Collegio Online

Issue date: 6/26/08 Section: After Hours

Media Credit: Doug Graham Russell Jones, professor of music at Pittsburg State University, plays saxophone in the Community Band.

Media Credit: Doug Graham

Media Credit: Doug Graham

Media Credit: Doug Graham

The Pittsburg Community Band summer concerts have been drawing in larger crowds each week with their marches, standard band melodies and show tunes. The band has performed free concerts at 7 p.m. every Thursday in June and has one remaining show before its final performance at the 4th of July celebration in Lincoln Park.
"The concerts are certainly more laid back and 'just for fun' than our concerts that we play during the year as part of the Music Department," Craig Fuchs, PSU director of bands, said. "Two totally different purposes."
Before Fuchs came to PSU 10 years ago, he says, the summer band entertainment consisted of a band that played at the JJ Richards Band Dome in Lincoln Park. It was a paid band that was funded by the City of Pittsburg. The summer after Fuchs' first year at PSU, he developed the annual "Pittsburg Community Band summer concerts."
"Band music is an important part of our American musical heritage," Fuchs said. "Before there were movie theaters and radio, community bands playing in the park were one of the main forms of entertainment in the U.S."
Ashley Hirt, senior in music, plays the euphonium and has been participating in the summer ensemble for three years.
"I really enjoy the camaraderie because there is a huge and diverse range of people that play," Hirt said. "There are college students, professors, doctors, teachers and average people who just like playing their instruments."
Fuchs says that he sends invitations out to current PSU students, PSU faculty, area band directors and others in the community who he knows can play an instrument at the ability level of the rest of the ensemble.
"Many times we pick up a few players that have found out about the group and contact me to see if they can play," Fuchs said. "It is really open to anyone that is interested, as long as they have a basic level of ability that will enable them to be successful in the group."
Fuchs says that the summer band is different from the fall and spring bands in many ways. Aside from being more laid back, the band also doesn't have to practice as much in the summer.
"My favorite aspect is that we can come together on a Monday to read the program and then perform it at a fairly high level on Thursday," Fuchs said. "During the year, sometimes it gets kind of old having to constantly rehearse and reiterate to the students the same things. Here, I say it once in rehearsal and hope that they play it right on Thursday."
Will Koehler, junior double-majoring in music education and music performance, plays trumpet and says that he gets a lot out of playing.
"This year I've enjoyed who I'm playing next to more than anything," Koehler said. "And it's a chance for me to learn standard literature I may not get to play during the school year."
The Pittsburg Community Band will hold its last campus concert at 7 p.m., Thursday, June 26, in the Oval. Its final show will be at 3 p.m. July 4, at the JJ Richards Band Dome in Lincoln Park.

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