Chronillogical

Although TUBACHRIST­MAS is a very real event, we have taken some cre­ative lib­er­ties with its ori­gins in the Chronil­log­i­cal uni­verse. Whereas we have TUBACHRIST­MAS orig­i­nat­ing from John Philip Sousa’s crazed fever dream, the real-​world story is slightly more mun­dane. From the offi­cial TUBACHRIST­MAS web­site:

TUBACHRIST­MAS was con­ceived in 1974 as a trib­ute to the late artist/teacher William J. Bell, born on Christ­mas Day, 1902. Through the leg­endary William J. Bell we reflect on our her­itage and honor all great artists/teachers whose legacy has given us high per­for­mance stan­dards, well struc­tured ped­a­gogy, pro­fes­sional integrity, per­sonal values and a cama­raderie envied by all other instru­men­tal­ists. The first TUBACHRIST­MAS was con­ducted by the late Paul Lavalle in New York City’s Rock­e­feller Plaza Ice Rink on Sunday, Decem­ber 22, 1974. Tra­di­tional Christ­mas music per­formed at the first TUBACHRIST­MAS was arranged by Amer­i­can com­poser Alec Wilder who iron­i­cally died on Christ­mas Eve, 1980.

I will admit, I have never been to a TUBACHRIST­MAS before. I was going to play in the Chicago event back in 6th grade, but for some reason it never hap­pened. Alas! One of these days I’ll get to one. I swear it!