Jon Schroeder is the Principal Tubist with the Compton Heights Concert Band.
He has been forever.
It is official now. He is the world's oldest living tubist!
He doesn't really look good for his age, but what the heck? He's still breathing, isn't he?
He lives with his lovely daughter, Lucy, who is the beloved narrator for our summer band concerts. Often on hand as well are his equally lovely grand-daughters Clara and Katrina.
He is a lucky man!
Jon, fresh from yet another successful TubaChristmas performance, his weight doubled
from Tuba buttons, holding his Jazzy Santa (w/saxophone) with obvious glee. (12/11/04)
This is the beginning of a beautiful painting by Billy O which now sits atop the grand piano in Jon & Lucy's front room.
It gets hot in Francis Park. Note the steam rising from Jon as Billy O tries to explain that it's actually IMPOSSIBLE to make him look good.
(If you know Jon really well, you will know I said "steam" on purpose and that Billy O is right!)
The lovely Lucy who narrates the band concerts and is the real star! She holds court at Ted Drewes after the Francis Park concerts and we go along too to be near her and bask in her celebrity! Half the audience comes to see what Lucy will be wearing that night. (The other half just wander up to see what all the noise is about.)
The lovely Katrina. Jon's other granddaughter, Clara is very shy and has never been photographed.
In 1998, Jon wrote a cool essay on tubas in general and Merry TubaChristmas® in particular.
He was nice enough to allow me to reproduce it here.
by
Jon
Schroeder
For some reason tubas are not taken seriously, especially as solo instruments. Why that is true, I’m not sure. Perhaps it’s just because they are large.
Whatever the reason, it is because of this that the two things tuba players have in common are a sense of humor and a strong self-image. We can take the jokes, gibes and smiles that readily come from people when one mentions the tuba. They say, “Oh yeah, oompah, oompah.” Well, for your information, tubas do “oomp” some of the time, but they very seldom “pah!” It’s the French horns who are usually responsible for the “pahs,” or “pah pahs.”
Tuba players have a common bond and are interested in changing the misconceptions about the tuba. As a result we began getting together in 1978 to hold Merry TubaChristmas® concerts in St. Louis. We followed in the footsteps of Harvey Philips who staged the first Merry TubaChristmas® concert on the ice skating rink of New York City’s Rockefeller Plaza in 1974. Philips is considered one of the greatest tuba players ever.
The concert is held at the St. Louis Galleria. We see the concert as the best chance we have to change the perception of tubas and let people hear us play melody. We accept that we will still be funny so we go ahead and dress funny, decorate our tubas and have as much fun than the audience. We are serious though about making music and representing ourselves in a positive note.
The tuba is the largest of the brass instrument family. The family grouping also includes the euphoniums and baritone horns that are smaller and higher pitched than the bass tubas. Examples of tubas include tubas, concert tubas, helicons, sousaphones and recording basses and they are made in several keys. They have in common a mellow tone due to the way they are built. Tubas like horns are conical tube instruments. That means the bore size increases in size in proportion to the length of the tube. This produces the mellow sound that contrasts with the brassy harsher sound produced by parallel tube instruments like the trumpet and the trombone.
Tubas were invented in the early 19th century, so they are much newer than most other instruments. This unfortunately means the earlier composers did not write for tubas. Can you imagine what Beethoven could have done with a tuba?
There are good and bad things that go with playing the tuba. The instrument is heavy and clumsy, so it is always a hassle to go anywhere to play. They also dent very easily and damage repair can be expensive, but playing is always fun and rewarding. We get to hug our instruments and feel the good vibrations. We know we add a lot to an ensemble, supporting the other instruments and giving a foundation to the music. We also know we will hardly ever get to show off with the melody and we will always be in the back row.
Playing
music also provides tubists (and other musicians as well) a great escape or
release. When one plays it involves total concentration that transcends the
everyday world. In other words one can get “lost” in the music. The
concentration is different than what one does in other aspects of ones life. On
top of that, it’s legal and as far as I know it’s good for you. It may be
that the vibrations involved in the low range rattle our brains and contribute
to the off-center nature of most tubists. It’s a shaky premise but possible.
We get all this benefit plus we help make other’s lives better and happier listening to music. It’s great having all this fun and to be able to share it with others as well.
So if you come to the Galleria next December and witness Merry TubaChristmas® you will see over 100 tubists having a great time and helping others have a little fun as well. We will have extra fun because some of us at least, will be playing the melody and sitting in rows other than the back row.
If you look closely we will be smiling – with our eyes – our lips will be pretty busy.
*
There have been several complaints to the webmaster that surely Jeff is merely name-dropping and does not know Jon at all, but is attempting to cash in on Jon's international fame and notoriety by claiming to know him. It was even crudely suggested that Jeff is perhaps a stalker who just took some obviously candid shots of Jon at a Compton Heights Band Concert and put them up on his website in a pathetic attempt to make himself look more important. "Heck, anybody coulda done that" wrote one gentleman. "I have better pictures of him than that!"
I am proud, therefore to post the following picture, which actually, and finally, shows the two of us together.
Jeff and Jon - otherwise known as the tuba section of the Compton Heights Concert Band -
at the band's Christmas concert at Powell Hall, December 2005.
In 1997, when they were both much younger, Jeff & Jon went down to the local TV station to promote Merry Tuba Christmas. In spite of their efforts, Merry Tuba Christmas continues to be a big success!
Cheryl with Lucy, who is the narrator for the Compton Heights Concert Band.
She is also past-president of the Webster Groves Herb Society
and is the real reason anybody even speaks to Jon!
© 2008 Cheryl's Herbs. All Rights Reserved.