In
Concert:
Community Music Groups Working Together
A Newsletter of Southwestern
Pennsylvania Band Partners
Inside
This Issue:
Kiski
Valley Community Band
Provided
by Carol Pinto-Smith
Secretary, Kiski Valley Community Band
The Kiski Valley Community Band was established in 1993 because of the
desire of our adult musicians to have an outlet for their musical
talent.
Our band consists of musicians ranging from high school students to the
over-50 crowd. Members come from many communities in the
Kiski Valley region including
Vandergrift, Apollo, Leechburg, New Kensington, Lower
Burrell, Springdale and Freeport.
Patti Marco, our president and conductor, teaches seventh- and
eighth-grade band at Kiski Area Intermediate School, Allegheny
Township. A graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, she is
co-director of the elementary band and on the staff of the Kiski Area
High School marching band.
The Kiski Valley Community Band performs at many community functions
during the year including benefit concerts at Christmas and local
community festivals.
The next performance of the Kiski Valley Community Band is February, 14
at 2pm at the Pittsburgh Mills Mall in Frazer as part of the
HomExpo.
For more information about the band, please visit their website at
http://kvcb.net
Southwestern
PA Community Bands
(As of January 7, 2010)
Below are some recent updates to the directory. If you are
aware of community bands in the region
that are not yet in the online directory please let them know about us.
We currently have 25 groups listed in our directory from the
Southwestern Pennsylvania region.
Update:
West
Hills Symphonic Band
http://www.whsb.org/
Clement Rolin, Conductor
clementrolin@comcast.net.
Alan Skwarla, President
algolatino@verizon.ne
Karen Koszak, Business Secretary
potato45@hotmail.com
verified: October 27, 2009
Scottdale
Concert Band
http://www.scottdaleband.com
A. Warren Shirer, Conductor
Rhonda Allison, Contact person
rallisonspl@yahoo.com
Jay Copenhaver, Secondary contact person
trptman@gmail.com
724-887-4425
Verified: October 21, 2009
Community
Band South
http://cbs.pghfree.net/
Jim Bennett, Co-Director
jimbennett007@Verizon.net
Dean Streator, Co-Director
deanstreator@comcast.net
412.833.6110
Verified: October 19, 2009
Please check the listing of your group in the online directory to see
if it is correct and let us know so we can put a “Verified
on” date.
Thanks
- See the complete list of
Southwestern PA Community Bands at:
http://swpabandpartners.pghfree.net/bands.html
- To be added to the online
directory, send email to newsletter@swpabandpartners.pghfree.net
Band
Birthdays in 2010
10 yrs
~ Blairsville Community
Concert Band
20 yrs
~ Pine Creek Community Band
25 yrs
~ Ohio Valley Community Band
30 yrs
~ Resurrection Band
45 yrs
~ Harrisville Community Band
Happy
Birthday!!
Job
Descriptions and Intro to Bylaws
By Sarah
McElfresh
In Volume 4
Issue 1 we looked at what it means to be a 501c3 organization and how
to get started in the process of getting that designation for a group. One of the requirements of the application
process is to submit a copy of the organization’s bylaws. Most of our reading audience are members of
already existing bands so we will not get into the creation of a band
here. If you are looking to create a new
ensemble there are resources available and I would strongly recommend
joining the Association of Concert Bands (http://www.acbands.org) to
have access to their many resources including the Band Builders Manual.
Just as
there
are many different types of community bands, there are many different
organizational structures. This is
typically formalized with bylaws. Your
organizational structure is also something that your group may revisit
from time to time as the band evolves.
Many groups have
questions of what should and should not be in their bylaws. How specific should we make job descriptions
of our officers and conductors? These are
good questions and there are multiple approaches to take.
The bylaws can be very detailed and very specific which can be helpful in many situations, but you
want to be careful that your bylaws do not restrict actives the group
may want to take in the future without having to amend the bylaws.
Here we will
start with job descriptions of members of the organization and or board. A first question might be, what positions
should we have? The titles and positions
below do not come from any single group or are not necessarily common
for every group. A web search of
“community bands and by laws” will bring you many different
examples from which you can draw from in determining what is best for
your individual group. Most groups have a
board of directors which is made up of the officers of the band
(President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer).
There are other positions which may or may not be members of the
board. For example not all conductors are
members of the board; the librarian is also commonly not a board level
position, but it also not a surprise to see it as such.
Common
Positions
The
positions
listed below are not intended to be a complete list of possible
positions but are the most common, and the job description is
intentionally vague to give a basic idea of what a position might
entail. A more detailed description would
need to come from discussions within the current board or organizing
committee of your group to have what makes the most sense for you.
There are
probably many more positions that some groups have as part of their
governing or leadership structure. Certain
responsibilities may be better suited for a different position
depending on the group. As an example,
there are some groups where the board selects the music and the
conductor has little to no input in that process. As
noted above, some duties were listed under multiple positions. There is no single way to run a band, each
group is unique; however there are some common things that all groups
will need so looking to others for guidance is very helpful.
Music
Corner
This
section is intended to be a place for conductors and
musicians to share information on new music they are playing.
If
you have something to contribute please email us the information at
newsletter@swpabandpartners.pghfree.net with “New Music
Corner” in the
subject line. Please include the title, composer/arranger, publisher
and a brief description of the piece.
