Municipal Band of Charlottesville
The Municipal Band of Charlottesville, Inc. is a nonprofit organization of volunteer members dedicated to the performance of band and ensemble music. In continuous operation since 1922, the Municipal Band serves the communities of Charlottesville/Albemarle and surrounding counties, providing musical entertainment and education through free public concerts and representing the City and County at civic and other special events. The Band owns and operates the Municipal Arts Center, which is used for its rehearsals and serves as a community resource for local arts and other nonprofit groups.
Organization
The Band is funded through the cooperation of the Charlottesville City Council and the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors in their annual budgets. It is governed by a seven-member Board of Directors elected each year by the players in the Band. Board officers include a President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. The Band’s Music Director and the Manager of the Municipal Arts Center attend Board meetings as ex officio non-voting members. Various ad hoc committees and work groups from the membership assist with concert logistics, publicity, fund raising, social activities and other duties associated with the operation of the Band and Municipal Arts Center.
History
The Municipal Band of Charlottesville, Inc. was organized on August 21, 1922 through the efforts of two of Charlottesville’s leading citizens, Sol Kaufman and E. A. Joachim, and with the cooperation of several civic organizations. Its first public parade and concert occurred on April 10, 1923 on Main Street in downtown Charlottesville. At a concert presented in Lee Park, near the present Downtown Mall, on May 28, 1923 under the direction of the Band’s first conductor, Harry Lowe, Sol Kaufman, the Band’s first president, formally awarded control of the Band to the City of Charlottesville with the admonition to City officials that it was now the responsibility of the City to support the Band and see that it survived. It is now one of the oldest continuously operating amateur community bands in the United States.
Conductors
The Band has had seven music directors since its founding in 1922:
- 1922 - 1940 Harry Lowe
- 1940 - 1941 Ernest G. Carr
- 1941 - 1950 Emil Rada
- 1950 - 1957 Marlin L. Brown
- 1957 - 1980 Sharon Bernard Hoose
- 1980 - 2007 James W. Simmons, Director Emeritus
- 2007–present Steve Layman
Current (2007–present) Assistant Music Directors are Gary H. Fagan and Charles J. Torian.
Personnel
Over the years membership has grown from the original thirty men to about ninety men and women of all ages and professions. Among its members are architects, secretaries, bankers, doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, librarians, business people, homemakers, construction workers, accountants, musicians, students and retired persons to name just a few. Women were first admitted to the Band in 1957 and currently make up about a third of the total members of the organization. The Municipal Band welcomes performers on all band instruments insofar as it can while maintaining instrumental balance and high standards of musicianship. Student musicians in the eighth grade or higher may be admitted upon the recommendation and sponsorship of their music instructor.
Performances
The Band’s musicians rehearse or perform nearly every Tuesday night throughout the year. The Band performs approximately ten concerts a year, including six concerts in Downtown Charlottesville during the summer season, as well as annual Christmas, Spring and Fall concerts. Each year the Band also performs on July 4 (United States Independence Day) for the Naturalization Ceremony at Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. All concerts are open to the public at no charge, the Band’s gift of music to the City and County which support it. A variety of pieces from the Band’s library is presented at every concert, including marches, classical transcriptions, Broadway show tunes, folk music, contemporary works, light opera and hits from the big band era. Special themed concerts featuring film music, music for children of all ages, and featured special guest performers and soloists from the Band are also frequent features of Municipal Band concerts.
During its existence the Band has traveled over one hundred thousand miles throughout the eastern and southern United States. As the official band of the Virginia Division of the United Confederate Veterans, it took part in their annual reunions for many years. The Band has also served as honor guard for three Virginia governors and has played for seven Presidents of the United States, as well as for the Queen of England upon the occasion of her visit during the United States Bicentennial.
Ensembles
The Band provides its members with the opportunity to participate in any of several instrumental ensembles in addition to playing in the full concert band. These smaller groups give players a chance to explore new repertoire, improve playing skills in a small-group setting, and offer additional performance opportunities at times and places where the full band may not be appropriate or available. The ensembles also provide a means for Band members to perform outreach service to younger students and others in the community in a way that introduces them to the various wind instrument families and their characteristic literature in an entertaining and informal setting.
- Flute Ensemble - The Flute Ensemble is a group of 6-10 players from various parts of central Virginia. The group rehearses music from many different styles, including Celtic flute music, folk, baroque, classical, romantic and contemporary works. More than half of the group holds degrees in music, bringing to the ensemble much experience and a strong love of the flute.
- Clarinet Ensemble - The Clarinet Ensemble encompasses players spanning the entire range of the clarinet family, including Eb and Bb soprano, Eb alto, Bb bass, and Bb contrabass models. The group’s repertoire likewise ranges over all time periods and styles from Baroque and classical era transcriptions to modern clarinet ensemble literature, folk, jazz and popular music of all kinds.
- Saxophone Ensemble - The Charlottesville Albemarle Saxophone Ensemble, familiarly known as CASE , is currently an SATB quartet, though it has had as many as eight musicians on soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxes. The group performs a variety of modern, jazz, and popular music composed and/or arranged for saxophone ensemble.
- Trombone Ensemble - The Municipal Band trombone ensemble is directed by Steve Layman and usually includes 8 trombones and a tuba. The group rehearses and performs a wide range of repertoire including transcriptions of works from the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras, arrangements of popular tunes and contemporary works for trombone ensemble.
- French Horn Ensemble - The Charlottesville Horn Club is an informal group of musicians who have been playing together for over 40 years with players coming and going throughout that time. The group has a wide collection of trios, quartets, quintets, sextets, septets and octets in its library. Their collection includes German waltzes and marches, folk tunes, jazz, show tunes and transcriptions of orchestral works.
Scholarship
The James W. Simmons Solo Competition and Dr. Genevieve Murphy Scholarship was founded in 2010 and is awarded annually to a local high school musician on the basis of a selective audition process. The competition is named for James W. Simmons, Director Emeritus of the Band, while the scholarship is named in honor of its benefactor, the Reverend Dr. Genevieve Murphy. The award includes a monetary stipend to support higher education and an opportunity for solo performance with the Band.
Facilities
For many years the Band had no home of its own, rehearsing wherever space could be found. Then with generous funding from community members, Band members, benefit dances and concerts, and grants from foundations and businesses, the Band was able to purchase land on 5th Street and erect what is now known as the Municipal Arts Center. The Municipal Arts Center, which was dedicated in September 2000, is now the permanent home of the Band, used for rehearsing, meeting and storage of its music library and equipment. Space is also available for other community arts, business and civic groups to rent as needed.