Summer band

Community band concerts, as much a part of summer as family picnics and late-night campfires, play a role in every town.

Spokane’s version of the summertime entertainment comes in the form of high school seniors to senior citizens, all members of the Spokane Falls Community College Concert Band.

Once a week, the mixed bag of musicians gets together at the college and practices about three hours. Miss a practice – no big deal. It’s summer, a time to bend the rules.

With 100 percent attendance, the band would total 58 musicians. They will perform at 6 p.m. Thursday at Coeur d’Alene Park in Browne’s Addition and at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 15 in the SFCC Music/Performing Arts Building. Both concerts are free.

“We’re trying to gear it (the practice) to everybody’s schedule. … The music is not as difficult during the summer,” SFCC band director Dave Wakeley said.

Wakeley, a longtime college and high school director, said the program will keep with one of the “great traditions of summer band concerts,” which is pop, jazz and Broadway music.

Although some of the band members are taking the class for college credit, most give their time purely for the chance to play.

The band also has a family feel to it.

Tuba player Tim Rundquist sits a few chairs away from his flute-playing daughter, Erin.

Father-son percussionists Dale and Dave Ryan, and trumpet player Dave Halvorson and his daughter, Kirstin, a bassoonist, also are members.

Some nights, the musicians’ older children baby-sit the younger kids. Summer romances, leading to marriage, also have blossomed between band members.

The band also attracts young protégés, like Preston Terry, a Medical Lake trombone player.

“My teacher suggested I join because I wanted to get in the habit of playing in the summer, said Terry, who will be a high school sophomore this year.

Terry said he took up the trombone because his great-grandfather played it. He’s also carrying on the family tradition by using his great-grandfather’s 100-year-old instrument. His goal, he said, is to become a jazz musician in New York after going to college, possibly at North Texas or Brigham Young University.

But for now, Terry is enjoying the relaxing but useful experience of playing in a summer concert band.

“I like it a lot,” Terry said. “They’re pretty advanced for being mixed beginners and advanced players.”