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Monday, June 4, 2007 5:34 PM CDT
Young and old hone musical skills via community band
By ROB STROUD, Staff Writer
rstroud@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON -- School is out for the summer, but several student musicians will still be making music in the Charleston Community Band.
The band has provided a summer performance venue for area student and adult musicians for approximately 30 years. Free concerts this summer are set for 7:30 p.m. every Thursday through July 12 at the Kiwanis Park amphitheater, weather permitting.
Trumpeter Tyler Replogle, 17, estimated that more than half a dozen of his fellow Charleston High School students are set to play this summer. He said the band has also drawn students from Mattoon and other towns over the years.
Replogle, who estimated he has taken part for five summers, said he and the other students are typically motivated to join the band by a love of performing music and a desire to take every opportunity they can to do this.
“Part of it is just knowing you have put the skills to use and seeing the reward for your work,” Replogle said. “Lots of people do enjoy going to our concerts. It’s just good to know you entertained them.”
Replogle said the practices are not overly stringent, so the community band provides an opportunity for its members to have fun and enjoy playing music. Nevertheless, he said the band does help keep his skills sharp until the CHS band resumes in mid-July.
“There is not a lot of practice involved, but the two times a week we play does help,” Replogle said. The band will practice at 7:30 p.m. every Tuesday at the Charleston Middle School band room, and new members are welcome.
Replogle said the band also provides an opportunity to make connections and learn from older musicians. He has learned from his grandfather, Reggie Replogle, one of six founding musicians who still regularly play with the band.
“My grandpa will give me suggestions and little lessons that help me a great deal,” Replogle said of the elder trumpeter.
They also support each other. Replogle said his grandfather encouraged him to keep playing the trumpet, and now he is a section leader for the CHS honors band. Replogle said he successfully urged his grandfather not to retire from the community band.
“I don’t know if I would still be playing if it was not for him and I don’t know if he would still be playing if it was not for me,” Replogle said. They also play Taps together for local VFW services.
Director John Daum said he has seen a lot of students musicians play in the band over the years. Daum, who is a retired Charleston school band director, said many of his former students have kept playing with the community band as adults.
Daum said he helped start the community band in 1977 when the school district was facing severe financial troubles. He said the district was considering dropping the school band programs.
The Charleston Township board obtained a federal grant to help purchase music and instruments for the school bands and a newly formed community band to share, Daum said.
The community band played at a variety of locations in town until a wooden band shell was constructed in the mid-1980s in Kiwanis Park. The city replaced the band shell with a block amphitheater in 2001, carving a terraced seating area out of a hill in the park.
“We just feel so fortunate,” Daum said of the scenic hillside amphitheater and its good acoustics. “We know we have something no one else has.”
Contact Rob Stroud at rstroud@jg-tc.com or 348-5734.
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CLICK TO ENLARGE
 ERIC HILTNER(JG/T-C)
Sarah Tucker plays the bassoon next to Chuck Hayes and his bass clarinet during a practice of the Community Band on Thursday in Jefferson Elementary School's bandroom.
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Sarah Tucker wrote on Jun 4, 2007 12:30 PM: