Christmas is a season full of music. Little drummer boys, pipers piping and angels singing "Gloria in Excelsis Deo" have been associated with the holiday for many generations.

The tuba and euphonium (a tuba-like instrument) may not come to mind with Christmas thoughts, but they are the featured instruments in the annual Utah TubaChristmas Concert.

Saturday afternoon in the Wilkinson Student Center Terrace, musicians, including tuba players, outfitted themselves and their instruments in holiday style to perform a variety of Christmas songs. The concert was one of many TubaChristmas Concerts held around the world featuring the bass-cleft instrument and its cousins.

BYU's tuba and euphonium professor, Steve Call organized and conducted the event.

Christy Witt, a sophomore in the tuba and euphonium major said she enjoys playing the euphonium because of its sound.

"It's a unique instrument that is fun to play in ensembles," Witt said.

The concert was comprised of the BYU Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble and tuba and euphonium players from the area. Performers ranged from youth in the community to aged tuba-playing veterans. In the middle of the concert, BYU's Jazz Legacy Dixieland Band -- specializing in jazz music in the 1920's style -- played a selection of upbeat songs such as "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and "Winter Wonderland ." The concert concluded with a jazzy version of "Jingle Bells" played by the tuba ensemble with the crowd singing along.

"It was good," said Alicia Anderson, a senior studying integrative biology. "I've never seen a big assembly of tubas."

This year marked the 27th anniversary for the annual concert. TubaChristmas -- created in 1974 by Harvey Phillips, a tuba professor at Indiana University - has expanded throughout the U.S. and Canada. More than one hundred concerts will be performed this year. One musician who performed has attended 57 TubaChristmas Concerts all over the country.



Copyright Brigham Young University 10 Dec 2007