Monroe
New community band isn't just playing around

By Jennifer Lloyd
Times Snohomish County bureau

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Hitting notes both on key and off, the Monroe Community Concert Band isn't perfect, but it is dedicated to getting better.

During last week's practice session, a flutist fluttered notes in the front row while a trumpeter with inflated cheeks labored in the back. Since the band began practicing about a month ago, members, ranging from high schoolers to people over 50 have met, played and joked together in hopes of readying themselves for public performances next summer.

Listen to the band "Happy Days" theme [:50] "West Side Story" prologue [1:46]

Today, the band has about 20 brass, wind and percussion players, but it hopes to grow to 50 by rekindling the musical spark in one-time musicians who may have set down their instruments years ago. In the process, it hopes to bring more culture to Monroe.

"Closet" musicians is a frequently used term for those who played in a high-school or college band and then let their instruments gather dust as they began careers and families.

Flute player Pam Snook started playing at age 9 but stopped in her junior year of high school. Now a mother of two, she picked up the silvery instrument again a couple of years ago.

"Once you're out of high school, there's really no place to play with a group," Snook said.

But this band hopes to change that and bring the community together by filling Monroe's parks with Americana music such as John Philip Sousa marches.

Musicians wanted The Monroe Community Concert Band seeks new members. The band meets from 7 to 9 p.m. every Thursday at the New Hope Fellowship, 1012 W. Main St. Information: 425-335- 5239.

"The parks sit empty in the summer months, and a lot of communities around here have a parks and recreation department filling them with music," said Kathryn Aalto, the president of the Monroe Arts Council who said she began the council with the idea of creating a community band.

"It's simply important to create a cultural fabric for families," Aalto said. "Monroe has so many new people coming into the area that we're trying to create artistic activities to create a sense of community."

The council has donated about $125 to purchase sheet music for the band. The volunteer group practices in donated space in the New Hope Fellowship, and members bring their own instruments.

Since 1998, when Monroe's community orchestra disbanded as musicians joined other groups, there's been little opportunity to practice in a band.

The musicians aren't the only ones opening the door to their inner muses; the band's director is as well.

"I'm a closet band director," said Dave Pallo, a music teacher at Gold Bar Elementary School who conducts the community orchestra. "This little community band provides me with a place to wave my arms."

On Thursday, Pallo donned a black T-shirt proclaiming "Band Geeks Rule!" and flicked his conductor's baton left and right to the tunes of "Happy Days," "West Side Story" and "America the Beautiful."

Tayo Santana, a racehorse breeder in Monroe, arrived at his first practice last week with a cowboy hat and a trumpet he shares with his daughter. He's been taking lessons for about two months and played "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" for the director after the practice. Santana hopes to join the band.

"I want it so bad," said Santana of learning to play the trumpet. "Then, I can prove it to my friends and brothers that I'm the first musician."

Sitting next to the novice trumpet player was Snohomish resident Ed Bruck, who has been playing trombone for a year and a half. Bruck played trumpet and French horn in high school.

"I figured the second half of my life I'd be a trombone player," Bruck said.

Like several other players, trumpeter and band organizer Rhonda Pallo returned to her instrument after a long absence.

"After a 23-year gap, I picked it up again when my son was taking trumpet lessons," she said.

She took lessons from husband Dave Pallo. The couple also play in a brass quintet.

"I'm getting close to almost acceptable levels of play," she said.

Jennifer Lloyd: 425-745-7809 or jlloyd@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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