Local musicians gather for the annual tuba-only Christmas concert

Arriving for a Christmas concert at a gracious old church, audience members might be expected to bring a little reverence.

But grins, guffaws and a few giggles met the first bars of "Deck the Halls" at the annual Twin Cities Tuba Christmas concert, where the orchestra is made up entirely of tubas. (Unless you count the sousaphones, euphoniums and baritones, all of which are in the tuba family.)

Some of the laughter came from the sight of musicians, who traded the traditional somber black attire for Santa hats and loud holiday sweaters and trimmed their hefty horns in tinsel, ornaments and strings of lights.

But just as amusing was the sound of the familiar carols transformed in roof-raising, teeth-vibrating low brass blasts, without a silver or jingle bell in earshot.

"What a hoot!" said audience member Sandy White of St. Paul. "It's such a different way to hear the songs. I just love it."

Tuba Christmas has been an offbeat holiday entertainment option in the Twin Cities for 33 years, with makeshift orchestras performing at shopping malls until they found a home at Central Presbyterian Church in downtown St. Paul in 2006.

"Until we had to cancel last year for the pandemic, we had an unbroken run," said conductor Carol Jensen, who started the Twin Cities event in 1988 and remains its organizer, cheerleader and conductor.

A lifelong brass musician, Jensen and her brisk baton pay homage to her military background. She joined the service after graduating from Owatonna High School and her musical versatility led to an assignment playing in the Women's Army Corps Band. She went on to serve as a bandmaster throughout her 26-year military career.

"Tubas," she said with authority, "do more than go oom-pah-pah."

Requirements to participate in the Twin Cities Tuba Christmas are minimal, with no auditions, solos or paper programs. Musicians need only bring a desire to participate and 10 bucks for the registration fee. Their sole rehearsal is a loose preconcert run-through of the classic Christmas carols that Jensen selects.

Throughout the years, word about Tuba Christmas has passed casually among tubists young and old. Some musicians are students, educators or regulars in local bands, while others confess that they take their old horns out of their cases just once a year — for this event.

"Everyone knows clarinets and the flutes. The tuba is the enigma of the band," said Tuba Christmas regular Kent Malcolmson.

The Minneapolis physical therapist took up tuba in grade school and played it through his college years. After a 30-year break, he picked it back up and now plays in several community bands.

Because he's "sometimes a section of one," Malcolmson gets a boost from playing in an all-tuba event. "It's amazing and unusual to hear a room full of low brass. It's the only time the audience might hear such such a thing," he said.

The sound of carols belching from big horns may be an acquired taste, but Tuba Christmases have found a following since the first such concert at Rockefeller Center in New York City in 1974.

In subsequent years, the quirky shows spread to hundreds of towns and cities. In Minnesota alone there are usually nine such holiday events scheduled from late November to mid December, on stages from Mankato to Duluth. (See tubachristmas.com/readtcloc.php?TCState=MN for times and dates.)

From audience to stage

Many attendees at the St. Paul show originally heard about it thanks to a tuba-playing friend or family member and have continued to make the event part of their holiday.

This year, Evan Jensen moved from sitting in the audience to standing on the stage.

"I came as an audience member a few years ago when I was starting to play and I loved the sound of all the tubas together," said Jensen, 17, who strung blinking lights on the sousaphone he plays in Cottage Grove's Park High School marching band.

As the biggest instrument in the band, the tuba is designed to project sound over other instruments and often attracts players with Jensen's commanding 6-foot-4 physique.

Madeleine Hezel is on the petite side, but has no problem managing her bulky brass tuba. She was among 14 musicians from the University of Minnesota Marching Band who took a break from their studies to perform the Sunday before finals week.

"The tuba is a misunderstood instrument," said Hezel.

The collegiate musicians lugged their instruments from campus on a Green Line train that let them out a block from the church. They warmed up with an all-tuba version of the Rouser, perhaps the first time that Ski-U-Mah had sounded from the 130-year-old altar.

"Playing with all of these experienced musicians is giving me a better feel for the sound the instrument can make," Hezel said.

Taking center stage

This year, 46 musicians and their instruments filled the historic church in St. Paul, about 100 fewer than at the last Tuba Christmas concert in 2019. The number of spectators also plunged to several hundred, with every other pew in the historic church roped off to promote social distancing.

Musicians ranged in age from 10 to 82 and included two father-son duos and one husband-and-wife, Ron Rasmussen and Ellen Sorenson.

The Mounds View couple, who met in the U of M Marching Band in the 1970s, tooted two rare tuba-family horns. Sorenson had a slightly tarnished 1893 double-bell euphonium, while her husband manned the valves on his 115-year-old helicon, the bell of which rested on his shoulder, rather than facing forward.

"Legend is the helicon was created so players on horseback would not send the music into the horse's ears," he explained.

Resplendent in a patchwork velour Christmas shirt, W. Rayford Johnson puff-puffed into his tuba's cupped mouthpiece through a buttonhole in his mask. The retired music educator pointed out that low brass instruments usually provide a song's bass line. But at this concert, where tubas are center stage, they carry the melody.

"The instrument has flexibility and character. It's quite enjoyable for the audience to hear such a robust instrument playing such gentle songs," he said. "I do this concert every year; it's part of my holiday tradition."

After the final notes of "Silent Night" signaled the end of the 45-minute performance, the musicians hoisted their horns to sustained applause.

A beaming Jensen wished the audience a Merry Christmas with a reminder that it wasn't too soon to think about the 2022 holiday season.

"We'll be here for Tuba Christmas next year on December 4!" she said. "We'll see you all again then."