Silver and Gold Band concerned by dwindling membership
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So when the number of empty seats rivals the number of filled ones as it has in recent practice sessions, remaining members get concerned. They are issuing an open invitation for former band members to get back involved.
For the past year or so, members say their numbers have been straggling, with less than 15 showing up regularly for practice and less than 25 showing up for performances. Longtime members and even newer members sense the beginning of the end if no effort is made to rejuvenate the band.
Snare drum player Jack Bond, who has performed with the band for about 50 years, said the end of the band would be to break with what has become a McMinnville tradition.
“It’s just been here a long time. We’ve had some great members. We’ve got a picture on the board up there,” he said, referring to an old photograph portraying members of The Silver Band as it was once called, that hangs on the wall during every practice session.
Personally, the band fulfills a sense of musical purpose for Bond, who along with others, said he just enjoys playing.
“I’ve got band music in my blood. I’ve got a picture of my dad in DeKalb County in a hometown jazz band. It’s just something that gets in your blood and I really love band music,” Bond added.
Today’s members don’t mind so much if potential members are a bit rusty on their John Phillip Sousa tunes or miss the coda on others – things that are second nature to high school band students. They know there have to be people willing to practice with them on Monday nights and be able to play during the holidays or other special events in what amounts to free entertainment for the community.
“All those who used to play in the Warren County High School band need to come up here and play,” encouraged longtime member, trumpet player and former high school band director Mike Chilcutt. “Their horns are in the closet collecting dust.”
Clarinet player and another longtime member Eddie Oliver, whose father was said to be the father of the school band movement in Middle Tennessee, is also worried about the future.
“I’d hate for it to end after nearly 100 years,” Oliver said of the band’s history. “For as many band members as we have in high school, we ought to have people who stay in Warren County and would like to stay on in bands like this.”
Just what and how many do they need?
“We need flute players, trombone players, trumpet players – anything. We can use any of it,” Bond said.
Ted Pinson, a tuba player who joined about two months ago, said although new, he also feels a sense of obligation as far as keeping the tradition of a community band. Chilcutt also noted the need for a corporate sponsor to enable them to get new music and other band items.
“Most of the time, there’s not enough people to play,” Pinson said of practice. “There’s got to be people who played in high school who would join.”
So far, he said the experience has been meaningful.
“I love it. I’d just hate to see it not continue.”