The Twin Cities are chock full of chances to see free music in the summertime. There are lunchtime concerts in downtown Bloomington, evening sets at Uptown Circle and Connie Link Amphitheatre, Concerts on the Quad at ISU — and of course, the Bloomington-Normal Community Concert Band.
For this week's installment of WGLT's Sounds of Summer series, WGLT went to Franklin Park to hear their latest repertoire and talk to a few of the band's musicians and fans. Here’s an audio postcard of our visit, with transcript below.
Mark Weidinger: I'm the band president; I've been president for about a year now. I've actually only been a member of the band for about four years. I joined when I retired and we moved to Bloomington-Normal to be closer to our son and daughter in-law and their child. We're really enjoying watching the baby grow up here, and I was looking for something to do with my free time. The community band jumped out at me, so I joined, and it's been really great. We have a wonderful conductor; Mike Wallace has been marvelous, musicianship-wise and with all his insight into the wonderful pieces that he picks. We really are enjoying the whole process of putting music together and performing for the community.
Mike Wallace: I'm the director of the Community Concert Band and we're doing our summer in the park series again this year. This is my 35th year of directing the concerts in the park. I started back in 1988 and we've been giving concerts six or seven weeks during the summer every year since then. We have many, many people from all walks of life in the community concert band. We have people who are doctors; we have people who are engineers; we have people are teachers; we have housewives; we have house husbands. We have musicians that are professional musicians and we have folks that hadn't played since high school that are joining us again for the first time. We enjoy making music together. This is our thing—we love to come out and play for people.
Molly Achord: I've been coming to the concerts for about 32 years, because my husband used to play in the band and really enjoy it.
Carolyn Penn: My husband and I came for, I don't know, 20-25 years — a long time. But he has gone too. I'm a music lover. I go to all the music concerts in town. I don't miss this. I go to the brass band. I go to Connie Link Amphitheater. All the free stuff! It's great and gets me out of the house.
Jim Parr: I've been playing tuba with this band forever. I taught mathematics at ISU and that's what I'm doing in this town. I came here in 1970, and it's been wonderful playing with the band ever since.
When I was at Indiana University, it was a rare moment. There were only two serious tuba players on campus in my junior and senior year. I was there as a math major, and the other one was a music major. So, we split the tuba jobs for Indiana University. That way, I got to play in operas, I got to play in an orchestra, I got to play in a brass choir. A wonderful experience that I would never have a chance to do now, because they've got lots and lots of tuba players.
Frank, the basset hound: Woof.
Martha Hagen: My daughter is a saxophonist in the band. So, obviously, I'm boosting her, but I love band music in general. I have enjoyed being here for several years now.
Thursday, July 27, is the final chance to see the Community Band in Bloomington’s Franklin Park. Downbeat is at 7 p.m. Bring your own chair or blanket, and don't forget the bug spray. For information about Bloomington-Normal Community Concert Band, visit bn-communityband.org.
