SUN CITY – If you asked founding members of the Sun City Concert Band had they ever predicted the original 11-piece band would someday grow to a comfortable size of 50, they might have replied “no.”
“When we first met, we had no idea what we even wanted to be,” said original member Beth Macauley. “There were only 11 of us. We didn’t know if we wanted to be a concert band or a polka band or what. We had a couple of people who could play the guitar. A couple who could play the accordion. And so we had different visions of what it should be.”
The original 11 – a conductor, three flutes, two clarinets, trumpets and trombones, and one saxophone – decided after a majority vote that their future would be that of a concert band.
“This was a new community at the time, so everyone was moving in and just wanted to have something to do that they liked. I’m just really happy that you all decided to get together,” current SCCB secretary Cheryl Rotermund said. From the first meeting on Oct. 15, 2003, the band hit the ground running.
“We had no music, no director, no percussion, no anything. Except their own personal instruments. [Those founding members] had to do all the organizing and all the planning and all the grunt work that came with starting up a band,” Rose Kundich, SCCB publicity chair, said.
“In fact, the first music we ever played was borrowed from Huntley High School,” Music Director Donna Bressler adds. The relationship with the high school continues today, with an annual March concert between the two bands.
Within the first years of the SCCB, membership grew quickly. By the time Bressler took the reins of music director – original director Warren Goldsand had moved away from Sun City – the group was up to “about 15 to 16 members.”
“People just kept coming in, and the band kept growing,” she said, adding that the band itself was one of the main reasons she decided to move to Sun City.
Rotermund, too.
Members of the Sun City Concert Band practice on August 21 for their upcoming 10th anniversary concert on Sept. 8. (Chris La Pelusa I Sun Day Photo)
“Once we figured out there was that structure here, we wanted to move here specifically for that,” she said.
Anyone in the Sun City area can join, since the band is a registered charter club. No previous experience is necessary, Rotermund said, adding that one individual, practicing in the next room over, picked up and wanted to learn the clarinet about a year ago.
“For a lot of us, we haven’t played in 30, 40, 50 years and we wanted to start up again. We’ve had a couple of people who wanted to join a band, so they went out and bought an instrument. The nice thing about this band is that we help each other out,” Bressler said.
“Many, many, many members of our band still take lessons. Or, if not, are studying under someone. Everyone is still learning. No one’s resting on their laurels. We’re all trying to become better musicians,” Rotermund added.
Dolores Kniola, a founding member, last played her clarinet in 1946. She never thought she would pick it up again, but the idea of joining a band inspired her to get back in shape.
“I think a lot of people who are in the band had that similar hesitation,” band President Jerry McClellan said. “‘Well, it’s been awhile. Would I be able to pick it up and play again?’ But I think once they come in, they surprise themselves and find that confidence that they can still play.”
While they perform as one sound, the group has also become sort of a family. Bressler said there isn’t one person in the band who isn’t watching the back of someone else. Additionally, a trumpet player’s house burned down a couple of years ago, and band members pooled their resources together almost immediately to make sure she “had some coin” to help her get through it.
“We’ve had a lot of situations, as a family, that we’ve taken care of together,” she said.
Most are hopeful that the band will last another 10 years.
“I think it’ll keep on going. I hope it will. But I know I’ll have to quit one of these days,” founding member Babe Van De Velde, who turns 91 next month, said.
“Nope. Never, Babe. You’re not allowed to quit,” Bressler added, laughing. “Babe is our elder statesman.”
The band will be celebrating its 10th anniversary with a concert at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 8 in Drendel Ballroom. While the show will feature a compilation of the group’s “greatest hits” from the last 10 years, it’s more of a “recognition of all the things everyone’s done and a celebration of those accomplishments,” McClellan said.
Additionally, Goldsand will return to the podium for the one of the group’s first songs.
Following the performance, of which two encores are scheduled, refreshments of coffee and tea will be served – a throwback to the band’s origins, when in order to get people to their shows, members would buy and provide the coffee and tea.
Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at Prairie Lodge.
SCCB 10th anniversary concert
When: 2 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 8
Where: Drendel Ballroom
Tickets: $5 pre-registration, $10 day of event
More info: sccah.com
