The Wellesley school and recreation departments, along with the Council on Aging and a musical group of local folks, are forming a Wellesley Community Band beginning this fall.
Brass, reed and percussion players young, old and rusty are invited to join the band, which is being directed by Wellesley Middle School band director Henry Platt.
Herb Gliick, who proposed the idea for the band to the Wellesley Rec Department, says: “The vision is to play, period. Unlike instruments such as the piano and acoustic guitar which a lone individual can be perfectly happy with, wind and percussion instruments are ensemble creatures. One usually doesn’t sit around playing an oboe at home just for fun, or a trombone such as mine. That’s why band instruments and their owners’ chops tend to gather dust after high school or college and only come back once family and career have settled in. (In my case, I didn’t have a past and only started taking lessons when I turned 70.”
The band’s tentative schedule calls for two 16-week semesters, with rehearsals on Monday evenings between 7:00 and 8:30. Things will kick off Oct. 7.
Wellesley has taken notice of nearby communities with bands. Needham, for example, last year boasted a community band with 60+ members ranging in age from teenagers to 88. Like with bands from Needham, Brookline and Wayland, the musical repertoire will consist of show tunes, marches, pop and light classical pieces.
The Recreation Department is gathering names of and comments by interested townspeople and will be sending out registration materials at the end of summer. For players who just show up with horn in hand, registration forms will be available at start-up time. The cost: $50 per semester. For more info, call 781-235-2370.
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