The Springfield Community Band is a unique blend of amateur student and adult musicians, led and occasionally augmented by professional musicians. We serve as a recreational, social, educational, and musical outlet for our members.
The band could not exist in its present form without contracting our performances to towns or groups in the Twin State region. These groups pay us as local amateur musicians to present high-quality concerts. Their purposes for doing so range from enhancing the quality of life in their communities to attracting tourism. If we diminish our value to them by presenting sloppy looking or poorly performed concerts, we jeopardize our very existence.
One of the ways the band serves us, the members, is through the musical education we provide to ourselves. We hire a music professional who conducts roughly thirty hours of rehearsal time (read group musical instruction). An equivalent course of instruction at Keene State would cost about $500 apiece. This is a valuable musical experience that the band provides us, and one we ought to maximize.
The Board of Officers assumes that you are a member of the Springfield Community Band because music is one of the passions in your life. In order to serve that passion by meeting the goals stated above, the Officers set the following expectations of appearance and conduct:
Attendance
There is no expectation that anyone will make 100% of the SCB functions. The ten Sunday evening rehearsals are the foundation of our musical performances. The Board of Officers strongly urges you to avail yourself of as many of these rehearsals as possible. The band must always provide a balanced ensemble for public performances. If you are going to miss a pre-concert rehearsal or performance, let your section leader or a Band Officer know as early as possible.
Music Folders
The music library we share with Springfield High School is one of the finest in the state. Next to our membership, the music library is the band’s most valuable asset. Missing music affects our performance and generates hard feelings and unnecessary expense.
Everyone is encouraged to take music home to practice. However, all music must be at every SCB function, even if you cannot be. If you are responsible for music missing from an event, you will not be allowed to take music home for the rest of the season. The band can have your music folder copied at your expense if you so desire. Music must be stored and transported only in a Springfield Community Band folder. Do not remove and transport individual pieces of music from a folder under any circumstances.
Rehearsals
Plan on (and succeed at) arriving at rehearsals 15 minutes before the start time. If you must be late, arrive as soon as you can and merge yourself into the group as unobtrusively as possible. If we are using folding chairs for the rehearsal, you are expected to take a chair for yourself to and from the storage area. During the rehearsal, keep unnecessary talking to a minimum. Since we are all music students, a certain amount of instructional discourse is all right as long as it does not distract the conductor. If a point needs to be made that will disrupt the rehearsal, raise your hand and ask the conductor for assistance. If the conductor is off the podium and not rehearsing a section, talking and individual playing is acceptable. Horseplay and extended absences from the rehearsal are not acceptable. Food and gum are not acceptable in rehearsals. Soft drinks are acceptable so long as their presence provokes no disruption and you take them away after the rehearsal. Provide yourself with a pencil and use it to maximum musical advantage. Focus on your playing and the conductor, and stop playing when the conductor stops.
Concert Dress
Concert dress includes a plain white opaque shirt, short- or long-sleeved, with a collar suitable for wearing a bow tie. Polo shirts are acceptable, provided they meet the collar requirement and do not contain pictures, logos, or visible lettering. The one exception is that Springfield High School band members may wear their marching shirts. Shirts with a straight hem may be worn tucked in or out at your discretion. Shirts with shirttails or excessive length must be tucked in for performances. Concert dress continues with black, full-length pants or a long skirt, black socks or stockings, and black shoes. The band will provide white jackets with the SCB logo, either for sale or as a loan, which you may wear at your discretion. In addition to concert dress, you are expected to provide a music stand for each concert. The music stand may not be borrowed from Riverside Middle School. If you have any problem meeting the requirements of the dress code, please see any one of the officers well in advance of the first concert.
Concert Decorum
Members are expected to arrive at the concert site a minimum of one-half hour before performance time for those performances not immediately preceded by a rehearsal. Both before and after the concert, you are expected to move a chair for yourself to and from the storage area. Hats, food, or gum are not acceptable on the bandstand. If drinks are brought to the bandstand, they must remain unobtrusive, cause no disruptions, and be taken away after the concert. You may warm up, practice, talk, and get settled in before the band is called to order. Once the band has been called to order for tuning or announcements, consider that the conductor is on the podium until the end of the concert. Talking during or between numbers is not acceptable. After a piece is concluded, be alert for directions from the conductor about acknowledging applause. Use the time between numbers to get the next piece on the music stand and to focus on your performance of that piece. In the event of a downpour, get your music into its folder and out of harm's way as quickly as possible.
The Board of Officers recognizes that the Springfield Community Band is a group of amateur musicians. The term "amateur musician" only describes how most of us do not make our living. It does not have to reflect sloppy or ill-prepared standards of concert performance or presentation.