Tuba Christmas!

So, today we went to Tuba Christmas for the first time ever.  What a cool experience.  These events are all over the country - if you have the opportunity to attend one - do it!  They are free concerts consisting of hundreds of festively decorated tubas (and euphoniums) playing Christmas songs.

Monkeyman, waiting with excitement: "Only three minutes until the show starts!"

I know this cell phone pic doesn't do it justice, but here are between 400-500 tubas being played by people ranging in age from 10 to 87 years old, with nearly 3,000 people in the audience singing along.  Quite the sensory experience.

Here, the house lights were briefly turned off to showcase the lighted decorations on many of the Tubas.

Quick close-up of a couple of the tubas we passed on our way out.

We will definitely be going again next year.  Next time I will come prepared with:
1. A better camera (I wasn't sure if I was allowed to bring my good one but many people were taking flash photos and it wasn't an issue.)
2. Binoculars, so Monkeyman can study everything on the stage more closely, and
3. Jingle bells.  Many people brought them and enthusiastically jingled them throughout the performance.  An older lady sitting behind us kindly lent hers to Monkeyman for one song and he was in heaven!

Monkeyman definitely enjoyed it, but he did get antsy during the long-ish periods of storytelling between songs.  We went with another homeschooling family with a boy just a bit older than Monkeyman, and both of them began to have a hard time sitting still - and they suddenly, simultaneously developed an urgent need to pee.  So we took them to the restroom and then let them explore the outer parts of the concert hall for a few minutes to let them burn off some energy.  This turned out to be a good workout for both of us moms, too - the boys were dashing up flights of stairs as we breathlessly, laughingly tried to keep up with them.  We also inspected and tested the elevators several times to be sure they were in proper working order.  Thankfully, we could still hear the performance wherever we went.  Monkeyman actually said, "Hey!  We can still hear the music out here so we don't need to go back in!"  We did finally go back in, and the break did help the boys manage to sit through the rest of the show.  Afterward, some of the performers were milling around and we were able to see a few of the tubas up close.  One young musician played a couple notes for Monkeyman as he stood right in front of him, and he was fascinated by the deep, powerful sound.  I wasn't sure where the overall excursion fell on Monkey's personal "boring-to-exciting" scale... until, on the way home, he fervently begged us to stop at a music store and get him a tuba.  He was dead serious, which was quite amusing!  So I'm now considering looking into renting or buying a used brass instrument of some kind for him to try out and see if he's really interested...