Home
Feature Stories
Community Connections
Off The Couch
Three Rivers Secrets
Landings - Dining
River Time
Advertiser Listing
How To Reach Us

Three Rivers Lifestyle magazine is distributed at over 250 locations throughout western Montana. The magazine reaches the hands of local residents and visitors to the region. Find out today how you can advertise with Three Rivers Lifestyle and connect your business with our readers.

Advertising Information (1mb PDF)

A Musical Gem

Years ago, a conversation between a student and his professor sparked an idea and the result was the Missoula Community Concert Band, or MCCB, currently in its 16th year. Thomas Cook, PhD, then professor at the University of Montana in the Department of Music and its Director of Bands and one of his then graduate clarinet students, David Smith, were discussing the lack of a local venue for adult brass, woodwind, and percussion musicians to continue with group play and performance. The Missoula Symphony had very few slots for the more elite player, and the Missoula City Band was playing summer concerts in Bonner Park; however, due to their weekly concert schedule, they were, by necessity, somewhat limited to favor more straightforward crowd favorites. “David and I shared a philosophy,” Tom Cook relates, “that there should be an opportunity in Missoula for adults to be able to continue playing the more challenging concert band repertoire in a group setting.” They also felt that there would be enough talent and enthusiasm in the local music community to support this philosophy. Hence, Tom and David set out to talk with the local Hellgate, Sentinel and Big Sky High School band directors as well as their other local musician contacts to determine who might have an interest in joining them. They also placed some advertisements in the Missoulian to entice interested local musicians to come to the first rehearsal, which took place in the Sentinel High School band room in 1991. Approximately 40 people played in the first concert, held in the gymnasium at Sentinel High School, with Tom Cook at the conductor’s helm.
Since the group’s early beginnings, there has been much development. The group has rehearsed at each of the three local high schools, and early concerts were also held at the Sentinel and Big Sky High School auditoriums as well as the Hellgate High School’s refurbished Performance Hall, before finally landing in their current concert home at the Missoula Children’s Theater. A spring and a fall concert are held each year, free to the public, preceded by 6-7 weekly rehearsals. Although the concert is free, donations from the audience are encouraged to help defray costs for the conductor and librarian, the concert venue, and expansion of the music library. The band members themselves also pay dues of either $20 per semester or $35 per year. These dues are optional, however, and do not limit a performer from being able to join the group and play. The group makes donations to support the local music community, including donations to each of the three high school band programs as well as to the University Music Library. MCCB has made an effort to develop their own music library, and it also is available for use by other local performing groups.
MCCB elects its own Board of Directors from within the band, including a president, president-elect, secretary, treasurer, librarian, and 2 members-at-large. The conductor also joins in the board meetings. Fred Luety, a trombonist who sat on the Board for 9 years, was instrumental in completing the paperwork which incorporated the group and also made MCCB a non-profit organization. The band’s constitution was also revamped during the time he was an officer, with the help of other long term members. For the last 4 years, the MCCB has had corporate sponsorship for each of their concerts, which also helps tremendously to defray concert costs. Many various local individuals and organizations have also provided program advertisements over the years.
Tom Cook continued to serve as conductor of the MCCB for 9 years at which point his Department of Music Chairmanship as well as Presidency of the Montana State Music Educator’s Association led to his decision to step down from this long term role. At that time, the band elected to hire conductors on a rotating basis, one semester at a time. They have pulled conductors from within the group, as well as from the local High School and University Faculty. This rotating position has added richness to the strong basis of the band developed by Dr. Cook, with each conductor bringing his own unique ideas, musical interests and teaching styles to the group as well as to the audience. In addition to the wind band repertoire, performance pieces at times include jazz tunes, classical pieces adapted for wind ensembles, as well as occasionally featuring solo musicians. Some of the conductors have also been composers in their own right, and performances have also included original works by Benedict Kirby and Jim Eversole. MCCB has also recently participated in some joint concerts with the Florence and Frenchtown school bands, and this outreach has added another level of excitement to the group.
“The band just gets better every year,” notes Dianne Thrailkill, immediate past president of MCCB. “I am always learning more about music, performance, and my instrument.” People who play in the band come from all walks of life, and include many music educators, but also such diverse backgrounds as construction workers and contractors, insurance salespeople, business owners, college and grad students, computer gurus and nurses just to name a few. MCCB also contains doctors and lawyers, but as far as anyone knows, no Indian chiefs. However, if there are any chiefs, chefs, church pastors or anyone else out there who play percussion, brass or woodwind instruments and want to continue their passion to play music, they are welcome to join the group for the spring rehearsals and concert. Anywhere from 40-60 musicians may play for any one particular concert, with the makeup of the group fluid due to the members’ schedules and other commitments. This also adds to the constant energy and enthusiasm notable within the band. Rehearsals begin on February 26th at 7PM at the Hellgate HS band room, and the Spring Concert will be held Sunday, April 15th at the Missoula Children’s Theater at 2:30 PM. This upcoming concert brings the group full circle, as once again conducting will be Dr. Tom Cook, whose vision helped to make this group possible. If you are interested in finding out anything more about MCCB, please go to www.missoulaband.org.