Evelyn C. McDonald
Arts & Culture Reporter
June 23, 2016 11:19 a.m.
If you were at the dedication ceremony for the train station, you might have noticed being serenaded by a fairly large band, the Nassau Community Band. The band started as the New Horizons Concert Band in 2004 when a group from the Amelia Arts Academy got together and begin to rehearse. This evolved into free concerts in the area and lasted until the Arts Academy closed.
In 2012, the band regrouped and became the Nassau Community Band. There are now about 40 full-time residents included: music educators, college students, and folks who love making music. The group’s membership is multi-generational. Their repertoire is varied and includes classics, pops, marches, movie themes, and such. Last May, Fernandina Beach recognized the band when Mayor John Miller presented a proclamation praising the band to Band president Chuck Belinski.
Dr. Marc Dickman took up the position of band conductor last fall. Dr. Dickman was a founding member of the University of North Florida’s Jazz Studies program and is an Associate Professor of Low Brass in the UNF College of Music. He has conducted professional groups as well as college and high school bands.
And if you look up “Low Brass” as I did, (isn’t the internet great fun for the curious), you will find that low brass consists of trombone, euphonium, tuba, and some other low pitched instruments though there isn’t a consensus. The grouping is not confined to instruments made of brass but rather to the way the sound is made.
Some group definitions include instruments such as the didgeridoo and the alpenhorn, which are made of wood. You can find references to videos of low brass groups, including “Epic Low Brass Game of Thrones,” which is a cover of the TV show’s theme music.
Membership in the band is open to interested musicians of all ages. The band rehearses on Thursday nights in the band room at Yulee High School. They are preparing a July 4th concert featuring music by the March King, John Phillip Sousa. The concert will be held at the Train Station in Fernandina to the accompaniment of fireworks.
I’ll be winging my way to a vacation that day or I’d be there. Sousa’s marches symbolize summer in so many ways. I remember being in the band in high school and playing Sousa marches summer evenings in the band shell in the small town where I grew up.
You can check out the band’s website https://nassaucommunitybandcom.wordpress.com/
Evelyn McDonald moved to Fernandina Beach from the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. in 2006. She is a chair of Arts & Culture Nassau, a city commission charged with support of the arts in Nassau County. She serves on FSCJ’s Curriculum Committee for the Center for Lifelong Learning. She is also the chair of the Dean’s Council for the Carpenter Library at the UNF. Ms. McDonald has MS in Technology Management from the University of Maryland’s University College and a BA in Spanish from the University of Michigan.