Holiday concerts to be performed by students and faculty
On Friday, Dec. 9, Waynesburg University symphonic band students will have the opportunity to participate in Tuba Christmas. Tuba Christmas, which is a Christmas carol based event, revolves around the under recognized and underappreciated low brass.
The event features instruments ranging from euphonium also known as treble clef baritone, baritone, which is read in base clef, trombone, base trombone, French horn, tuba and sousaphone. The sousaphone and tuba are essentially the same instruments except the sousaphone is made for marching.
The big instrument that is missing from this group that surprises many people is the trumpet. But the trumpet is a brass instrument in the alto-soprano category, which doesn’t fit the tenor-bass range criteria that Tuba Christmas sets forward.
However, several trumpet players in Waynesburg’s symphonic band will be participating in Tuba Christmas by playing the euphonium because it’s read in treble clef and has the same note fingerings as the trumpet. The hard part for the students playing the euphonium at Tuba Christmas is the symphonic band has a concert the following night.
“Playing in Tuba Christmas is so much fun, we have a great time, but after playing the euphonium for a whole night, playing my trumpet the next day is like trying to force air through a pea shoot,” said Caleb Gaumer, a senior trumpet player.
The Waynesburg symphonic band and choir will be having their performance on Saturday, Dec. 10, as the two groups will each perform their final concert of the semester.
Each ensemble will be performing an array of Christmas music. The choir will open up the evening, followed by a short intermission, as some of the students are in both choir and symphonic band and need time to prepare and warm up for the following performance, and will be closed by the symphonic band.
The choir will be performing Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Magnificat,” which includes several movements.. The choir features a large ensemble with performers in all of the vocal ranges: bass, tenor, alto and soprano.
The symphonic band will be performing the following: ‘Celebrate Christmas!” “Concert Suite” from the film “The Polar Express” and “Scenes from the Louvre.” . Following “Scenes from the Louvre” will be “Ave Maria” and the event will close with “Symphonic Highlights from Frozen.”
The students’ hard work will throughout the semester will be displayed as they try to perfect their performances for this concert
“This concert has a lot of tough music: ‘Scenes from the Louvre’ and ‘The Polar Express’ have a lot of really high trumpet parts, but ‘Ave Maria’ and ‘Celebrate Christmas!’ give us time to recover between hard pieces,” said Gaumer.