Staging a Comeback/ New Horizons Band gives over-50 set chance to

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Aug 18, 2003 | by BILL RADFORD

It's the next-to-last rehearsal of the summer, and band members are struggling a bit with "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree."

Slow down, director Bill Callen instructs. The song, he says, should feel lazy.

"I don't have any trouble getting kids to do it that way," he says to laughter. "But you people, see, you're pushing ahead a little bit."

There are no kids in this crowd. This is the New Horizons Band of the Pikes Peak Region, intended for - but not confined to - people 50 and older.

The band is open to people who haven't played for years or who have never picked up a musical instrument. Bob Talley is a typical member: He hadn't played the tuba for 40 years or so, but he's finally making music again at age 72.

"I didn't even think I could make a sound on it," he says. "Then I made one note. Then I made another note."

At 48, Kristie Mathews is the youngster of the bunch. She had a longtime interest in music but no experience. Now she plays the snare drum.

"This is just kind of a non-intimidating environment," she says. She also has an ace in the hole at home: her teenage son, who also plays the drums.

"He's been very supportive," she says. "He's my tutor."

The year-old band is one of more than 80 New Horizons bands in the United States and Canada. Roy Ernst, a retired music professor, started the New Horizons Music Program in 1991 with a band in Rochester, N.Y.

"Playing expressively is what music is all about," Ernst says. Older musicians "bring so much life experience to their performance."

Callen and Ed Nuccio, retired school band directors, started and co-direct the local New Horizon band, which has about 80 members. The band will be divided this fall into the advanced gold band, the intermediate silver band and the less-experienced bronze band.

Callen and Nuccio plan to spin off a jazz band as well. Some sections of the band, meanwhile, have formed their own ensembles, playing on their own as well as with the overall group. During the summer, the band held concerts every other week at First Lutheran Church.

Band members, Callen says, are motivated and fun to work with. "They are always here on time and they don't miss."

And there's another advantage to directing older musicians: "I don't have to deal with the parents," Callen says.

The band offers a way for older adults to make new friends. During a break in the rehearsal, band members get together in the next room for punch and cookies - and to share what's going on in their lives.

"The social aspect is the No. 1 important thing, actually," Callen says. "The music is kind of secondary."

Which doesn't mean these musicians don't take their work seriously.

"It's fun, but it's hard, too," says Dar Larson, 66. She plays the clarinet, which she hadn't touched since high school.

"There's a lot that I forgot. And the arthritic fingers don't move as fast as they did when I was in high school."

During rehearsal, Norm Beck studies his sheet music and makes several notations. His right foot keeps the beat, tapping steadily.

"I had not picked this thing up for 40 years," he says of his trumpet. Although much of his musical knowledge has come back, he's had trouble getting his lips in shape for the really high notes.

"It's still hard for me," says Beck, 65. But, he adds, "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

The band has come a long way in a year, says Talley, the tuba player.

Making music, he says, "just gives you a lot of satisfaction. It adds spice to your life."

TO LEARN MORE

The New Horizons Band of the Pikes Peak Region will hold an information meeting for prospective members at 9:30 a.m. Sept. 10 in the tan house north of First Lutheran Church, 1515 N. Cascade Ave.

After a break this month, rehearsals will resume in mid-September and will be Tuesday and Thursday mornings for the silver and gold bands and Monday and Wednesday mornings for the bronze band.

A night band will rehearse 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays.

It costs $50 a month to join, and members provide their own instruments.

To learn more, call Bill Callen at 598-2373 or Ed Nuccio at 634- 2463. More information on the New Horizons Music Program is available online at www.newhorizons band.com.