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I have not played in a group where I needed to read new music since I started playing TC over twenty odd years ago. Now it is mostly memorized. I read charts or just adlib on the fly with the few small groups that I do play with. This Sunday, at the suggestion of my wife, I will join the "Salem Tuba Holiday" in Salem (dah), Oregon. She will be at the "Nutcracker" with her sister and grandson. His first at age five. To do all this I will have driven 700 miles round trip, never being more then 200 miles from home.

I have received and printed the music and have done the first quick nonplaying read though. Marking Keys signatures, accidentals, repeats, and the likes. I have not done this in years. I am playing notes that asks me to have four valves! Never done that. So, I am taking my Marzan Solo 4 valve Piston. It will take up less space in the car than the 6/4 recording York, leaving room for the presents. I will be in my infamous elf costume.

If you go to "Oregon Music News" and follow to "Portland TubaChristmas", you can see me and the York in action.

Now I got to practice,
CCC

Why not telepathy or telekinesis?

bloke wrote: ↑Fri Dec 22, 2023 12:22 am Why not telepathy or telekinesis?

Harvey copyrighted those methods, too.

What percentage of the tuba holiday songs are not Christmas songs? Actually curious!

Back in Baltimore... ~20 years ago, we always would play a couple of Hanukkah songs during TubaChristmas (mostly because one of the organizers, Ed Goldstien, was Jewish.) Maoz Tzur and the dreidel song. One sousaphone player would put a cover on his bell with a large blue and white star of David, which Ed proclaimed to perhaps be the world's first -- wait for it -- Jewsaphone.

Portland's TC usually plays one Hanika song, but as it was over with before this last performance, it was dropped to let the tuba studio from Oregon State to do a piece, led by Jatik Clark. Our local tuba hero.

There are at least two pieces that I have never heard of in the music sent and those that I know are in different keys and arrangements. And these people seem very set in what they want as no baritones or tromboniums will be allow. Only true conical bore tubas and euphoniums. We must bring a pencil.

And I am not smart enough to be telepathic,

CCC

Memphis - for several years - had "Christmas Tubas" - until this old guy (who made it happen) had to move away and live with his children.
The books featured colorful art on the cover, the arrangements were written locally, etc., and the books were (simply) collected back up each year, and re-handed out subsequent years.

This last year (after a multi-year hiatus of nuthin'), they did a "TubaChristmas".

The places where both occurred have been (along with most all parts of Memphis and its suburbs) are places where shootings, carjackings, robberies, car break-ins, and catalytic converter thefts occur.

I don't particularly want even my cheapest tuba taken from me at gunpoint...

...so my decision has been to be a grinch, play my hired/indoor xmas jobs (where there are armed security), and drive straight home.

Back when there was civilization, it was way more fun. (Besides all the trouble in Memphis up until a few years ago, it now has one of those Soros-campaign-financed D.A.'s, so people who maim, shoot, and murder are let out with little-to-no bond - yes, really...no exaggeration. The gangs now completely own the city, and - just to remind everyone over there of this - every so often two or three of their stolen gang-cars will block major thoroughfares by doing donuts for 5 -10 minutes...The police do not show up...Just like the rest of the folks over there, they don't want to be shot. LOL...They just had a mayoral 'lecshun...There are supposedly 600,000 people still there. Way under 100,000 voted, the winner - who mentioned nothing about crime during his campaign - won with something like 20,000 votes - about 28% of the votes. )

...EDIT...
I am now - returning back to this post for just a moment - doing my daily "memories" delete of old facebook posts. I just came across this one - from four years ago (even before the Soros-placed D.A. assumed office).

A woman holding her baby (on the TV news, in Memphis) - about the Memphis bloodbath this weekend - said,
"I'm not going out anymore. I'm staying home with my son.
Ya'll be careful out there, because we're in our last days."

bort2.0 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 22, 2023 9:53 am What percentage of the tuba holiday songs are not Christmas songs? Actually curious!

Back in Baltimore... ~20 years ago, we always would play a couple of Hanukkah songs during TubaChristmas (mostly because one of the organizers, Ed Goldstien, was Jewish.) Maoz Tzur and the dreidel song. One sousaphone player would put a cover on his bell with a large blue and white star of David, which Ed proclaimed to perhaps be the world's first -- wait for it -- Jewsaphone.

Our band director wears a blue and white Santa hat!

bort2.0 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 22, 2023 9:53 am What percentage of the tuba holiday songs are not Christmas songs? Actually curious!

Back in Baltimore... ~20 years ago, we always would play a couple of Hanukkah songs during TubaChristmas (mostly because one of the organizers, Ed Goldstien, was Jewish.) Maoz Tzur and the dreidel song. One sousaphone player would put a cover on his bell with a large blue and white star of David, which Ed proclaimed to perhaps be the world's first -- wait for it -- Jewsaphone.

Did he play "The Escalade of Sousaphones" ?

The follow up. Nice small group of less than fifty with a strong core of brass from the local adult wind band. Well ran. Beautiful theater, great acoustics. Great arrangements. Audience paid admission.
I did just fine. I did not take away. And of course lots of pictures taken. Yes I will do it again.