Fairbanks Community Band

  I arrived home from Honolulu in time for me to grab a quick nap before heading off to play in the community band's concert in the park.  I'll be heading off within 24 hours but during the summer when I'm in town, I play as often as I can with them.

It was a one hour concert in the park filled with lots of rock and roll music from the Beatles, Neil Diamond, Dick Clark's favorites, America the Beautiful, Jurassic Park, and Grease.  All of it was upbeat and lots of fun.

The great thing about community bands is that you do not have to be great at playing your instrument.  In addition, it gives adults a chance to continue playing in a low pressure, fun atmosphere.  I am a French Horn player and one of eight who regularly participate in the band.

The local community band sponsors four concerts a year, plays for adult education high school diploma graduations, participates in parades, plays in the July 4th celebrations, concerts in the park, and many other public performances.

Fairbanks has a nice community band that has been contributing to the musical culture since about the time Fairbanks was founded around 1900.  There are records of various types of civic bands such as the 10 piece Cowboy Band in 1910 that existed from 1900 to around 1961 when the last reincarnation of the Community band died out due to the two men running it left it without any leadership.  The bands died out for a few years during World War II and the Korean War but in both cases, they started up again due to the interest.

Unfortunately, no one was interested in resurrecting the community band until 1994 when two high school music teachers decided the city needed one so they approached one of the music professors at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks to lead the group.  The band has performed consistently since that time in its current reincarnation.  They have also gone through many directors since then. Some of the directors are currently employed music teachers, while others are retired music teachers.  I believe our current director is a retired military musician.

This band is well known in town.  In addition to the regular band, many of the members also participate in a smaller jazz band who perform in town.  The band always plays in the Golden Days parade in which the town celebrates the discovery of gold and the founding of the town.  The band rides in a float and plays nice light music on the long ride through town.

The next concert in the park is in two weeks and I'll enjoy playing in that.  It is so much fun to play music and enjoy keeping my skills up on sight reading and playing.  If you want to keep playing check your local area for a community band.  Sometime in the future. I'll address the history of community bands in general.

Let me know what you think and have a great day.