Stonewall Jackson Brigade Band - Monday, January 28th, 2019

The Stonewall Jackson Brigade Band is a long-standing community wind band from

Staunton. The group has their own building to store instruments in and to rehearse in, located

right next to the main entrance of Gypsy Hill Park. Having grown up about two blocks away

from where they rehearse, I always knew about them, but never had much interest in joining the

group since I was in band at school. Once, about five years ago, I sat in and sight read a

Christmas concert with my private teacher at the time who was part of the group, but that was the

extent of the involvement I had with it. Their music director of about 40 years had passed away

recently, and I was interested to see what the group had become. I decided to send an email to

the band president and the new music director, asking if a few JMU students could come in and

observe, and they replied: “Absolutely not! There will be no observing here - you must come and

play with us!” So, off we trekked to Staunton to sight read with the group for the evening.

We poked our heads in, wondering out loud who we should speak to, and immediately

were swept up by a number of people wanting to help us. We were eagerly shown where the

music was kept, asked to fill out a member form by the secretary, and greeted warmly by

everyone we sat near. Immediately, I knew how close-knit the little community of band members

was, and how receptive they were to having new people come in - this, however, is quite

characteristic of the larger Staunton community. Everyone knows everyone, and if they don’t,

then they soon do. Before the music-making even began, it was clearly a gathering of both old

and new friends. I learned all about “Bob’s” upcoming trip to New York to visit his

grandchildren and that he had lived close to where I grew up for about fifteen years. As everyone
meandered to their seats and started to warm up their instruments, I took a look through the

music we’d be playing.

They are rehearsing for their summer concert series that involves giving a concert every

Tuesday evening at the Stonewall Jackson Brigade bandstand in the park. I later learned that they

are trying out a new system this year, where they play a different concert each week instead of

the same one. There was a large amount of staple band music repertoire - Holt’s First and Second

Suites, and plenty of Sousa marches, to begin with. Simple arrangements of jazz tunes, probably

appropriate for a middle school setting, but fun to work on all the same. It didn’t look to be a

hard set of music, and for me, it wasn’t.

Since the music wasn’t difficult, I could focus on the room around me much more easily.

I spent the majority of the hour-and-a-half watching how everyone reacted to what they were

playing. The room was mostly made up older folks who loved to make music and who

continuously told me afterwards how the arrival of Monday evening rehearsal gets them through

the week. While the sound of the room wasn’t exactly JMU Wind Symphony material, it was a

loud, enthusiastic sound coming from everywhere all of the time. They would stop in between

repetitions to giggle about mistakes or to quickly update their friends on the past week at work.

The music was perfect for them. I watched one elderly alto saxophone gentlemen dance and

move his feet to the jazzy beat as we played Birdland, and it was probably the sweetest, most

characteristic reaction of the room to what was going on!

They have a main music director, but they are trying to allow a few other people to come

up to the front of the group and conduct some pieces. Most of them had two goals in mind - to

keep the band together, and to impress upon them the importance of SOFT dynamics. Some of
the conductors were better than others, but their skill didn’t matter so much as their ability to

laugh and connect with their players did. The whole time, I kept thinking about how I would stop

and reteach what went on during the last repetition, or how I would fix the balance in certain

areas. I actually did get to do one small nugget of teaching - someone raised their hand and asked

what “niente” meant, and when the conductor giggled and said that she had never heard the term

before, I defined it for them.

After the rehearsal, I had the chance to speak in person to both of the people I had

emailed, and they explained the sequencing of rehearsal a little bit better. The musicians are all

there to have fun, to make music, and to spend time with friends. Mostly what happens on any

given evening is sight reading, and they really only rehearse a concert set one or two weeks

before the actual performance. It’s mostly a chance for them to simply make music together!

There’s little emphasis placed on instrumental proficiency or accuracy, unless it really is a

glaring problem in context of the music.

I thought that nothing could better characterize the meaning of community music-making

than the rehearsal I attended and was privileged enough to participate in. So often we forget the

“community” part of a community ensemble. We talk all the time about needing to communicate

with members of ensembles we’re playing in here at JMU, but these people really and truly

understand the importance of having relationships with their fellow band members. Everyone in

that room was a friend to one another, and it was evident from the moment we stepped in the

door. As soon as trombone choir ends for this semester, and my Monday evenings are free, I will

be going back to talk to Bob about his trip to see his grandchildren in New York!