282 tubas and other big brass instruments resonated all around the packed Pioneer Courthouse Square as Chuck Bolton conducted the 25th Annual Tuba Christmas concert. According to the conductor, "There's no sound finer than a group of tubas and euphoniums holding a major chord in unison."
Even though it was pouring and the rain drops reflected off brass and silver colors as the beads of water graced the instruments, the music went on for an hour and 30 minutes. Classic christmas carols such as "Silent Night" and "Joy To The World" filled the plaza with joyous tidings.
The concert, which was held in Portland, could not keep the avid crowd from filling up the place to the brim as fans came from everywhere and kept their ears and spirits in merriment that even the rain could not curtail their momentous musical experience of the concert event.The crowd filled the plaza on all sides.
Director for Marketing of the Pioneer Courthouse Square, Theresa Vetsch-Sandoval, exclaimed, "I can't explain the following, but it's definitely a dedicated bunch."
The series of Christmas carols covered nearly every tune and they were played which such musical candor that even though they were played full of the low bass and slowly, the songs took the night into a more soulful feel. Some would bring about a peculiar type of nostalgic melancholia--especially the much loved "Silent Night" that started off march-like as the pitter-patter of the rain sounded off as a percussion of nature.
The Tuba Christmas concert truly made the night a musical phenomenon as the instrument took hold of everybody's soulful demeanor that the high notes just escalated the night to a musical force of unknown proportion.
It is definitely one of Portland's musical testimonies in the making that for as long as 25 years, the magic of the Tubas still bring about life and joyous musical momentum that the audience could not even tell that 90 minutes has passed.
