While TubaChristmas is new to Brandon, the yearly concert series has been taking place around the world for the past 42 years.
American tuba player Harvey Phillips started the phenomenon in 1974 as a tribute to his mentor William J. Bell, who was born on Christmas Day in 1902, according to tubachristmas.com.
“The first one was in New York City (and) our TubaChristmas here in Brandon has grown in numbers. Last year, we had about 26 or 27 participants,” Wilson said.
Musicians ranging from elementary and university students to community members, met at BU prior to the concert and spent more than an hour learning 15 different songs.
“It’s really nice to play with and be around a bunch tuba players … because that doesn’t always happen with our instrument,” third-year BU music student Lisa Thiel said.
Thiel is one of Wilson’s students and was charged with conducting the concert’s beginner ensemble, which was made up of less-experienced and younger players.
“A lot of times young kids, especially on tuba, don’t get to play fun tunes … so it’s good for them to play something that has melody,” Thiel said.
TubaChristmas is meant to be a light-hearted, festive event and as such, many performers had their instruments decked out with tinsel and flashing lights.
Andy Chambers was busy blinging out his euphonium — which is, essentially, a smaller version of a tuba — with lights ahead of the show.
Chambers is a Grade 7 student at École Harrison and just started playing the euphonium in September — although it is an instrument with many merits according to the young musician.
“It’s not too heavy and it makes a nice sound,” Chambers said.
The concert itself was an interesting thing to behold since all of the instruments are quite loud and occupy the low end of the register — making songs like “Joy to the World” sound strangely ominous.
Still, TubaChristmas hit its mark with the crowd at the art gallery, who even got involved in a few holiday singalongs.
» ewasney@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @evawasney