Rockefeller Center Rumbles During Holiday Tuba Concert

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The tuba was the star of the show Sunday at Rockefeller Plaza.

As WCBS 880's Jim Smith reported, nearly 500 tubas, large and small, gathered on the Rockefeller Center ice rink, in the shadow of the 76-foot Christmas tree, for the 40th annual tuba holiday concert.

"It's just a great feeling," one man told Smith. "You can not only hear this music, but you can feel it as you're playing it."

"I think it's funny to see a bunch of tubas playing, and the tubas having the melody is always funny if you're a band nerd," added one woman who was one of the thousands of people to attend. "So yeah, I'm a big tuba fan -- a big brass fan."

For tuba players such as Ken Polett from Westbury, Long Island, there's nothing quite like the annual rumbling of hundreds of low-pitched horns.

"It's always a thrill," he said. "I mean, where do you get to make music with this many people? And look at the ages. We have from eight to 80."

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