Holiday Hummers

The Tucson Symphony Orchestra came to Green Valley to perform a Holiday Pops Concert.  Mom and I really enjoyed ourselves.  All of the songs/arrangements that you would expect to hear were played, and of course, a holiday concert be would be incomplete without a sing-a-long at the end!  

In this quick photo, he's talking about the next selection, prelude to the Engelbert Humperdinck opera  Hänsel und Gretel.   "What could be possibly be more Christmas-y than the story of a wicked witch trying to get a little boy and girl into an oven?"  Mom's response was, "he's soooo  cute!"  He went on to explain that it premiered on 23 December 1893 and has been associated with Christmas ever since.  It was wonderful.

My favorite piece, which is also my December ringtone, is Sleigh Ride  by Leroy Anderson. I have the percussion, trumpet, trombone and euphonium parts committed to memory from my years of playing it.  Mom kept swatting at me because I was playing air trombone and snapping the whip.  I'm sure I was annoying the heck out of everyone around me.  I was having fun. When music moves me, I can't sit completely still.  I sat through the entire first half of the concert with one hand holding the other on my lap so I wouldn't 'air' conduct. That's the career I hoped to have when I entered college but apparently I was meant to do other things.

Btw, I was going to use a different photo before I spotted the principal cellist talking on his phone.