It’s going to be big.
When the Nelson Community Band hosts their upcoming free Lakeside concert on June 4, it will feature over 100 musicians from seven different Kootenay bands showcasing a whole variety of instruments — including French horns, oboes and bassoons.
“It’s bound to blow people away, from the sheer volume alone,” president and trumpet player Rob Thompson told the Star during a Tuesday night rehearsal at First Baptist Church.
“We’ve got 12 trumpets — you can never have too many trumpets — we’ve got 16 flutes and a whole whack of euphoniums. And that’s just the beginning.”
Nelson will be joined for this event, called Banding Together 2017, by bands from the Slocan Valley, the East Shore, Kimberley, Creston, Cranbrook and Revelstoke.
“Some small community bands only have one person in a section, so a trombone player might not get anyone else playing her part. This is a special opportunity to share and learn from a multitude of musicians,” said band member Mary Defeo.
“In addition, each band will retain the scores of all the pieces being played, bolstering their music libraries.”
The bands will all come together in the L.V. Rogers gymnasium over the course of the weekend to practice and prepare, with each band’s director providing a few pieces.
“All the musicians have practiced the music ahead of time, learning the intricacies of the pieces, but this weekend is about bringing those weeks of rehearsal into sharp focus to play together,” said Defeo.
Saturday’s rehearsals will be followed by a banquet at the Rod and Gun Club, which has a newly renovated kitchen. So the band members will be well-fed for their hour-long performance at Lakeside Park the next day. (If weather doesn’t cooperate, they’ll remain at the high school and direct park-goers there.)
During the concert, which starts at 2 p.m., the bands are hoping people will sit on blankets and enjoy the scenery, taking in music they might not otherwise ever hear. It’s part of their aim to keep concert band music alive in the region.
“We’re going to go through 10 or 12 pieces, some of them technical and some of them not so technical. We’re hoping that the excitement built will go towards getting more people involved in community bands,” Thompson said.
“We’ve recruited a fair number of young people in this band, and that’s a good thing. We’re at least 120 years old, and we hope to keep this going well into the future.”
Musicians interested in joining can contact Thompson at rgthompson@telus.net. The band practices every Tuesday night from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the First Baptist Church.
