For the sixth year in a row, my home state has seen a successful annual gathering of excellent concert band musicians. Over the weekend we endured the mental and physical challenge of approximately 12 hours of rehearsal, scarfed down at least three meals worth of great food, and enjoyed the camaraderie of 75 fellow musicians […]
Interview – Pete BarenBregge
Name: Peter BarenBregge City, State of Residence: Venice, FL Occupation: Retired Favorite Instrument to Play: Tenor Saxophone By all accounts, Mr. BarenBregge is a professional musician. A small list of his accomplishments include: earning a student scholarship to the famed Stan Kenton Jazz Camp; teaching public school instrumental music in Wilmington, Delaware; directing the United […]
Music Memories
Hey music lovers! I thought I’d go in a different direction this week and pull together some real-life examples of the potentially awesome gigs, events, and non-musical merriment you could be part of when in a community music group. This post is very personal, since I’ve created this list from my own life experiences, and […]
Eager for Easter
Being an experienced trumpet player of quasi-local renown (okay, maybe extremely local), I sometimes get emails around this time of year from folks asking if I’m available for various Easter services. While there seems to be an unlimited number of trumpeters here in the Washington/Baltimore corridor, there also seems to be unlimited churches with organists […]
Priorities and Pragmatism
Community concert band directors have more decisions to make than anyone else in the group, but sometimes it’s not about what you might think. Oh sure, they have to come up with pieces for the next program, perhaps following a theme. They need to know if certain parts will not be covered and remember how […]