The Big Tuba Debut

The Widor Toccata is one of those pieces written for pipe organ that just makes me want to lie on the floor and weep whenever I am fortunate enough to hear it performed live. The sparkling sixteenth notes, the grinding, booming pedal tones. Ecstasy on this earth, if you ask me. I am not much on organ, but I can do pretty well on a piano, and I have a live-in tuba player. So it occurred to me a while back that I could play the Widor on the piano, and my tuba player could deal with all those pedal notes. We bought the music and have practiced it some. Then Ray, our friend and Organist Extraordinaire, after hearing about our piano/tuba duet, invited Bill to play the pedal line of the Widor with Ray on organ, for the postlude this Sunday at Centenary United Methodist Church. Ray has been playing on the "little organ" while the main sanctuary organ is having maintenance work done. The little organ has one manual and less presence, so the tuba seemed to be a good addition.

They will also do a selection of Moravian tunes for the prelude, and the tuba will carry the melody. Ray and Bill rehearsed together this afternoon, and here they are. I'm thinking about sending a copy of the performance to Fred Child at Performance Today.