They're Putting the Band Back Together

Band rehearsal starts tomorrow night at 7:15 and I am really looking forward to it. The last time I played was at the 4th of July concert, so I got my alto saxophone out and practiced a little bit this afternoon to knock some of the rust off. OK, practice might be overstating what actually occurred. I played a few scales, blew a few tunes and riffs that are easy to retrieve from my memory bank, then played along to a CD that has jazz standards on it. It's one  of those play-along CD's that are similar to karaoke, only for an instrument instead of a vocalist. I was more than rusty and just wanted to make sure I hadn't forgotten how to play. I hadn't.

You see, I still love to play, I just don't like to practice anymore, not that I ever enjoyed practicing that much even when I was in music school. That's why being a performing member of a group is so important to me. Tomorrow evening, I will join in with about 60 other band nerds who make up a community concert band called the Nebraska Wind Symphony and we will make music......again. Everyone will be a little rusty and it will take a couple of rehearsals to get our chops back to where they were, but we will get there. We always do.

I can't count the number of hours I've played in bands in my lifetime, but it has to add up to thousands of hours. Beginning in the 6th grade, all the way through high school and college and for 10 years post college, my life was centered around music and playing in bands and orchestras. Marching bands, jazz bands, pit orchestras for musicals, dixieland bands, the list goes on and on. I've been in bands that played in bars and clubs where we performed "Mustang Sally" or "Brown Eyed-Girl" so many times you could play it your sleep, and sometimes did.  I've played Glenn Miller's "In the Mood" so many times I could puke. And I've led bands as the conductor  which is another wonderful experience altogether from just playing in the band.  

That's me (front center) in the glasses and the groovy
neck strap playing in the HS Pep Band, 1971.

For most of my adolescence and young adulthood, music was what I did and was what I was about. When I left my career as a music teacher  back in 1984, I was lost musically, for a few years. With no gigs, I found it difficult to practice much. That changed in 1987 when discovered the concert band that I am a member of today. This concert band has become my musical base, the group that keeps me playing and even practicing, just enough to keep my musical fires burning. 

Musicians are an odd group of characters, band nerds especially. I say that affectionately as I am a band nerd, big time. We come from all ages and walks of life- teachers, veterinarians, computer geeks, a minister or two, retired folks- but we share a common love for band music and we love to play. We gather every Monday night from September to July to make music and prepare for our concerts, where we share our music with the community. We play marches, overtures and original works for band. And for 2 hours we forget, momentarily at least, about whether we've saved enough for retirement or the trouble we are having at work, or about the health problems we are going through. We just make music-music that quiets the mind and soothes the soul. 

At this stage of life, I am blessed to still be able to play and to have a group to perform in. Both are gifts. I'm not the best player in the section anymore, nor do I lead or conduct the group. Those are in the rear-view mirror, as they say. The day will come when I will play no more and that will be a sad day. But that's not today. Today, I'm just a second chair saxophone player who wants to play band music and is looking for a gig.

 Tomorrow night, at 7:15, they are putting the band back together again. I'll be there.

This video is of the Nebraska Wind Symphony at it's 25th year anniversary concert in 2002 where I conducted the group in a medley of show tunes called, "Broadway Show-Stoppers".