Today’s story is inspired by a tuba player I sometimes see practicing in a nearby park. I hope you enjoy it!
Tuba in the Park
I couldn’t wait to try out my new tuba. My little brother was sleeping and I didn’t want to wake him, so I went to the park to practice. A tuba isn’t small, but the case has a handle, my stand and music books fit in my backpack and the park has benches. If I’d had to bring my own chair, I might have had to wait until morning to try out the tuba.
It seemed so fitting that I would play this beauty of an instrument for the first time in a park as the stars started to come out. Warm up scales as the sun was high, easy warm up tunes as the sun set, and as the first stars appeared, I started in on some atmospheric, but not forlorn, music. People walking their dogs would nod to me, some seemed to be looking for something at my feet and around my closed case propped against the back of the bench. To be honest, I only noticed in my momentary pauses to change music. I felt like I could play all night.
I started to hear another instrument playing alongside me. It’s hard to turn to look out the corner of your eye playing a tuba; I had to stop to turn around. There was another teenager, not much older than me, following along to my music on a trumpet. Another nap-unfriendly instrument, even with a mute. We exchanged mouthpiece-hindered smiles and nods and finished the piece.
Soon a French horn player joined, an older lady who seemed pleased to have a reason to bring out the brass instrument. Sitting beside me on the bench to rest the horn on a knee, we were now a trio playing along to my music. I started to pull out scores that had multiple instruments piled onto the page.
And then along came the trombone. That’s all we needed, playing off one little music stand in a small cone of streetlamp light. Trombones can be dangerous in tight spaces, but we made it work. It did round out the music after all.
I was still focused on the music, but even I had started to notice the bits of clapping between pieces.
Eventually we’d played through all the music I had, the best pieces twice and I moved my tuba in the universal ‘that’s all’ way. The anonymous three followed suit.
The applause surprised me, but not as much as spotting my mom and little brother in the rapidly dissipating crowd. As I began to pack my things, they moved over to me.
“I woke your brother up to hear the concert in the park! I didn’t want him to miss the music!” She beamed.
