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Does your Comm Band have a home?

The CB I play in is called the Mid-South Concert Band located around Chattanooga, TN. We have been at a middle school band room for years and years (long before I started with them). Well, starting next year, there is a new school that is opening and the middle school band will be leaving this space (its a separate free standing building just off the old school). We were a little worried about where we were going to be next year, but we were able to secure it as our dedicated site (good size, probably 18-20 ft acoustically tiled ceilings, shelving to accomodate a plethora of instruments, 3-4 dedicated lockable rooms, and two bathrooms). We're getting together over the summer to clean it up/paint/lay new carpet (hopefully). Either the city or the school is going to keep it on under utilities as well (it will only be used maybe 15 hours/month, so it won't be a ton, but still, its nice).

We feel we're very lucky to have this "new home" for our CB... I was just wondering if you guys have the same, or if you float, or what?

**BRENT**
 
We pay through the nose for room in the middle school. And the insurance requirements are insanely high. Thank goodness we have money coming in from one of the big companies in the area. Oh, and the admin person considers us just an extra job in her already crowded calendar. So she forgets to tell us when they want us to 'skip' a week for a school event. We really need to find another place but that has proven to be rather difficult.
 
IIRC, the insurance will be rolled in with everything else... I have a feeling we got really lucky.

I know we weren't able to have practice if the school system was called out for snow or something (yes, people here freak out hardcore about snow, and I'm not talking a few feet, a DUSTING and people are hoarding milk, bread, eggs, etc...) I only recall one instance this year that even REMOTELY affected our practice, and that was mainly parking as I believe the band had been on a trip and had gotten back around the time we were arriving.

G'luck with getting a place...

**BRENT**
 
I know we weren't able to have practice if the school system was called out for snow or something (yes, people here freak out hardcore about snow, and I'm not talking a few feet, a DUSTING and people are hoarding milk, bread, eggs, etc...)
I was wondering what part of the world you were from and your profile gives no clue. But now I know, it's Seattle isn't it? Even the threat of snow has everyone leaving the building to go home. :emoji_rolling_eyes:
 
I play with community jazz group in the summer and we are lucky enough to have access to the local high school band room. It's a decent space and given the stories of some other folks I appreciate it even more today.
 
I am fortunate that we have a performing arts center as a home to our band and orchestra. When a performance conflicts with one of our rehearsals we move to either the HS or Middle school.

I just found out that my previous concert band is relocating. The conductor had been the department chart of the music dept at a local college so we rehearsed there. Due to some political BS the group is moving to a church as its rehearsal and possibly its concert space too. They must now carry their own stands to rehearsal as well as move all the percussion in and out of a storage area.
 
Thursday Night in Ames, Iowa...

...come to the historic 1935 Durham Municipal Bandshell just off downtown. This is the home of the Ames Municipal Band, an ongoing organization since 1870, giving concerts each June and July.
1935_bandshell.jpg


The band is directed today by Dr. Michael Golemo, Chair of the Music Department at Iowa State University.
I am a former baritone saxophonist in the band and last summer returned as guest soloist.

The Bandshell has been lovingly restored thanks to the contributions of the Durham family and the Ames community. Bandleader Karl King once called it the finest such facility in the nation.
 
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Welcome Paul. I'm collecting pictures of band shells because Suzy and I are thinking about donating one locally. There are so many way cool designs that we'd really have to do some research but I luv the retro nature of the shell you posted.

Here's one that I like in the northwest; albeit a bit small, it certainly has a NW feel. :cool:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gandalfe/2610470253/
 
I didn't know that you were into band shells. I'll try to remember to borrow a camera and take a pic of the one in Mesa.

Here's Mesa, AZ's community band. "So good, we don't have a public concert until 2009!"

OK, that's a little unfair, but it's a bit odd that they didn't have a public concert from 2006 to 2009 ....
 
