Commonwealth Brass Band Concert

By Joyce Trammell

Cherokee Triangle, surrounded by homes of distinctive personality and a patchwork quilt of colorful lawn chairs and picnic baskets, added up to a Sunday evening in a park whose gazebo is far too small to hold the Commonwealth Brass Band and its 30 members. But on that September 10 evening, one had only to look upward to see a wonderful, leafy-green band shell provided by nature.

Had it not been for the rush of automobiles and their sometimes rude occupants who thought their horns needed to be added to those performing, I could have believed that I had been transported backward to the turn of the century.

If you have never heard this type of band you don't know what you're missing. Imagine trumpets playing parts that the agile fingers of violinists usually play and you can get some idea of the difficulty in the performing of this type of music.

I was fortunate to attend college with a lot of Salvation Army young people. From them I gained a, special appreciation for the sound of brass. In fact the concert opened with a Salvation Army march called "The Montreal Citadel," by an unknown composer.

What a workout the trumpets (coronets) got on "The Poet and Peasant." And the tuba, that instrument that most of us only think about when it's not there, had a solo on "Londonderry Air!"

How I wanted to join the little two-year-old in front of me as she danced to a terrific arrangement of "Saint Louis Blues."

If you don't think that a brass band can play with delicacy you should have heard "T his Is My Father's World."

Dvorak's "New World Symphony" was a very moving work, especially the theme titled "Coming Home."

I noticed during the concert as I watched for audience reaction that most of us, especially in my row, had arranged our chairs in a perfect semi-circle; And when tho finale of a medley of Sousa marches commenced I looked down our row and there were our feet moving with the band.

(We heard you loud and clear, we felt you softly, we saw a dedicated. cohesive group of professionals and we, the audience, tasted a delicious concert served up by the Commonwealth Brass Band; Jerry Amend, director.)

For anyone interested in becoming a member of this group, there is a need for subs. Practice is held in the rehearsal hall at the Musicians Union, 1436 Bardstown Road, Louisville.

The Band's next concert will be held at The Mall in St. Matthews in October.