A grass-roots effort to put together a community band is rapidly taking shape, according to a former Sweet Home High School drum major who is organizing it.
Nearly 60 people have responded to a small newspaper notice and e-mails to express interest in becoming involved, said Rich Little.
“I’ve heard from people as far away as Marcola,” he said. “Some are folks who have kids who attended school here. It’s multi-generational, from kids in high school to a woman’s husband who hasn’t played the trumpet in 20 years but wants to be involved.”
Little said he is planning to hold an organizing meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 7, at the Police Services Center community meeting room, 1950 Main St., next to McDonald’s.
Little, who was student director and drum major for the Husky Marching Band in the early 1970s when it made a trip to Europe, said he’s been involved in music since becoming a teacher as well, mainly in Native American communities in Warm Springs and in Alaska.
He said he’s surprised to see the response from the community. He has received responses from people ranging from 15 to 75.
“It’s just really impressive and exciting to see these e-mails coming from all over,” Little said. “‘My dad, my mom said you were looking €¦’ I think we’re just hitting the tip of the iceberg.”
Little said he hopes to develop a band that can march in local parades, particularly the Sportsman’s Holiday and Sweet Home Christmas parades, and branch out from there. He said he’s received a variety of suggestions, including a harmonica band and a ukulele band.
“If there is a formal group that wants to do marching, and another group that’s involved in the community band that could be goofy, silly, that’s great,” he said.
He said several people have offered to donate instruments while one woman told him she’d be glad to play €“ the piano €“ if they could figure out how to roll it along in a parade.
Others have offered to hunt down uniforms and donate sheet music.
“We’re encouraging anybody with any talent or any skills, or just supporters, to help us get this thing going. We want to involve everybody.”
The effort to create a community band is separate from the Sweet Home School District, though district officials have expressed support for the idea, said Little, who directs Foster School’s after-school and homework assistance programs.
Community bands are widespread across the United States and Canada, but apparently not as common in Oregon, according to Web sites devoted to the topic.
One, which boasts “one of the world’s largest set of community band and orchestra links,” lists 1,051 bands, most in North America, but only 11 in Oregon, though it was missing several, including the Lebanon Community Orchestra. Only one of the bands listed, the Rose City Gay Freedom Band in Portland, has a marching contingent.
Little said bands have a way of bringing residents together.
He said that he’s seeing a wide variety of people from different backgrounds, with different kinds of talent, interested in forming a band.
“A band gives you a sense of community, a sense of belonging,” he said. “Something we should be proud of.”
He said he is developing a registration form for prospective participants and anyone interested in learning more can e-mail him at [email protected] or call him at (541) 409-0404.