For the past 41 years, tuba players from all over the world have gathered, fraternized and given holiday tunes a little boost in the low-end.
TubaChristmas was started by tubist Harvey Phillips to honor his teacher William Bell, who was born on December 25, 1902. That first group of players gathered near the skating rink at Rockefeller Plaza; the tradition has now spread to over 200 cities.
In 1975, people in Los Angeles quickly picked up on the fun. A couple of years later, a young enthusiast by the name of Scott Wilkinson attended that west coast event for the first time.
Because of its proximity to the music and film industries, the L.A. affair draws on names (or at least tubas) that you may have heard once or twice before.
The "da-duh, daduh, daduh" from Jaws? Yup, that guy played there; his name is Tommy Johnson. Those five glorious notes in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," the ones that helped the humans communicate with the aliens? That's Jim Self, who actually ran Tuba Christmas L.A. for 35 years. And if you've ever heard that blast of shofar on the soundtrack to Gladiator, then you've heard Scott Wilkinson.
We spoke with Wilkinson, who now directs the tubas and runs the L.A. celebration. He says that all levels of tuba players are welcome to join in the celebration. You only need to know how to read basic music and, most importantly, bring your own tuba!
TubaChristmas L.A. 2012
Scott Wilkinson introducing different types of tubas and euphoniums
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