In the Lewis Palmer Middle School auditorium near Colorado Springs, the sudden crash of cymbals and the resonating deep boom of the kettle drum startled everyone into silence. On stage, members of the Fountain Creek Brass Band warmed up their instruments for a rousing end-of-the-school-year concert. They and the school’s sixth-grade band would soon perform separately, followed by a grand finale together.
Beneath the hot stage lights, members of the band, including my husband Pat on baritone, fiddled with sheet music and adjusted music stands. One tenor horn player sat on the edge of her chair and practiced a few scales. Four tuba players occupied the last row, including two college students from Pueblo who played with an assurance that belied their ages. A single note floated over the stage, then the cacophony of cornets, trombones, euphoniums and tubas matched the tone for perfect pitch.
Every Thursday evening, this non-profit group of professionals and dedicated amateurs rehearses in Colorado Springs to prepare for free concerts throughout the year, including performances with students. I once asked euphonium player Norlynn Nelson why he plays with the band. “It’s therapy,” he answered without missing a beat. “Problems disappear. Nothing else matters for these two hours except the music.”
And now, all the hard work was about to pay off. As Debbie Baker, the Fountain Creek Brass Band’s conductor, stepped up to the podium, the musicians rose to their feet and clapped with the audience for her. Ever since kindergarten, when she first held a child-sized baton in her tiny hands and kept the beat for a percussion ensemble, she had wanted to conduct. And she has never wavered from that goal.
As she held her baton in readiness, poised for the first notes, the audience’s anticipation was almost audible.
Something special was about to happen.
No matter how many times I had listened to those four selections during rehearsals, the music still carried me away to a pristine beach where waves of sound washed over me. The notes expressed emotions that bypassed the need for words, powerful enough to alter moods and perceptions of harmony and tempo. I felt the sounds inside my heart, like the words of a favorite story that touched on universal truths. That night, Debbie Baker and the band carried the audience to a place beyond the ordinary.
Then, cornet soloist Frank Hilligas stood and played with his eyes half-closed, communicating beautifully how he felt about the music. Near the end of the piece, he held one perfect high note for several seconds and then paused. And I finally understood what composer Claude Debussy meant when he wrote that “music is the silence between the notes.” Frank had illustrated that concept with his solo performance.
Most of the sixth-graders in the audience listened with rapt attention and looks of awe on their faces when the music swelled to full-brass harmonies. After the applause, they marched on stage for their performance. One small boy skipped jauntily to his chair and waved to someone special in the audience. Two pretty girls with flutes giggled and whispered behind cupped hands, eyeing the boy.
Band director Erika Reppen stood on the podium and led the sixth-graders in deep-breathing exercises. The auditorium was filled with the sounds of the students’ long, protracted sighs. Relaxed and confident, they performed their three prepared pieces well and grinned as the crowd applauded enthusiastically.
During the few minutes it took to reset the stage for the grand finale, I thought about how wonderful it would be if more adult bands would volunteer their talents at schools. What better way to instill a lifelong love of music than to perform with kids? No matter how deep the financial cuts to music education, teachers like Erika could continue to supplement their programs by drawing on these free resources. Musicians in the Fountain Creek Brass Band perform to keep the music alive, showing by example just how rewarding music can be throughout life.
But for now, it was enough to be inside the school’s auditorium on a warm evening, where adult band members with big hearts and sixth-grade kids with boundless joy played all the right notes, together.
Marilyn Flanigan (marilyn.flanigan@gmail.com) is a geologist and author of “Antarctica: Exploring the Extreme.”
