The sounds of tubas - and other select brass instruments - will fill the Bel Air Reckord Armory the Sunday before Christmas for the eighth Merry TubaChristmas.
"The sound of the group, 40 tubas, it sounds like a large, low-pitched church organ," conductor and coordinator of the Bel Air TubaChristmas, Randy Harrison, said.
The free concert is scheduled for 5 p.m. Dec. 21 at the Reckord Armory, 37 N. Main St. in Bel Air. It lasts about an hour and usually features a visit from Santa Claus.
There is one ground rule: the musicians play the song through once, then the audience joins in singing along the second time through.
Musicians include anyone who plays the tuba, Sousaphone, baritone horn or euphonium; sheet music is $10 for those who don't already have it.
The concert is designed to be fun for the audience - which sings along to the tunes - as well as the musicians, said Harrison, who is the instructor of applied tuba, euphonium, trombone and French horn at the Maryland Conservatory of Music in Bel Air and Havre de Grace.
For the musicians, they get a chance to meet and talk to other players of all different levels. The Bel Air concerts have had experienced musicians who have played for the Palm Beach Symphony in Florida to 11-year-old children who are just starting out with their instruments.
"A lot of them just really enjoy doing it. They like to say 'I went to four TubaChristmases this year,'" Harrison joked. "You have professionals down to raw students get together and play and talk tuba."
Last year's concert drew about 40 musicians; one year it drew 60, including one from New Jersey and one from West Virginia, just to play. (The Baltimore concert, which was canceled this year because of weather, typically draws about 250 musicians.)
While the concert begins at 5 p.m., the musicians get together for a rehearsal from 3 to 4:30 p.m.
TubaChristmas began in 1973 at Rockefeller Center in New York City, founded by Harvey Phillips, a freelance tuba player who wanted to honor the memory of his tuba teacher William Bell, a who had played the instrument for the New York Philharmonic.
"They solicited as many tuba players as possible to just show up. They had one rehearsal and played and it was really wonderful," Harrison said.
It has since expanded into other cities across the country, including in Bel Air, where TubaChristmas began after a parent of a tuba player suggested it.
The Harvey Phillips Foundation said go ahead, Harrison said, "and ever since then, each year it gets a little bigger. It's really nice."
The concert is also sponsored by the Town of Bel Air and the Bel Air Arts Council.