After 34 years of offering free local concerts, Capital City Community Band Director Richard Doede is calling on the community to let the band play on.
Facing an annual insurance premium of about $500 to use the Carson City School District's facilities for its weekly rehearsals, Doede said the band will present a fundraising concert at 3 p.m. Jan. 29.
"The donations collected at the concert will help pay for the insurance and new band pieces, which start at a minimum of $70 a song," Doede said. "Without donations, there may be no more band."
This year's premium was paid by band members, but Doede is hoping to raise enough money at the concert to cover the premium when it comes due again in the fall.
"The band members donate their time and talent. They should not have to pay to play," he said.
But Carson City School Superintendent Richard Stokes said he had been under the impression that the band had been operating all these years under the umbrella of Carson City's Recreation Department, with which the district shares a joint-use agreement. He recently learned the band was operating on its own.
"We've asked other people who use our buildings to fund liability insurance," Stokes said, adding that the band has a couple of other options, such as joining the rec department or seeking nonprofit status.
Doede founded the community band with only 16 members in March of 1978 while a band teacher at what was then Carson Junior High School.
"I put my first concert on with the school choir, and from then on, we've offered our spring concerts with the choir," he said.
Forty to 45 members are in the band these days, with three big concerts offered at the community center each year - in December, March and May.
"People come from within a 50-mile radius for these concerts. They're very popular," he said.
He has continued the tradition of including a choir with the May concerts.
"It will include the combined fifth- and sixth-grade choruses from Seeliger, Fritsch, Empire and Fremont elementaries. They have about 50 students and they sing with us," Doede said.
The band members' ages range from 14 to 70, he said.
"It's an opportunity for people who played an instrument in high school or college. Maybe they put their instrument aside and it lay in a closet until their own kid wanted to play, so they take it out, blow a few notes, and want to play again," he said.
Doede said he considers his band semi-professional, but a couple of professionals have joined over the years, including trombonist Kenny Trimble, who played with Lawrence Welk's orchestra from 1957 to 1982.
Doede's wife, Carol, also his assistant director, plays first clarinet.
And a highlight for the band was performing at Expo 88 in Brisbane, Australia.
"We're a learning band, but we still have a lot of fun, and we've had some good talent in this band," he said.
The special concert at the end of this month will include numbers by Gershwin, Sousa and Irving Berlin, among other audience favorites, he said.
"The pieces in this performance were completely chosen by audience and band members," he said. "We always have requests for Sousa. We played once without it, and boy, did I ever hear about it!"
The concert also will feature selections such as "Stars and Stripes," "Musical Memories from World War II," "Swing the Mood" and Copacabana."
One of the band member's daughters, Sandra Irvin, will sing "Blue Moon," and the band usually finishes with "Armed Forces - The Pride of America" which includes the themes from every branch of the armed services.
"That way, we always get a standing ovation," he said, laughing. "We really appreciate our audiences."