By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Most people do not associate “tuba” with “Christmas carols,” but the Lawrence Community Concert Band is about to change that notion when it participates in the third annual “Tuba Christmas” Dec. 5 at Princeton Marketfair.
The 1 p.m. concert, which is free, will feature traditional Christmas holiday music played by an assortment of brass instruments that include tubas, sousaphones, helicons and euphoniums. It will be held in the center court of the Princeton Marketfair shopping mall, which is located on Route 1 in West Windsor Township.
Although the Lawrence Community Concert Band is sponsoring the Christmas concert, the event is open to any musician who plays a low brass-valve instrument — tuba, sousaphone, helicon, euphonium, baritone horn and valve trombone, said Ron Taglairino.
Musicians can register at the Princeton Marketfair shopping mall at 10 a.m., and rehearsal begins at 11:30 a.m. The concert, conducted by Louis Woodruff of the Mercer County Symphonic Band, begins at 1 p.m. in the center court of the mall. This concert is one of more than 170 “tuba concert” events taking place during the Christmas holiday season nationwide.
The Tuba Christmas concert was conceived in 1974 by musician Harvey Phillips as a tribute to his teacher and mentor, William J. Bell, who was born on Christmas Day 1902, according to the website, www.tubachristmas.com.
The first “Tuba Christmas” concert was conducted by Paul Lavalle in New York City’s Rockefeller Plaza ice rink on Dec. 22, 1974. Traditional Christmas music performed at that concert was arranged by American composer Alec Wild, who died on Christmas Eve 1980, according to the website.
“In our first year, we had 28 musicians taking part,” Mr. Taglairino said. A dozen of the musicians played either the tuba or the sousaphone, and 16 played either the euphonium or baritone horn.
The number of participants has grown every year. The concert will feature traditional Christmas carols played on instruments that one does not normally associate with a Christmas concert.
“It’s a great way to get everyone — spectator or musician — in the holiday spirit,” Mr. Taglairino said. “It’s fantastic exposure for the tuba as a melodic instrument. It is capable of doing much more than playing the ‘oom’ part in an ‘oom pa pa’ band, or even playing walking bass lines. It has an extensive range.”
Concert-goers will hear how warm a sound the low brass instruments have when they play harmoniously at Tuba Christmas, he said. Nothing will sound “blatty or strident,” he said, adding that a “creamy, buttery, glowing sonority” will envelop the performance area.
“This event truly showcases the magnificence of the tuba and other members of the low brass family,” Mr. Taglairino said.
For more information, visit www.tubachristmas.com.
