The very first concert of the Central Kentucky Concert Band was forty years ago this year. Dr. Peter Martin, one half of our very first dynamic pair of conductors, recently relayed to us a trial about the very first concert.
Half of our concerts each year are outdoors. We’re an outdoorsy bunch of band persons. That premiere concert was scheduled to be outdoors at Henry Clay’s Estate in Lexington. Outdoor concerts require a lot of toting, packing, and unpacking of heavy equipment. The weather was capricious that spring and after sunny skies were present all weekend after dire forecasts, the conditions of the day cast doubt on whether or not the concert would be al fresco.
After driving the loaded band equipment truck in circles in response to the worsening weather, band members wondering about their final destination, the band persevered and performed the concert at Haggin Auditorium on Transylvania University’s campus. The band has enjoyed that venue for many years since then.
The very first concert was a labor of love.
Each concert since then has been a labor of love.
For each concert to happen, much must be arranged beforehand. Contracts must be signed. Money must be raised. Stages must be set. Music must be selected and distributed. Music must be practiced and translated from abstract dots on a page to harmonious, emotion-invoking stories. This process takes weeks of preparation. This doesn’t even count the years of training that conductors and musicians spend learning their craft.
We do this because we love music.
We do this because we love the communal aesthetic of making music together.
The music does not fall spontaneously from the skies as the rain did that very first concert. Each ounce must be drawn from the ground and carried up a hill.
Thank you for your support of the band and of our efforts, whether you be an audience member, a stage technician, a financial backer, a sponsor, a reception host, a musician, a conductor, a section leader, a composer, a band board member, or a family member.
Each of you has had a hand on the pump.
Each of you has carried a bucket up the hill.
Thank you for your labor of love.
See you next season!
Central Kentucky Concert Band 