...come to the historic 1935 Durham Municipal Bandshell just off downtown. This is the home of the Ames Municipal Band, an ongoing organization since 1870, giving concerts each June and July.
1935_bandshell.jpg


The band is directed today by Dr. Michael Golemo, Chair of the Music Department at Iowa State University.
I am a former baritone saxophonist in the band and last summer returned as guest soloist.

The Bandshell has been lovingly restored thanks to the contributions of the Durham family and the Ames community. Bandleader Karl King once called it the finest such facility in the nation.


You're in Ames? My former band played a festival there a few years back. I didn't play because I had a paying gig that was a direct conflict.

Nice bandshell. Ever play the shell in Dubuque? Pretty cool WPA park with a nice shell.

The shell in Davenport is pretty nice too. I've played there many times with the symphony. - That reminds me I need to send them an email about the riverfront pops this fall.
 
The good and the bad of band shells

I've been in similar shells in Illinois towns, all from the WPA set of projects from the 1930's. A band shell was relatively easy to form up and pour (in concrete terms), so that may account for the popularity. And the Arts Decoratif patina on many of them is just icing on the cake.

Of course, actually playing in one (on a hot summer afternoon or evening) is anything but pleasant, particularly if the shell is oriented against the prevailing winds. The group in Centralia IL preferred to do their summer concerts in an open-air amphitheater (also part of the 1930's projects) where at least there was some air circulation. This was somewhat balanced out by the half mile trek from the Cultural Society's building, festooned with instruments, that raised as much of a sweat as the lack of air circulation.

About five miles from where I sit, there is a massive modern band shell built by the Harris County park system. It sits in the middle of a perfectly flat, totally unshaded field, and for most of the day is fully exposed to the full force of the southern summer sun. Even worse, it is so hemmed in by restrictions on its use (including a hefty insurance requirement that few community groups could meet even if they tried) that it sits (a target for vandalism as well as normal wear and tear) virtually unused.

So much for community involvement...
 
Insurance requirements are insane. The WCB finds requirements as high as a million bucks for a one night engagement. And the same for a season of practice time in our Washington state schools. Thank goodness for our corporate sponsor!
 
The forest preserves around here are getting crazy about insurance. You can have a picnic with a moonwalk, kids buzzing around on dirt bikes, and enough liquor to satisfy an aircraft carrier crew, but if you want to hire a band you need a liability policy!
 
Yup. Even the shopping malls around these parts want a big liability policy before they will allow a group to perform, even for free. Their funeral (as it were), as it has a tendency to kill off all live music for them, since they are not willing to pay for anything in the first place.

Still, you can't blame them, what with the way that a random accident could rebound on to them and their deep pockets.

We're playing a huge corporate job tomorrow night, in the largest convention facility in the State o' Texas, and not once was any insurance requirement mentioned. Go figure...
 
I forgot to add that our community (Pearland TX, the fastest growing metropolitan community in the state o' Texas - the population more than doubled to 88,000 in the last ten years) has a band shell on the cheap. It's more like an extended patio tacked onto a storage building, and it is oriented in the wrong direction (facing northwest). Plus, it has a poor field for the audience, with zero slope and even less shade. But, to their credit, they did put on a concert series over the last two months.

Houston has just added a wonderful facility called Discovery Green, built on some old parking lots slap downtown, and it has not one but three concert venues, each with features not normally found. The main stage, sponsored by Anheuser Busch, faces two directions, is fully plumbed with electrical and sound wiring, and has a high canopy that still shades the center of the stage. Big money went into that place.

Booking into a community situation down here means that you have to compete against every country rock band in the universe, with most of them related to someone in the city government. They also don't pay that well, doling out only enough to amount to double gas money for a typical two hour gig. I can do better than that at my mother's assisted living place.

Regardless, I intend to put on a marketing push to all of them next summer, but just didn't have the time this year. Too many of my guys and gals see them as some sort of cash cow, just ripe to be tapped, and the Houston ones may fall in that category. Unfortunately, my sidemen don't think about that insurance requirement...
 
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