Tuba Players by the Score Set to Make a Joyful Noise

“It’s a very important thing that we’re doing,” music professor Harvey Phillips told upwards of 200 tuba players packed into a fourth-floor rehearsal hall Tuesday evening at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

The musicians, ranging in age from 13 to 69, were about to participate in what has become something of a holiday tradition--a “Merry TUBACHRISTMAS.”

Conceived by Phillips in 1974 as a tribute to the imposing instrument’s great musicians and composers, a Merry TUBACHRISTMAS, an hourlong free concert of traditional Christmas music, now plays in more than 100 American and foreign cities, drawing primarily on local amateur musicians.

Phillips, 60, who holds the title of distinguished professor of music at Indiana University, told a reporter, “My mission is to gain public awareness and support of the instrument and all of these great young talents.

“I would challenge any instrument,” he said, to “sound as grand” in so large a group.

And sound--and look--grand they did, a sea of tubas with glittering gold and silver bells packed along the main staircase in the pavilion’s lobby.

Elephantine sousaphones were positioned at the top of the grand staircase, their imposing bells decorated with red and white cloth letters spelling out Merry TUBACHRISTMAS. Below were double-belled euphoniums, smaller orchestral tubas, and even an ophicleide--which looks a bit like an upside-down saxophone--an instrument which preceded the tuba more than 150 years ago.

“Originally, we played outside,” said tuba player Jim Self, 46, the event’s organizer. But a few years ago, he recalled, “we had a terrible rainstorm.” As it turned out, that was fortunate, because the concert was moved inside where acoustics allow the instruments’ booming, but mellifluous, sounds to reverberate throughout the huge hall.

“This is my first time,” one of the youngest players, Roland Boyer, 13, of West Covina, said. “I can’t even hear myself, but I know I’m playing.”