The sounds of the season will sound a little — different — as Tuba Christmas concerts are held in several Nebraska cities. Event organizer Jeff Kirkpatrick says tubas and euphoniums are sort of the Rodney Dangerfields of live music as they just don’t get the respect they deserve for their ability to make beautiful music.
Kirkpatrick says Tuba Christmas was started by a man named Harvey Phillips to honor tuba and euphonium players worldwide and show that tubas can do more than just play the “ooom-pah-pah” type songs, as they can play beautiful music. He says if you’ve never heard the group perform, you are in for a surprising holiday treat.
“Normally when people think of tubas and euphoniums, they think of instruments sitting in the back of the band and they don’t get to play the Christmas carols and all the melodies,” he says. “We demonstrate at Tuba Christmas that these instruments can do a lot more than what the stereotype is and in fact, we think the sound from this tuba and euphonium group is beautiful and wonderful.”
Concerts are scheduled for this Sunday in Omaha and Scottsbluff. Another Tuba Christmas event was held last weekend in Kearney. For more information, see the Tuba Christmas website.