Setting the tone for the holidays

Ninety-five tuba players demonstrated their skills.
NILES -- Tubas of all sizes, played by musicians of all ages, took center stage at the Eastwood Mall on Saturday for the sixth annual TubaChristmas.
Ninety-five tuba players got several hundred shoppers in the holiday spirit, as they listened to the all-brass band perform two concerts at the gazebo in the mall's center concourse.
Wes O'Conner, the conductor of the tuba band, is the assistant band director at Boardman High School and a tuba player himself.
"The idea behind TubaChristmas is to give people a chance to hear the range of sounds of tubas, euphoniums and baritones," O'Conner said. "We can play the melody as well as any other instrument."
O'Conner told the crowd that TubaChristmas is one way to dispel the misconception that tubas are just for "oompah" music.
TubaChristmas is distinctive because its tuba players simply show up for the concert a few hours ahead of time for a brief one-hour rehearsal. O'Conner, who has been the conductor for five of its six years, said that it's an amazing feat considering that most of the tuba players are not professional musicians, and just play in the annual Christmas concert for enjoyment.
A variety
During the concert, O'Conner explained the different types of tubas. The three-quarter size is best for middle school pupils because it's smaller and easier to carry. The largest tuba generally is used for concert bands and symphonies and has the widest bell. He said they can cost as much as $10,000.
The tuba's smaller cousins, the euphonium and baritone, he noted, produce a higher pitch than their larger counterparts.
Guest conductor John Veneskey, a professor at Youngstown State University's Dana School of Music and associate professor of bands, led the tuba players in such holiday favorites as "Silent Night" and "Joy to the World."
The oldest tuba player to perform was 80-year-old Bob Paxton of Youngstown. One of the youngest players was 12-year-old Ethan Parks of Greenford. Ethan is a pupil at South Range Middle School and has been playing the tuba for only a short time.
"I got interested in playing the tuba after coming to last year's TubaChristmas. I thought I'd give it a try," Ethan said.
Seventeen-year-old Jessica Palmer, a senior at Mineral Ridge High School, said she turned in her flute after her school needed someone to play the tuba. This is her fourth year to play in TubaChristmas.
O'Conner said tuba players come from far and near to play in TubaChristmas, noting that T.R. Campbell, and his fiancee, Heather Moody, came from Shelbyville, Ind., to participate.
Hubbard High School was also represented at the concert, bringing 11 of its students.
Conclusion
The concert concluded with a rousing rendition of "Jingle Bells," which got the audience singing and clapping.
The oldest instrument to be played in the performance was an 1845 bombardon, an earlier relative of the tuba, made in Linz, Austria. The early tuba was patented in 1825. Jim McIntyre of Cuyahoga Falls said the only other bombardon that he knows about is in a museum in Saltzburg, Austria. It is valued at $8,000.
O'Conner, who has become known as "the tuba guy," takes pride in guiding the annual TubaChristmas and teaching the tuba.
"That's my personal mission -- to teach people to play the tuba and make them proud to play it because tuba players are a very special group of people," he said.
The TubaChristmas concerts are performed in 181 cities across the nation, and the concerts are licensed. TubaChristmas was established in 1974 at Rockefeller Plaza as a tribute to the late teacher and artist William J. Bell.