I'm a member of two community concert bands - the Caledon Concert Band and the City of Brampton Concert Band.
Remember your high school band? Well, people who've grown up and want to keep playing music join community concert bands. Typical community concert bands have a wide variety of members, from high school students through retirees and everything in between. They may be professional musicians, doctors, dentists, computer consultants, housewives/househusbands, shoe salesmen, shipping clerks, or whatever.
Bands usually play lots of different styles of music, from classical to contemporary to jazz. They tend to play concerts in and around their areas, so chances are pretty good that there's one somewhere near you which would love to see you come out to a concert.
There are concert bands in many different cities and towns. Here are some lists of community bands and other community musical ensembles:
The Caledon Concert Band serves the rural area to the northwest of Toronto. We usually rehearse in Caledon East. The band draws its musicians from a very wide area - anywhere within about an hour's drive is fair game.
For information on the band's events, check out the official Caledon Concert Band web page or email the band.
In 2004, the band celebrated its 120th year. It was originally a band organized in 1884 by the mechanics at a local foundry, and is one of the country's oldest community bands. In 2002, we released Canadian Landscape, a CD of music by Canadian composers including Calixa Lavallée, Howard Cable, Healey Willan, and André Jutras. The CD also includes a new composition from Fred Stride, Horizons for the New Millennium, which was commissioned by the band. We released our second CD, Winter Holiday, in December 2004, followed by our third CD, Marching Down Main Street, in 2005 in honour of the Year of the Veteran.
In recent years, we have travelled to Ottawa; Calgary; Halifax; Schladming, Austria; Interlaken, Switzerland; Modena, Italy (and a return visit to Schladming); and Killarney, Ireland to participate in music festivals.
For information on the band, including a list of upcoming events, visit http://www.bramptonconcertband.com/
Associated with this band is the Jazz Mechanics. In 1979, this band formed as an offshoot of the concert band, to provide a group for those who wished to focus on playing jazz. The band rapidly became a well-known and respected jazz ensemble, and has won far more than its fair share of awards. Many famous jazz musicians, including Guido Basso, Pat LaBarbera and Hagood Hardy, have joined the Jazz Mechanics in concert. The Jazz Mechanics released their first CD, entitled Current Events, in spring 1996, and several members of the band have also released discs on their own or with other bands. The band's second CD, Oxymoron, was released in early 2002.