Erie, PA TubaChristmas musings

[DonO.]

Good morning! I had the pleasure of participating in the Erie, PA TubaChristmas yesterday. As those who follow my posts know, I am an “old guy” “come-back” player. I hadn’t been to a TubaChristmas for 20+ years, so I was looking very much forward to it. It was a wonderful event. It was held at the Behrend branch campus of Penn State. Great facility, with everything held in the “commons”, a huge space! Your 10 dollar fee got you not just your button, but a t-shirt, cost of which was covered by the college, and lunch (pizza, chips, sodas) between rehearsal and performance, also covered by the college. The organizers did a wonderful job! This was the 20th anniversary of this particular event, and most of the folks there were already familiar with the music, so the “rehearsal” was more of a play through. There was a large and appreciative crowd for the performance. All in all I can’t imagine a better experience!

There were over 60 players. I was a bit shocked there were that many tuba/euphonium players in our area. The euphoniums actually outnumbered the tubas, to the point where some of the euphoniums were asked to cover the tuba 1 part. There was a wide range of ages represented, , from young kids through high school (lots!), college, and adult. I was one of only 2 senior citizens present. The organizer (who was also our age) politely called us “elder statesmen”. That was nice. I estimated that at least 1/3 of the players were ladies, which I thought was great! Back in my heyday female lower brass players were a rarity. So to me this was a mark of progress. But as I scanned my fellow performers, I found that I could not ignore the fact that we, as a group, did not appear to be ethnically diverse. It seemed to me that we were 100% white. Why, I wondered, were the black/Hispanic/Asian/etc. low brass players? Is this a thing nationally? Or is this restricted to my area? Is there some kind of cultural factor that causes this apparent disparity? I don’t want to start any furor over this, just trying to understand and process what I observed.

[The Big Ben]

Why, I wondered, were the black/Hispanic/Asian/etc. low brass players? Is this a thing nationally? Or is this restricted to my area? Is there some kind of cultural factor that causes this apparent disparity? I don’t want to start any furor over this, just trying to understand and process what I observed.

For beginners, there are just more white people. The subset of white people who play low brass is very small and the subset of white low brass players who attend a TubaChristmas in PA is even smaller. I'm not sure that any conclusions can be made on minority participation in low brass playing can be made by the number of minorities participating in a TubaChristmas in PA.

[Three Valves]

It’s a NW PA thing.

Next time try Pittsburgh, Philly or DC for some flavor.

Don’t play TC in Whoville and expect anyone besides the Who’s to show up!

[jonesbrass]

Hope to join you when I move back to N PA for good. Who ran it this year, Dr. Hepler?

[DonO.]

Hope to join you when I move back to N PA for good. Who ran it this year, Dr. Helper?

Dr. Helper was one of the conductors. The co-ordinator was Dr. Viebranz, because Behrend is his turf. Also conducting was Dr. Stitt and Mr. Carnes.

[bort2.0]

The St Paul event was not particularly racially diverse, but I have to say it's not like I was keeping track of anything. The only thing I remember for sure was that the "oldest participant" was shared by 2 people who were 82 years old, one of whom was a black man. But if it wasn't a "stand and be recognized" moment, I probably wouldn't have noticed.

I'm still hoping that Alan Page (former Vikings star and NFL Hall of Famer, first black Minnesota Supreme court justice... and tuba player) will show up one year.

Diversity comes in other forms though:
* Good mix of male/female (and sure, I guess other categories too). Our conductor was an older woman
* Wide range of ages
* A person with low vision with a white cane (who I actually knew from somewhere else years ago)
* A person with (I think?) a cognitive impairment and an aide seated next to him

And who knows what else made those 95 people different from each other.

[ronr]

The St Paul event was not particularly racially diverse, but I have to say it's not like I was keeping track of anything. The only thing I remember for sure was that the "oldest participant" was shared by 2 people who were 82 years old, one of whom was a black man. But if it wasn't a "stand and be recognized" moment, I probably wouldn't have noticed.

I'm still hoping that Alan Page (former Vikings star and NFL Hall of Famer, first black Minnesota Supreme court justice... and tuba player) will show up one year.

Diversity comes in other forms though:
* Good mix of male/female (and sure, I guess other categories too). Our conductor was an older woman
* Wide range of ages
* A person with low vision with a white cane (who I actually knew from somewhere else years ago)
* A person with (I think?) a cognitive impairment and an aide seated next to him

And who knows what else made those 95 people different from each other.

I watched the person with the aide quite a bit, and couldn’t figure out what was going on there, but I think you may be right. I saw the aide using some sign language.