American
Barndance
Composer: Richard L. Saucedo
Published: 2009
Grade: 4
Performance time: 3:35 min
Publisher: Hal Leonard (HL 04002794 )
Hal Leonard web site:
http://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.do?itemid=4002794
By Sarah McElfresh
The Hal Leonard website describes this piece as “rhythmic and
energetic” and I must agree. This work contains contrasts
of tempo and style with some familiar music interwoven through out the
piece. As the name suggests it has the feeling of a barn dance
while incorporating themes from classical and Broadway music. It
starts off quick with the barn dance feel, and then has a humors slant
before going into a gentle melodic passage. The second half of
the piece gradually picks up the tempo as it races to the end.
The entire ensemble is well represented throughout the piece.
The mp3 file is available to listen to at the Hal Leonard site. It is
definitely worth a listen. This piece seems suited for any
concert venue and audience.
One piece of criteria I have for evaluating music is “Do I like
to play it?” I am not a musical director,
I sit in the back of the band in the low brass section and play.
As such I often have parts that are not terribly exciting, that was
true for this piece. However, it was a fun piece to listen
to during rehearsal and look for all the hidden themes and therefore I
enjoyed playing it. It did take a few rehearsals to get to that
point where the piece takes shape and you can understand how
things fit together. If your group is one that likes to read
through a piece and then vote on whether to keep working on it, you
might let this piece go as all the components are not evident at
first. In my opinion, It is deserving of that second look.
This piece is a definite audience pleaser.
Combined
Calendar
(As of January 7, 2009 for Winter 2010)
For the updates and the entire calendar visit the online calendar
January 2010:
February 2010:
March 2010:
Announcements:
|
 Three
Rivers Community Band Festival
Festival
Band Registration open for 2010 Festival
The
7th Three Rivers Community Band Festival will be held on Saturday May
1, 2010 at Upper St. Clair High School Theatre
There
will again be a “Festival Band” which will allow a
larger number of area musicians to participate in the festival. The
band will rehearse on the morning of the festival with guest conductor,
Denis Colwell and then perform selected pieces during the afternoon
concert. Applications should be
received by February 15, 2010.
For
more information and application materials, please visit: http://www.ewsb.org/festival
and
click on “Festival
Band”
|
The Association of Concert Bands (ACB) is a national organization
dedicated to encouraging and fostering adult community, municipal and
civic bands and musicians. Membership has its privileges,
with
different levels of membership—individual ($30/yr), family
($45/yr), life ($1000), organizational ($50/yr or $275/yr), and
corporate ($150/yr). The more expensive type of
organizational
memberships comes with the BMI/ASCAP Blanket licensing agreement that
keeps community bands legal with performance fees. All types
of
memberships come with a subscription to the Journal, voting privileges,
and participation in the annual convention and convention
band.
The Journal is published three times a year, and includes articles
about community bands from across the country; festivals, concerts,
band camps, reviews of music and CDs and other topics that would be of
interest to a community band musician. For more information,
visit the web site or contact Sarah McElfresh, Regional Membership
Coordinator for Pennsylvania at sarahmcelfresh (at) yahoo.com.
|
|
Are
you interested in an
Unwanted Music Swap??
The idea has been presented by the president of one of the bands that
we have a music swap. A place to trade original full scores
of music that are just taking up space in your music library.
Swap those pieces you will never play for one reason or another for
something else. Perhaps it is too easy or hard for your
group—might be just right for
another.
Perhaps it is a piece that your band has overplayed—it may be
brand new to another. Perhaps you just need to thin out your
library. There are many more reasons why you may no longer
need or want that piece of music, and it may be a gem for some other
group.
If
you are interested in participating in such an event, please contact
Sarah McElfresh at sarahmcelfresh (at) yahoo.com
Date and location will be set and announced after the schedules of
those most interested have been worked out.
|
|
Sousa
National Community Band
July
9-11, 2010, Las Vegas NV
Organized
by the John
Philip Sousa Foundation, the Sousa National Community Band is comprised
of individual musicians from around the country who travel to a given
location to play a concert in the
style of
Sousa under the baton of Col. John R. Bourgeois.
For
information see:
http://www.sousafoundation.org/ under
Projects or
send
an email to
windband@gmail.net.
|
Don’t
forget to sign up
for the monthly
email.
Tell your friends so they don’t miss upcoming concerts.
To be on our mailing list send email to
swpabandpartners-subscribe@yahoogroups.com with the subject subscribe
|
Contacting
Us:
Southwestern Pennsylvania Band Partners is
dedicated to helping community music groups in the southwestern
Pennsylvania Region.
Please visit us online at the address below to learn more or become
involved.
http://swpabandpartners.pghfree.net
Regional
Bands with web sites
(for updated list visit the links page)
Contributing
to the
newsletter
Everyone is welcome to contribute an article to the
newsletter.
The topic is up to you—something you think your fellow
musicians would
be interested in. We are always looking for contributions to the "New
Music Corner." Just email your article to:
newsletter@swpabandpartners.pghfree.net
For additions to the web site email:
info@swpabandpartners.pghfree.net
In
the next
newsletter
In our next newsletter due out
in early April you will find:
Editors
Sarah McElfresh, East Winds Symphonic Band, Delmont Concert
Band
Scott McElfresh, East Winds Symphonic Band
Kathy Wikowski, Allegheny Brass Band, North Suburban
Symphonic
Band
January
7, 2010