For Victoria musician Scott MacInnes the holiday season starts with a mass gathering of baritone brass performing spectacular Christmas arrangements in Market Square.
“It’s become somewhat of a kickstart for the season for a lot of people,” the director of the annual Tuba Christmas told the Victoria News.
“It’s not very often that you see more than one tuba in a spot … The sound that it creates, it’s almost, you can feel it because it’s such a low rumbly tone. … It’s just a unique experience for everyone.”
Tuba Christmas was established in Victoria by the late Eugene Dowling, a musical mentor who succumbed to cancer in June 2015.
In recent years it’s led by those who admired him and his legacy, with MacInnes guiding the music since last year.
So far, it’s been a lot of work, but the non-monetary reward is as big. The annual gathering has, at times, brought together more than 150 tuba and euphonium players—generally dressed in their finest or silliest holiday garb—from across the region.
During the show, volunteers gather donations while the audience stuffs cash into an old tuba set up on a stand. The funds raised—generally in the range of $1,500 to $3,000—support the Times Colonist Christmas Fund.
The performers also register and pay to play, with fees going to the Harvey Phillips Foundation, named for the founder of Tuba Christmas.
“It just became this thing and Gene, who started it here was involved in some of the earliest versions of it in the States,” MacInnes said.
While in his second year leading here, MacInnes is not new to Tuba Christmas—he first participated in Toronto more than two decades ago and joined the local holiday showcase as soon as he moved west around 2005.
Now in its 46th year, the Victoria version is nearly as old as its inspiration, starting in New York City in 1974. Concerts now take place in more than 200 cities worldwide.
In Victoria, the gathering brings out a diverse group from professional musicians to people who have been playing just this year or those who dust off a tuba or euphonium once a year for the event.
“They’re not even brass players, they’re just musicians and will beg borrow or steal an instrument to come out,” MacInnes said. “The commitment to it is quite incredible. Victoria is the most active Tuba Christmas in Canada I’m pretty sure.”
Tuba Christmas is Dec. 14 from 1 to 3 p.m. in Market Square, 560 Johnson St.
