Griggs Music's Quad Cities TubaChristmas

Awesome job, tuba and euphonium players! Sound was fabulous, numbers were amazing (137 players) and excellence was shown in everything you did, including the outstanding patience and good cheer shown by you in the face of annoying inconveniences. I am SO proud of your accomplishment!
This website will be updated soon, but in the meantime, go to Griggs Music's Facebook page for pictures.Videos are posted on YouTube. Search for TubaChristmas + Moline, and look for Al's argyle sweater for this year's videos. Thanks! Jim

More Breaking News!

As of Friday night, 64 musicians have already registered, paid, and picked up folders at Griggs Music in Davenport! This thing is gonna be HUGE!!

As a result of this influx of people ahead of time, a lot of them first-timers, we are totally out of bass clef books. If you have more than one bass clef book, maybe a beat-up old one, or a smaller one you're not using, please bring everything you have. We'll be sharing a lot, and there is also a plan in place to address this problem. Don't worry, you'll have something for the tunes in the book.
We still have both clefs of folders and treble clef books, you can buy one if you need it at the mall. Anyone who can read treble clef, please do so.

Also, we have about 100 chairs in place, but that may not be enough.
If you have a good folding chair, please mark your name on it and toss it in your trunk so you can easily get it if we wind up needing more chairs. Come on and play, we'll make it work!

Christmas Carols played by about 100 tuba, euphonium, and baritone players. What could be better?

You can be a part of this wonderful holiday event being sponsored again in 2011 for the 20th year by Griggs Music.

Come and join us on December 10th!

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Schedule for the 2011 Twentieth event.
Saturday, December 10th, 2011. THIS IS DIFFERENT. PLEASE READ!!!!!

9:15-10:00 -- Registration at Southpark Mall, Moline, in an empty store space close to the Dollar Heaven store and the Moline Police outpost. the big Tuba Christmas sign will mark the space. Please refer to the Maps page for the Southpark location.

When you get there, please register and pick up supplies, then go up the stairs to the right inside the store space to the second floor with your case. There is plenty of room there for coats and cases in the office spaces there. We will need all the space downstairs for chairs and stands.

The small group for Salvation Is Created will be having a very short rehearsal from 9:15 to about 9:35 in the lower store space. Please get registered, get your folder and any merchandise you need, put your decorations on, and oil up those valves, etc. You'll be able to start warming up about at 9:35 to 9:40. Please go through Sleigh Ride and #9 in the book as part of your warmup.

10:00 - 11:30 -- Rehearsal at Southpark, same room as registration. The rehearsal WILL start at 10:00. We cannot be fashionably late with our limited rehearsal time.

Our conductor this year is Alan Moore, tuba and euphonium specialist at Griggs Music. Mr. Moore was also the founder of the Griggs Music Quad-Cities TubaChristmas in 1992. See the "This Year's Conductor" page on tis site.

After the rehearsal - free time, maybe lunch and shopping at Southpark. Please shop and support the merchants at Southpark. The rehearsal space will be supervised after the rehearsal, so you can leave your instrument, case, coat, music stand, etc. safely there, in the upstairs rooms. You might want to put your name on your stand, at least temporarily. They all look alike.

For lunch, there will again be free sandwiches at Southpark's Chick-Fil-A on Tuba Christmas day. You must be a registered, paid participant to get one of the 140 free sandwich coupons, which will be given at registration. The coupon is for a sandwich with purchase of medium drink and medium waffle fries. You'll still have lunch for under four bucks. The manager, Brandon, has assigned extra workers at 11:30 to handle the tuba player rush, so be sure to take advantage of his kind offer!

2:00-3:00 -- Performance-Von Maur Court! Chairs will be moved on rolling racks to the performance area between 1:30 and 1:45 or so. You'll need to transport music, stand, and instrument. Concert will start exactly at 2:00, so synchronize your watch and be on time!

After the concert finishes, please help stack chairs on the rolling racks, to be taken back to the rehearsal room, and then to Griggs. It goes quickly if we all help. Please return your folder into one of the milk crates, but don't forget to take out your book so you can practice for next year!

This TubaChristmas Concert is presented with permission from the Harvey Phillips Foundation, Inc.

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Logistics.

Registration fee is $5.00, payable to Griggs Music. Includes commemorative button. If you have buttons from prior TubaChristmases, wear them! If possible, please download a registration form and fill it out before you get to the mall. To download, follow the link on the left, and print the form.

You are encouraged to register early at the Davenport Griggs Music, or download and fill out a form and bring it with you to Southpark on the 10th. DO NOT send the form or registration fee anywhere, bring it with you if you haven't pre-registered at Griggs.

See the "What tunes will we play?" page on this site for all information on the books and folders that will be used. Link on the left, on the Navigation Bar.
Also, please go to our Music site, link on the left, to get the new music to practice on for this year.

Dress: Dark pants or skirt and white shirt/blouse. Feel free to add Christmas colors, Santa hats, holiday ties, reindeer antlers, Christmas lights, etc. You can usually get $1 battery-powered Christmas lights at Dollar Tree and similar stores. Check out the picture pages to see what our players wear.

TubaChristmas stocking caps, scarves, and headbands (green/white, red/white, blue/white) are available at Griggs Music now, and also will be available for sale in limited numbers before and after the rehearsal. Cost is $15.00 for cap or scarf, $10.00 for headbands, no tax. CDs of TubaChristmas performances will also be available, $15.00.

A $10 Griggs Music gift certificate will be given for the best decorated tuba and euphonium, and recognition will be given to the oldest and youngest player, farthest distance traveled for this event, and how many Griggs Music Quad City TubaChristmases participated in. To see the prize winning decorations since 2004, go to the Pictures links at the left. Please Note! To enter the decoration contest, you must have your decorations on for the REHEARSAL, so they can be seen for voting.

Chairs will be provided at the rehearsal and performance, but not music stands. Please bring your own music stand to use for the rehearsal and performance. Red and green music stands will be available if you'd like to buy one, special TC price of $12.00 plus tax.

Also, please bring a square of absorbent cloth to put on the floor for emptying your water valve during the performance. We will also run a mop over the floor after the performance, but the "spit rag" will make it much easier to clean up. Maybe red or green washcloths for holiday cheer?

For further information or assistance, call Griggs Music in Davenport at
(563)391-9000. Ask for Jim Holifield, though any Griggs employee should be able to answer most TubaChristmas questions. The best time to talk directly to Jim is Friday afternoons. If he is not in, please leave a message on his voice mail, extension 118, and you'll get a call back as soon as possible.

If you need a toll-free number, call Griggs Music in Davenport at
(877)391-9001. If the store is closed, go ahead and leave a message on extension 118. You will get a call back.

Special Thanks to Southpark Mall, our contact person Sarah Leemans, and the rest of the excellent Southpark staff!

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