122010 Have a very merry Tuba Christmas -Wooster Tuba Christmas Conductor Doug Bennett
By Sharon Haught
December 12, 2010
608
For many years former Wooster Police Chief Steve Thornton and Wooster City Schools music instructor Doug Bennett made the trek to Akron so that area students could participate in Akron Universitys Tuba Christmas celebration.
When the number of local musicians attending that event reached 40, the pair wondered aloud whether their might be enough interest in Wooster to start a Tuba Christmas tradition of their own.
That was 17 years ago and the rest, as they say, is history.
On December 11 every nook and cranny of the Wooster High School Performing Arts Center was filled to capacity as 106 tuba, euphonium and baritone players took to the stage to perform for an audience of over 1000 during the 17th annual Wooster Tuba Christmas celebration.
The Tuba Christmas movement was the passion of Indiana University tuba instructor Harvey Phillips. Sadden by the death of his teacher, William Bell, Phillips searched for a way to honor the legacy of his mentor. The result was Tuba Christmas, which debuted at New York City's Rockefeller Plaza Ice Rink in 1974.
In the 36 years that followed the Tuba Christmas movement has spread to nearly 250 sites around the world, including the one in Wooster.
Bennett noted that this years Wooster Tuba Christmas celebration was dedicated to Phillips, who passed away in October and to the memory of long time Wooster Tuba Christmas participant Charles Corfman, who passed away last year. In his honor, his son Dave Corfman prepared and conducted a special arrangement of Pachelbels Canon.
Woosters Tuba Christmas celebration has long been known for the wide variety of musicians it attracts.
This years youngest participant was 12 year old Rhett Miller; the oldest was Joe Rhodes, who just celebrated his 80th birthday.
While some attended for the first time, Carl Copeland took part in his thirty-third Tuba Christmas this year.
Among the participants were parents and children and siblings, students from colleges across the country – Ohio State, College of Wooster, Akron, Kent, Ohio University, Heidelberg, Bowling Green, Case, Bradford and Carnegie Mellon – and adults from all walks of life – teachers, insurance salesmen, engineers, physicians, nurses, retired military, web designers, farmers, city council members and even a Civil War reenactor.
For College of Wooster director of bands Nancy Ditmer, who conducted a number of pieces during the concert, thats what makes Tuba Christmas so special.
I cant imagine a better way to usher in the holidays than having so many people in the same room coming together to make music all at the same time, said Ditmer.
We are very blessed in this community to have such a fine music and arts program not only in the Wooster City Schools but the county schools, said Ditmer adding music and the arts enrich our lives to a tremendous extent beyond what we even realize.
Ditmer, who was recently named the president-elect of the Music Educators National Conference, noted that the mission of that organization is to encourage music education and the advancement of music education through the making and studying of music by all.
I think today is a perfect example of that because we have 12 and 13 year olds up here and we have people well beyond their 70s and into their 80s and possibly beyond that in the audience, said Ditmer.
Its a great multigenerational experience. Its a great arts experience. Its a great community experience, said Ditmer.
I think it is a perfect example of what our Music Educators National Conference is about and I want to thank each and every one of you for being a part of this today, said Ditmer.
