Strike Up The Band!
Lots of events going on in November from the end of Daylight-Saving Time on the 3rd, Election Day on the 5th, Veterans Day on the 11th and, of course, Thanksgiving Day on the 28th.
But there’s one special day I’ll be observing wholeheartedly and that’s on Nov. 7th – the 45th anniversary of the founding of the Fort Wayne Area Community Band (FWACB). And, I’m proud to say, I’m one of seven charter members still actively playing in the Band from the total of 56 who signed the charter at the first rehearsal on Nov. 7, 1979, at Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne, as it was known then. The Band has doubled in size since and continues to be an ensemble in residence in the School of Music at Purdue University Fort Wayne’s College of Visual and Performing Arts.
Our 45th anniversary concert will be held early next year at the Auer Performance Hall on the Purdue University campus.
Had it not been for my wife, Marty, who thoroughly reads the newspaper and spotted the small article in 1979 by the Band’s founding conductor, Dr. William F. Schlacks, announcing the first rehearsal, I might have missed out.
The majority of musicians who attended that first rehearsal and most instrumentalists who followed did not have an outlet to continue playing since graduating from high school and/or college. In my case, I went from performing in nearly every music ensemble available at Central Catholic High School and at the University of Notre Dame to none after graduation in 1963. Aside from playing a herald trumpet on Armed Forces Day while on active duty in the Army and practicing occasionally at home, my trumpet remained in its case for about 16 years.
I’ve been privileged to serve the Band as president, publicity chair and on the board as an at-large member as well as an announcer for many concerts. The only negative, especially for my wife, is our Tuesday evenings always are occupied by a Band rehearsal.
The FWACB is made up of volunteer members representing a multitude of professions, including music. The Band performs fall, holiday, winter, and spring concerts on the local Purdue University campus, plays for graduations for the University of Saint Francis and Ivy Tech Community College, and for summer concerts at Foellinger Theatre, Promenade Park and Friemann Square.
The Band has been under the direction of Principal Conductor Dr. Scott Humphries since 2010, Assistant Conductors Susan Jehl since 1980 and David Blackwell since 1987. Blackwell retired from conducting last July and his successor, Everette Hornbarger, was chosen by the Band in September.
In addition to performing on the local Purdue University campus, the Band has played at the Performing Arts Center, the former Scottish Rite Auditorium, Embassy Theater, Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, Old Fort Wayne, the City-County Building plaza, Headwaters Park, Sycamore Hills Country Club and at several local parks and businesses. The Band also was invited to perform for the Indiana Music Educators Association conventions held in Indianapolis and Fort Wayne. In addition, about a dozen FWACB members once performed during a Three Rivers Festival Raft Race on a raft contraption that miraculously didn’t sink!
Like many other organizations and individuals, the Band experienced a shut-down from March 10, 2020, until May 18, 2022, due to the COVID-19 virus. The ensemble resumed rehearsals on the third level of Parking Garage #3 across from the entrance to the John & Ruth Rhinehart Music Center on the PFW campus where the Band rehearses and performs in the building’s Auer Auditorium.
Players, who were used to assembling every Tuesday for rehearsal in a room arranged with chairs and music stands had to bring their own chair, stand, and light. The garage area was marked off with yellow crime-scene tape and birds occasionally swooped through the garage adding to the excitement.
About the only thing the Band does not do is march! In fact, the late composer and Band member, Richard Hickman, wrote a work just for us titled, “We Don’t March.”
Catch the Band in concert at 7:30 p.m. on the local Purdue University campus on Dec. 10, Feb. 25 and May 6.
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