A Special Visit to the Harvard Tuba

When my family decided to vacation up at Acadia National Park this past week, we tacked on a brief visit to Boston, since we had never been to that great city before, and it was basically on the way to Maine. For me, that meant dropping in on the Harvard Tuba in its native environment!

Through the gracious hospitality of Michael Ruderman (shown with me above), we were not only given access to see this monstrous beast, which had been the subject of my research and writing a few years ago (click here for all of that), but Michael also gave us an insider's tour of the heart of Harvard University, which was fascinating (for example, I now know the truth about the iconic John Harvard statue!).

But for me, the highlight of the tour was the band room. I knew that's where the Harvard Tuba had lived for years, precariously propped up in a corner, but it was great to actually see that hallowed, albeit disheveled, ground.

Here's the building that is the home for the Harvard University Band, as well as other organizations:

And here's the front door, with Michael letting us in:

Once inside, we connected with current band director Mark Olson, who was also very gracious in facilitating our visit. Here he is unlocking the door to the actual Harvard Band Room, which is slightly below ground level, where you can see their oversized bass drum, known as "Bertha":

Once inside, I was surprised at how small the room really is. I had seen photos of it before, but I imagined it was much larger. It's really not much bigger than a typical living room in a decent-sized home, although with a very low ceiling and a decor that can only be described as classic frat house!

But in the right hand corner, on the side of the room that faces the street (the room is not a full basement, but has a few small windows peeking out at sidewalk level), stands the legendary Harvard Tuba - now safely stored in a display case that is bright Harvard red:

The fascinating history of this humongous horn is not noted anywhere that I could see (we might need to remedy that!), but it's sheer size makes it clear that it is something special.

Here it is after Mark opened the door to the display case, so that I could reacquaint myself with this glorious beast:

And here's a 30-second video of the room, so that you can get a sense of my description above:

One last thing - on the way out of the room, I spotted a Sousaphone bell, being repurposed as a chute to deposit recyclable bottles and cans!

Who knows what else I might have found, if I had time to explore that space further!