HAVE YOURSELF AN OOM PA-PA LITTLE CHRISTMAS

Chris Starr switched to playing the tuba in the seventh grade after his band teacher assured Starr that his trombone's spit valve couldn't be fixed.

"I've used that one a few times myself," says Starr, now a band teacher at Charleston.

Nearly 70 young musicians -- who may or may not have been tricked into playing the tuba -- performed Christmas carols Saturday at West Park Mall in a nationwide event called a TubaChristmas.

TubaChristmas began as a celebration of a mentor. Harvey Phillips, a Missouri native who teaches at the University of Indiana, wanted to honor his teacher Bill Bell, who played the tuba with the NBC Symphony under the baton of Toscanini.

Each Christmas, Phillips and other tuba players gather around Bell's grave to play "Silent Night."

TubaChristmas also provides musicians whose parts usually are overshadowed an opportunity to stand out. "We rarely get to play the melody. Here we're the show," says Harold Lichtenegger, who has directed the local TubaChristmas for the past five years.

TubaChristmas events also are held in St. Louis, Kansas City and Columbia.

Lichtenegger, the retired longtime band director at Puxico, suffered a stroke a few years ago and has lost part of a leg to amputation. He still directs and organizes the event with the help of his wife, Anita, and Southeast's Dr. Robert Gifford.

"It means everything to me," Lichtenegger said Saturday after leading the mostly high school musicians through an hour-long rehearsal prior to the performance.

His health puts many restrictions on what he can do now, Lichtenegger said. "I can't do anything that's fun. But I can conduct TubaChristmas."

Neelyville, Clearwater High School, Twin Rivers, Brosely, Sikeston and Marble Hill are a few of the towns that sent tubas and baritone horn players to the event, in addition to Cape Girardeau and Jackson. The musicians actually pay to play, with part of the proceeds going to Phillips' foundation.

Ben Diesel, a seventh grader at Clearwater, was one of the tuba players. He said he started playing tuba because it was his dad's instrument in high school. There is one basic requirement, he said. "You need a lot of air."

Starr is glad he switched to the tuba. It fits his personality, he said.

"I like to be in the background, to be the backbone."

The tuba doesn't command much respect among the general public, he acknowledges. "But within the band, tuba players generate their own respect."

At that and despite the inroads TubaChristmas may be making, band directors still can't find enough tuba players.

One myth is that you have to be big to play the tuba. Starr was only 4-11 and weighed 85 pounds when he was a senior in high school. "Anyone can play it," he says.