Developing communities within communities within communities
At our recent festival of community bands I recognized again, as if for the first time, bands’ roles in building senses of community.
In its nineteen years, the Red Cedar Festival of Community Bands has brought together nearly 50 community ensembles for a day-long splurge of music-making that is free and open to the public. Bands pay registration fees and receive direct feedback from music clinicians. Musicians receive free master’s classes. The public receives virtually non-stop free music from nine to five.
Annually, more groups apply to perform than can be accepted. Preference is generally given to first-time applicants. There is no way of accurately measuring audiences’ sizes, but they’re growing. This year an estimated 500 people attended some of the performances.
Red Cedar clinicians are professors of music and highly ranked professional musicians who consult with bands and their directors. In mini rehearsals following performances, they give advice for improving balance between and within sections, expressiveness of playing, and bringing out nuances that composers intended in their music. The steady improvement in the quality of music at the Festival is a tribute to the consultants’ effectiveness.
Over the years, listening to the feedback from experts, it’s become obvious to me that bands are actually self-contained communities. Directors are ‘mayors’ and sections, like drums, trombones and clarinets are constituencies. Directors focus on bringing everyone together to cooperate and produce good music.
Another community, of musicians playing in the Red Cedar Festival ensembles, has developed as musicians and directors have gotten to know one another. Borrowing ideas, more bands have begun featuring soloists and programs are more diversified.
And each band is part of at least one larger community. For instance, the Midland Concert Band’s home is the Midland area. My band, The Meridian Community Band, resides in Meridian Township, which is part of the Greater Lansing Area. Other area bands include the Capital City Brass Band, Lansing Concert Band, and the Dewitt, Charlotte, Grand Ledge, and St Johns community bands.
Together, the bands in the Greater Lansing Area are a community of amateur musicians that support each other and provide opportunities for some musicians to play in more than one band. Bands occasionally hold joint concerts.
Since the Red Cedar Festival started, the Greater Lansing community has heightened its interest in band music. Four new community bands have formed and two new performing arts shells have been built. Today the area has a full, varied summer schedule of free amateur and professional musical entertainment.
Annually, the Red Cedar Festival receives a few thousand dollars in grant support to pay its clinicians. Thousands more of volunteer hours are invested in producing the Festival. There’s a huge return on investment in personal growth and satisfaction and community development.
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