Jules' Jewels

The Magic of Christmas – Denver Brass

One of the most affecting and ubiquitous signs of the Christmas season is the holiday music which pours endlessly from seemingly every mall-speaker and radio station. Christmas music is unique for its transformatively festive nature, and there exudes a special aura from instrumental classics and modern pop ballads alike when performed by a live orchestra. The Magic of Christmas played a large role in creating a holiday atmosphere for my mother and I. And with that, I am thankful to have experienced this with her.

I had never seen the Denver Brass in person before. Their group was made up of four trumpet players, two saxophonists, three trombonists, three percussionists, two french horns, two tubas, two powerhouse vocalists, and a conductor. They typically put on holiday concerts every year, excluding the past two years due to the Coronavirus. I had no idea that they were even a group that performed outside of the symphony. Here, I linked a clip of the Colorado Symphony playing a song from The Lord of The Rings, it is quite powerful. The Colorado Symphony is electric with talent; Gregory Alan Isakov, a modern soft rock artist, paired with the symphony to recreate his popular songs. The album is titled “Gregory Alan Isakov with the Colorado Symphony” and is one of my absolute favorite pieces. Calming in nature, the songs home in on the talents within the symphony.

My parents had always taken us to the theater when we were younger, so being able to go to a concert hall at the Newman Center was both a venture into new territory, and a tender rekindling of fond childhood memories. Having since established direct ties to the DU community, my experience was made that much more special and profound. I had been to one other concert at the Newman Center but it did not mean nearly as much as this experience did largely due to the fact I got to share this experience with my mom. My bond with my mother has always been tied to the activities and memories we share together. Hence, her accompanying me to witness this magnificent show in one of my favorite venues meant that we would cherish this memory for years to come. 

The Denver Brass was specializing in holiday classics, but adding their own twist on things to reflect both experimental and classical musical methods. They opened with a holiday medley that I was unfamiliar with, but it sounded as though my childhood flashed before my eyes in the matter of three short minutes. I was overwhelmed with the power of the percussion; I felt it all the way to my bones. The deep beat matched with my heartbeat and I felt transformed to another place full of holiday cheer and wonderful memories of Christmases that had come before. The symphonic marriage of the many voices resonated in addition to this, creating an aural, celestial atmosphere inside of the concert hall. It made me feel that I was in my own world, and I grabbed my mom’s hand and held it the rest of the concert. 

In between songs, a woman came to narrate the true nature and history of Christmas. She highlighted what it meant to her, and what it’s connotation was around the world through centuries. My mom turned to me for a brief moment and said, “I love that we are getting a history of Christmas. It feels really important.” and I found myself contemplating what Christmas really meant to me. What I loved the most about this concert experience compared to others that I have had, was that it gave me a safe place to reflect on the history of my own Christmas, and what the holidays mean to me. Not only was the music life-altering, but it created a newfound passion for instrumental music for me. I noticed as the songs continued, I could sense that the trumpet was essentially acting as the vocalist. Without words, the music portrayed a lyrical genius that I had not seen before.

In the last song, the brass had the audience stand up and sing along with “O Come All Ye Faithful” which was an endearing experience for me. At many of the concerts I’ve attended, I have sang along to every song. But when the vocalists asked us to sing, I felt overwhelmed with honor. Granted, I must have sounded terrible, but the act of singing with a brass made me feel important.