Jerry Robbins Talks About Community Bands In The Ann Arbor Area.

Posted on Mar 09, 2023
Community Bands
On March 9, 2023, Jerry Robbins was the speaker at The Rotary Club of Ann Arbor North Luncheon. He talked about Community Bands in the Ann Arbor Area.
 
Jerry's passion is in the field of music--singing and conducting church choirs; playing in bands, orchestras, and any other ensemble that needed a trombone player; and conducting adult bands.  He is perhaps best known locally as the conductor of what was the Ypsilanti Community Band--since 2010 the Washtenaw Community Concert Band--from 1998 to 2011.  He continues to play in that organization, and occasionally guest conduct, as well as play with the Dexter Community Band, and, in the summers, with the Ann Arbor Civic Band.  He founded and continues to conduct the 21-piece "Town Band" vintage ensemble.  He is the historian and on the Board of Directors of the Dexter Community Band, as well as on the Board of Directors of the Ann Arbor Civic Band.
 
In his retirement years, he has researched and written the history of several local-area organizations, including the "town bands" of the Washtenaw County area, the history of the Ypsilanti Community Band, and the history of the Dexter Community Band.  He is currently working on the 90-year history of the Ann Arbor Civic Band.
 
At our Luncheon Jerry talked about community bands that perform in the Ann Arbor Area.
 
  • Washtenaw Community Band: The Ypsilanti Community Band (YCB) and Washtenaw Community College (WCC) entered into a formal partnership effective June 1, 2010, to create the performing group Washtenaw Community Concert Band (WCCB). The band consists of community players from in and around Washtenaw County.
There were 59 players for the first YCB concert in 1979. Recent membership of the WCCB has grown to 80 or more players ranging in age from teens to octogenarians . Some are or have been professional musicians or have music degrees; most are people from a wide variety of walks of life who played in high school and/or college and who enjoy making music with other adults.
 
The concert season features performances in October, December, February or March, May, and two or three summer concerts in June and July— all in Towsley Auditorium or the adjacent lobby in the Morris Lawrence Building at Washtenaw Community College. Past summers have included performances on Memorial Day at the Yankee Air Museum at Willow Run, patriotic concerts at Ypsilanti-area parks in July, and open-air performances in Milan and at the Ypsilanti Heritage Festival in August. The WCCB has also appeared at the Red Cedar Festival of Community Bands in Okemos, in Ypsilanti's Depot Town, in downtown Ypsilanti, and at Selfridge Air Guard Base in Macomb County, among other venues in recent years.
 
  • Ann Arbor Concert Band: The Ann Arbor Concert Band – founded in 1978 as the Ann Arbor Symphony Band by Victor Bordo and David Juillet – has served as an ensemble for amateur musicians desiring to perform wind band literature. The band has its roots in the Ann Arbor School System's music program and continues a close relationship with it today.
    The band is a non-profit ensemble of musicians from the community. While it maintains an amateur status, the standards of performance and organization are strictly professional.
Concerts are usually presented four times during the concert season between September and May, typically at the Michigan Theater and Hill Auditorium.
 
The ensemble has premiered several new works for concert bands, including the award-winning composition "Heroes Lost and Fallen" by Dr. David Gillingham, Professor of Composition at Central Michigan University.
 
  • Dexter Community Band: The Dexter Community Band was originally conceived in 1982 by Chris Wall, Director of Dexter's Community Education Programs. Dave Angus, a professor of education at the University of Michigan, was the conductor. 
The beginning was modest, but through word of mouth and exposure at a few concerts, the band began to grow. By 1984 the band had nearly doubled in size and performed three or four concerts a year. It took another six years for the band to again double in size and have a fairly well rounded instrumentation. In 1998, William Gourley began conducting the band and brought it to the high level it is today. The band averages 85 members with a full complement of instruments.
 
The band rehearses on Thursday evenings and performs four concerts per season. As part of the band's community outreach mission, members form smaller ensembles and perform at senior centers throughout Washtenaw County during their Evening of Ensembles concerts in January and February.
     
The band is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and all the members are volunteers from the local area. The band is supported by dues paid by all its members as well as by the generous donations from many organizations and individuals.
 
  • Saline New Horizon Band: The band is affiliated with the New Horizons International Music Association with over 200 bands in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia.
Dr. Roy Ernst was a professor of music education at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY when he conceived the idea that there should be more opportunities in music for adults. He didn’t agree with the prevailing wisdom that seniors would not be able to learn new things like making music in a group setting. In 1991, Dr. Ernst established three bands - one each in Rochester, NY, Madison, WI, and Iowa City, IA - not knowing if they would be successful or not. The response was phenomenal and the concept has proved to be valid. There are now over 200 active music groups in North America, Ireland, England, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand.
 
Since 1991, the New Horizons Music program has helped musical groups form to give seniors an opportunity to learn (or re-learn) how to play an instrument or become active in other musical endeavors. There are opportunities in band, orchestra, choral, and small ensembles, 
 
The New Horizons International Music Association (NHIMA) was founded as an international non-profit organization committed to the New Horizons philosophy of music making and undertakes initiatives designed to support the development and growth of New Horizons music organizations.
 
The Saline New Horizons Band has concerts at the Saline First United Methodist Church in Saline.
 
  • Town Band: In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, before radio, movies, and television were popular, every community of any size just had to have at least one "town band." These were often sponsored by governmental units, business/industry, social/civic/fraternal organizations, and the like. Size and instrumentation varied depending on the availability of players. The town bands performed often for "concerts in the park," social and church gatherings, and ceremonial events.
The Town Band re-creates the sounds and atmosphere of the popular town band concerts of the World War I era. Programs include marches, popular songs of the day, light classical music, familiar melodies, hymns, soloists, and period-appropriate commentary. The instrumentation is intended to be typical of town bands of the time and includes flute/piccolo, B-flat clarinets, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, cornets, alto horns, tenor horn, baritone horn, trombones, tuba, and drums.
 
The Town Band was founded in 2009 by Jerry Robbins, then-conductor of the Ypsilanti Community Band/Washtenaw Community Concert Band, who serves as conductor of the Town Band ensemble. This ensemble has performed in Washtenaw and surrounding counties for historical events, at church gatherings, for an artisan's market, for retirement homes, and as part of several concert series. The Town Band provides all of its own equipment (with the possible exception of chairs) for each performance.
 
In 2011, the Town Band was selected in national competition to perform at the national convention of the Association of Concert Bands.
 
In 2018, the Town Band was selected and performed as the featured guest band at the Upper Peninsula Community Band Festival in Marquette, Michigan.
  • Concerts coming up soon: 
    • Town Band, Free, April 23, 2023 at 2:00 PM, Lobby of the Morris Lawrence Building Washtenaw Community College.​​​​​​
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All Community Bands are non-profit and survives on donations. If you world like to donate go to concert or visit their website.
 
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