Friday, October 28, 2011

A Gathering of Tubas


I had an astounding experience today. I was crossing the University of Arizona campus after touring the Mirror Lab with our group, when I came across about a dozen drummers practicing together. They were fantastic, and I watched for half an hour. Then I continued across the campus, and stumbled across the REST of the band! There seemed to be well over a hundred students, not including the drums. There were more tubas in one place than I had ever seen before! They were playing a choral that nearly moved me to tears it was so beautiful. Then they broke up into groups. I asked one of the members if the large group would play together again, and he said in an hour. So I went and ate dinner and came back. Now the drummers had joined the group and they played and marched, and their performance was beyond belief! Really. It was so beautiful it choked me up, and really gave me the goose bumps. I took a fair number of photographs, but seeing all these tubas, and one trombone player with her instrument at attention was the best. What an amazing happenstance to see them all and to hear their music. Makes me wish I came to Arizona more often, and could hear them perform more.

No comments: