{"id":5100,"date":"2013-12-20T04:24:17","date_gmt":"2013-12-20T09:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=5100"},"modified":"2013-12-20T04:35:56","modified_gmt":"2013-12-20T09:35:56","slug":"virtual-advent-tour-merry-tubachristmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=5100","title":{"rendered":"virtual advent tour: merry tubachristmas!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Virtual-Advent-2-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Virtual Advent Tour logo\" align=left width=150 hspace=3 vspace=3 \/>Welcome visitors, both new and old! Today is my day to participate in the <a href=\"http:\/\/adventblogtour.blogspot.com\/\">Virtual Advent Tour<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>After you finish here, please make sure you check out today&#8217;s other featured blogger, <a href=\"http:\/\/justabookworm.com\/\">Maria<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/spriteshoots\/11462103686\/player\/\" height=\"300\" width=\"400\"  frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/center><\/p>\n<p>For the last four years, Rudi and I have attended the Merry TubaChristmas concert at the Kennedy Center&#8217;s free Millennium Stage in Washington, D.C. It is exactly what it sounds like &#8212; a carol concert performed by tubas, sousaphones, and euphoniums. <\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/spriteshoots\/11462099556\/player\/\" height=\"300\" width=\"400\"  frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/center><\/p>\n<p>One of the impressive things about this concert is that these aren&#8217;t musicians who play together normally. They come, singly or in groups, together at 3 p.m. on the afternoon of the concert and then, three hours later, they&#8217;re on stage performing as one.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZSajLFz1snU?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/center><\/p>\n<p>This year&#8217;s concert, D.C.&#8217;s 40th, was the biggest one yet, with nearly 400 musicians in attendance ranging in age from 8 to 89. It was conducted by Colonel Timothy J. Holton, of the U.S. Army Field Band, and emceed by David Bragunier, the principal tuba of the National Symphony  Orchestra.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/spriteshoots\/11462042704\/player\/\" height=\"300\" width=\"400\"  frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/center><\/p>\n<p>This is not the only tuba Christmas concert. In fact, they occur in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tubachristmas.com\/selectloc.php\">280 cities<\/a> nationwide. I&#8217;d suggest you see if there&#8217;s one close by. The first one was held in 1974 on the ice rink at New York City&#8217;s Rockefeller Plaza.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/spriteshoots\/11462106156\/player\/\" height=\"300\" width=\"400\"  frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/center><\/p>\n<p>The Kennedy Center is very generous in that they record fully most of their free shows. They don&#8217;t enable embedding, though, so if you want to be see the concert, click over <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kennedy-center.org\/explorer\/videos\/?id=M5685&#038;type=A\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/spriteshoots\/11462158363\/player\/\" height=\"400\" width=\"300\"  frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/center><\/p>\n<hr width=75%>\n<p>Thanks to the tour&#8217;s organizers, <a href=\"http:\/\/theintrepidreader.com\/\">Marg<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/myreadingbooks.blogspot.com\/\">Kailana<\/a>, for all their hard work. I&#8217;ve enjoyed for the past five Christmas seasons, when I&#8217;ve reviewed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=4521\">Christmassy book<\/a>, shared <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=3767\">a song, a weird Canadian cartoon of the &#8217;70s, and a cookie recipe<\/a>, offered insight into making a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=2914\">Christmas mix<\/a>, and took you along on for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=2074\">pictorial tour<\/a> of D.C.&#8217;s Christmas scene (including the first year we attended this tuba concert).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome visitors, both new and old! Today is my day to participate in the Virtual Advent Tour. After you finish here, please make sure you check out today&#8217;s other featured blogger, Maria. For the last four years, Rudi and I have attended the Merry TubaChristmas concert at the Kennedy Center&#8217;s free Millennium Stage in Washington, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>virtual advent tour: merry tubachristmas! - sprite writes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=5100\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"virtual advent tour: merry tubachristmas! - sprite writes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Welcome visitors, both new and old! Today is my day to participate in the Virtual Advent Tour. After you finish here, please make sure you check out today&#8217;s other featured blogger, Maria. For the last four years, Rudi and I have attended the Merry TubaChristmas concert at the Kennedy Center&#8217;s free Millennium Stage in Washington, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=5100\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"sprite writes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-20T09:24:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-12-20T09:35:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Virtual-Advent-2-300x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"soe\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"soe\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/?p=5100#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/?p=5100\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"soe\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2aa28906a6cfcf6a027e45ac700a834d\"},\"headline\":\"virtual advent tour: merry tubachristmas!\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-20T09:24:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-12-20T09:35:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/?p=5100\"},\"wordCount\":330,\"commentCount\":7,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/?p=5100#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/Virtual-Advent-2-300x300.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"arts\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/?p=5100#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/?p=5100\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/?p=5100\",\"name\":\"virtual advent tour: merry tubachristmas! - sprite writes\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/?p=5100#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/?p=5100#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/Virtual-Advent-2-300x300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-20T09:24:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-12-20T09:35:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2aa28906a6cfcf6a027e45ac700a834d\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/?p=5100#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/?p=5100\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/?p=5100#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/Virtual-Advent-2-300x300.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/Virtual-Advent-2-300x300.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/?p=5100#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"virtual advent tour: merry tubachristmas!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/\",\"name\":\"sprite writes\",\"description\":\"broodings from the burrow\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2aa28906a6cfcf6a027e45ac700a834d\",\"name\":\"soe\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/49c494d6a64fd2b375e219c4ee1ae734e9edce9f8490a38074dcf6ba8a3dc716?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/49c494d6a64fd2b375e219c4ee1ae734e9edce9f8490a38074dcf6ba8a3dc716?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/49c494d6a64fd2b375e219c4ee1ae734e9edce9f8490a38074dcf6ba8a3dc716?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"soe\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spritewrites.net\\\/?author=3\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"virtual advent tour: merry tubachristmas! - sprite writes","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=5100","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"virtual advent tour: merry tubachristmas! - sprite writes","og_description":"Welcome visitors, both new and old! Today is my day to participate in the Virtual Advent Tour. After you finish here, please make sure you check out today&#8217;s other featured blogger, Maria. For the last four years, Rudi and I have attended the Merry TubaChristmas concert at the Kennedy Center&#8217;s free Millennium Stage in Washington, [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=5100","og_site_name":"sprite writes","article_published_time":"2013-12-20T09:24:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-12-20T09:35:56+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Virtual-Advent-2-300x300.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"soe","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"soe","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=5100#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=5100"},"author":{"name":"soe","@id":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/#\/schema\/person\/2aa28906a6cfcf6a027e45ac700a834d"},"headline":"virtual advent tour: merry tubachristmas!","datePublished":"2013-12-20T09:24:17+00:00","dateModified":"2013-12-20T09:35:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=5100"},"wordCount":330,"commentCount":7,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=5100#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Virtual-Advent-2-300x300.jpg","articleSection":["arts"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=5100#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=5100","url":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=5100","name":"virtual advent tour: merry tubachristmas! - sprite writes","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=5100#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=5100#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Virtual-Advent-2-300x300.jpg","datePublished":"2013-12-20T09:24:17+00:00","dateModified":"2013-12-20T09:35:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/#\/schema\/person\/2aa28906a6cfcf6a027e45ac700a834d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=5100#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=5100"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=5100#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Virtual-Advent-2-300x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Virtual-Advent-2-300x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=5100#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"virtual advent tour: merry tubachristmas!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/","name":"sprite writes","description":"broodings from the burrow","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/#\/schema\/person\/2aa28906a6cfcf6a027e45ac700a834d","name":"soe","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/49c494d6a64fd2b375e219c4ee1ae734e9edce9f8490a38074dcf6ba8a3dc716?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/49c494d6a64fd2b375e219c4ee1ae734e9edce9f8490a38074dcf6ba8a3dc716?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/49c494d6a64fd2b375e219c4ee1ae734e9edce9f8490a38074dcf6ba8a3dc716?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"soe"},"url":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?author=3"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5100"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5108,"href":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5100\/revisions\/5108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}