[bort2.0]

I was sitting right behind him, but didn't notice sign language. Then again, there were tubas in the way, so who knows!

[Grumpikins]

I was planning on attending the buffalo/wiliamsville event of the same date and time. The conductor was my first tuba teacher. However, at the last minute i changed my mind because it would have been a min 10 hour day for my family. Add to that, i didnt even have our tree up yet. So i elected to stay home and take care of things that needed to get done. The Erie event is much closer, but it had been announced late. While im sad to have missed, next year is on the way. Im glad it went very well. Keep playing tuba friend!

Sent from my SM-J327VPP using Tapatalk

[tokuno]

Diversity comes in other forms though:
* Good mix of male/female (and sure, I guess other categories too). Our conductor was an older woman
* Wide range of ages
* A person with low vision with a white cane (who I actually knew from somewhere else years ago)
* A person with (I think?) a cognitive impairment and an aide seated next to him

And who knows what else made those 95 people different from each other.

In our area, celebrated diversity seems mostly associated to skin color or eye shape, which seems pretty retrograde to me.
Diversity of thought, however . . . best shared only with trusted colleagues to avoid being avoided, ostracized, censured . . .
That said, my (Danish/English-roots) wife, my daughter on trumpet, son on euph and his (half Philippino) friend on trombone, and I (100% ethnic Japanese, but fully assimilated by 3 generations' separation) helped out the Salvationists last Saturday. The guy that video'd us is (obviously) Korean and our only request was for "jingle Bell Rock" from a cute young lady whose dad is from India.
(Btw, Please extend us some seasonal grace. This clip pertains to the diversity comment, not instrumental capability. In our defense, my wife is a violist who last touched the alto well pre-Covid, and I've been exclusively on euph all that time, too - felt like I could practically hide inside the tuba mouthpiece, the dang thing's so monstrous).
California Christmas weather

[tokuno]

Diversity comes in other forms though:
* Good mix of male/female (and sure, I guess other categories too). Our conductor was an older woman
* Wide range of ages
* A person with low vision with a white cane (who I actually knew from somewhere else years ago)
* A person with (I think?) a cognitive impairment and an aide seated next to him

And who knows what else made those 95 people different from each other.

In our area, celebrated diversity seems mostly associated to skin color or eye shape, which seems pretty retrograde to me.
Diversity of thought, however . . . best shared only with trusted colleagues or risk being avoided, ostracized, censured . . .
That said, my (Danish/English-roots) wife, my daughter on trumpet, son on euph and his (half Philippino) friend on trombone, and I (100% ethnic Japanese, but fully assimilated by 3 generations' separation) helped out the Salvationists last Saturday. The guy that video'd us is (obviously) Korean and our only request was for "jingle Bell Rock" from a cute young lady whose dad is from India.
(Btw, Please extend us some seasonal grace. This clip pertains to the diversity comment, not instrumental capability. In our defense, my wife is a violist who last touched the alto well pre-Covid, and I've been exclusively on euph all that time, too - felt like I could practically hide inside the tuba mouthpiece, the dang thing's so monstrous).
California Christmas weather

[Three Valves]

oops, double post, sorry

That's fun! What arrangements are you using?

[tokuno]

oops, double post, sorry

That's fun! What arrangements are you using?

Nowadays we lean heavily on the Salvation Army's Carolers' Favorites book . 133 carols in 5-part mix-n-match instrumentation. They're somewhat usable as a duet but better with three or more players, and include modern pop tunes in addition to the old chestnuts. We have about 50 of the books including the piano/vocal, and they've proven very flexible & fun. There's enough charts that we can easily stretch 'em into a 2-hour session. I'm surprised to see that they're still $10 each . . . thinking I should grab some more before they get inflation'd.

We also have a large set of the Neil Kjos It's Christmas Time books. Elementary, but readable by less-experienced or younger players (6th grade and up in our case; we used to rope in a lot of middle-schoolers to expand their musical horizons). 37 traditional carols in 4-part, but usable from solo to any size group. We've been using these for many years and - I just checked my library - some of 'em sport a sixty-cent price tag, which inflation adjusts to over $7.00 now, so I guess they're a bargain at today's 3 bucks per book.

[2nd tenor]

I guess that it’s in inconceivable to most of you here that someone would wonder what Tuba Christmas was, but it’s an American thing that hasn’t come over to Europe. The origins of Tuba Christmas and where someone can join in can be found here: http://www.tubachristmas.com/whatis.htm
Sounds like a bundle of fun to me, if maybe a bit loud and lacking in balancing treble … but let’s focus on the fun stuff.

