The first iteration of the group wasn't super structured. Back in 2011, we practiced at our school auditorium when class had ended for the day. We also practiced in different rooms at the church I attended at the time. We read music we were playing in school, so rehearsals were really just a hangout and catching up anyone who wasn't currently in the top ensemble. We borrowed some school instruments too.
I think the biggest take away from that year was that there were people who wanted to hear us again.
We had a lot of fun putting it all together, but we couldn't have anticipated the feedback we got at the concert. Many people there hadn't heard groups like us before. We got flooded with questions like "at what age did you start playing?" or "how hard is it to read music?". Some people wanted to buy sheet music from us to take home as a keepsake.
This response inspired me to try it again the next year, so for the next few years, we played the same tune again and again.
It wasn't until a few years after I graduated that I started buying music. We had done Christmas concerts up until then, so I bought more Christmas music. We also got ourselves a director. My friend Tanner had been in the group for a few years and had been drum major, so he was a natural fit. He also arranged a piece for us. We brought some friends for NCC and a lot of high school friends were still in the group. That 2015 concert was the start of something different. We were going from last minute rehearsals at different buildings to planned season calendars and a rehearsal space we had a key to.
Then we lost it.
Due a change in administration, we wouldn't be able to rehearse at the church moving forward. I really felt like we were just beginning to put this group on the map and wanted to ensure that we would have the next concert season.
Then my mom introduced me to Pastor Cyndi.
I went to St. John one late summer evening with some music I'd purchased prepared to tell Pastor Cyndi what the band was about. A group of musicians, my friends from high school, many of whom had gone on to study music in college, coming together to play free concerts for the community. I showed her my music scores and when she showed me the sanctuary, I played recordings to paint the picture in our minds of what this space could hold for us. We probably talked for hours about the potential this group could bring. I couldn't (and still can't) thank her enough for the new home she provided for the band. Now it was time to put it all together.
That winter, we put together our longest program yet.
We had Tanner's swing combo play holiday tunes at the beginning. The band played Holst's First Suite, Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral by Wagner, Who Puts His Trust in God Most Just by Bach, Chorale and Shaker Dance by Zdechlik, and of course, A Christmas Festival by Leroy Anderson.
The band had 4 flutes, 4 clarinets, 2 bass clarinets, a bassoon player, an alto sax, a tenor sax, 2 French horns, 6 trumpets, 2 trombones, a euphonium, a tuba, and two percussionists. We finally felt like a real band! We got amazing feedback and people wanted us to come back soon. We also went out and played at a couple of different churches, one in Naperville, and the other in Aurora.
Now that we had an established group of returning members, a nice start to our music library, and some new places to perform at, we had to have a name. We decided to keep it simple. We became the Aurora Community Concert Band.