If there were a Tuba Christmas event in my nearest City then it might get two dozen players with some of those coming a distance for the event. I think that playing an instrument is much more common in the USA than it is in the UK. It was once better but now we really don’t support music well in UK schools and IMHO that has had some negative results.

Diversity was mentioned further up the thread. There’s very little racial diversity in the UK Brass Bands that I’ve knowledge of, and every Band that I’ve been in welcomes learners regardless of race and regardless of colour. Perhaps Brass music just hasn’t the cultural appeal. On other diversity we have age, sex/gender and sexual orientation in abundance; so long as everyone’s happy and making decent enough music I really don’t care much about the rest.

[Three Valves]

Diversity was mentioned further up the thread. There’s very little racial diversity in the UK Brass Bands that I’ve knowledge of, and every Band that I’ve been in welcomes learners regardless of race and regardless of colour. Perhaps Brass music just hasn’t the cultural appeal. On other diversity we have age, sex/gender and sexual orientation in abundance; so long as everyone’s happy and making decent enough music I really don’t care much about the rest.

I would think there would be Indian participants or even Indian Regiment themed bands.

In Philadelphia, PA, USA there is a New Years Day Mummers parade. There are neighborhood bands and others that are culturally based such as Italian/Polish/Irish American String Bands. While the music, costumes and acts are still Minstrel Show themed, the Blackface and Men Only rules died out through the 70's. It is no longer exlusive, but still Euro-male dominated. Although there are NO BRASS INSTRUMENTS It is the only place I am aware of that still regularly uses true bass saxephones.

[Three Valves]

Nowadays we lean heavily on the Salvation Army's Carolers' Favorites book . 133 carols in 5-part mix-n-match instrumentation. They're somewhat usable as a duet but better with three or more players, and include modern pop tunes in addition to the old chestnuts. We have about 50 of the books including the piano/vocal, and they've proven very flexible & fun. There's enough charts that we can easily stretch 'em into a 2-hour session. I'm surprised to see that they're still $10 each . . . thinking I should grab some more before they get inflation'd.

We also have a large set of the Neil Kjos It's Christmas Time books. Elementary, but readable by less-experienced or younger players (6th grade and up in our case; we used to rope in a lot of middle-schoolers to expand their musical horizons). 37 traditional carols in 4-part, but usable from solo to any size group. We've been using these for many years and - I just checked my library - some of 'em sport a sixty-cent price tag, which inflation adjusts to over $7.00 now, so I guess they're a bargain at today's 3 bucks per book.

Thank you! I was using the Kjos. I like them because the arrangements are versatile and can be sight read. It's handy when you don't know who will show up!

I like SA music but the treble trips me up.

[tokuno]

Thank you! I was using the Kjos. I like them because the arrangements are versatile and can be sight read. It's handy when you don't know who will show up!

I like SA music but the treble trips me up.

I think you could make them work:
The SA supports 3,4, and 5 in C Bass, and the Eb sax parts for 1 & 2 can be read straight by an F Clef-er (just check the key sig first - my Achilles heel
is forgetting to check - excuse to my kids is "old-guy" - )
But notwithstanding the sometimes goofy key signatures in the SA set, playing familiar tunes is a good way to sharpen up the transposition skills, imo.
In my sphere, trombone, euph, and tuba players seem more receptive to stumbling through Bb treble than trumpet players are to reading C Bass, but in the SA set, all five books are available in Bb treble. It's moot for me: three of my kids primary on clarinet, flute, and trumpet and hasten to claim first - kind of a follow-on to charging out of the house yelling "window seat" in their youth - so I'm usually relegated to 4.

[Paulver]

Clarification needed............ Dr. Helper or Dr. Hepler?
I know Lowell Hepler. Don't know Dr. Helper.
Lowell ended up as a prof at Allegheny College. Knew him way back from the Clarion State College Summer Band Clinic days where we worked as instructors/counselors.

[DonO.]

Clarification needed............ Dr. Helper or Dr. Hepler?
I know Lowell Hepler. Don't know Dr. Helper.
Lowell ended up as a prof at Allegheny College. Knew him way back from the Clarion State College Summer Band Clinic days where we worked as instructors/counselors.

My apologies. ‘‘Twas Dr. Hepler. I am going to blame autocorrect.

[jonesbrass]

Clarification needed............ Dr. Helper or Dr. Hepler?
I know Lowell Hepler. Don't know Dr. Helper.
Lowell ended up as a prof at Allegheny College. Knew him way back from the Clarion State College Summer Band Clinic days where we worked as instructors/counselors.

Definitely Lowell Hepler. Autocorrect got me, too. Dr. Hepler was my first tuba teacher.