Music Column: The Iowa City Community Band is gearing up for summer

Katie Martin

Your hometown wind ensemble is back with concerts throughout Iowa City and Coralville this June and July. This year, the Iowa City Community Band (ICCB) celebrates our 41st season. We are delighted to have Rob Medd, retired band director from Iowa City West High School, serve as our director for the 17th year.

We perform eight times, including at Coralville’s 4thFest Parade and pre-fireworks show.

Our first three concerts are:

  • 12 p.m., Saturday, June 8 – Iowa Arts Festival Main Stage, downtown Iowa City

  • 6 p.m., Sunday, June 16 – James Alan McPherson Park

  • 4 p.m. Sunday, June 23 – Willow Creek Park (joint concert with Iowa City New Horizons Band playing at 3 p.m)

For a full concert schedule, visit our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ICCBand).

Last summer, ICCB premiered an updated arrangement of our very own “Iowa City Community Band March”. The arranger is Mark Rheaume, one of our members, who completed his PhD in music in March 2023. Mark shared the following about the arrangement: “This new edition began as a simple re-engraving—a chance to give the score and parts a new look, while also renewing our band’s approach to a piece which we play at the beginning of every concert… The upshot of this re-orchestration is that the ICCB March now functions a bit more like a "bandstand" piece, that highlights different parts of the band throughout.” We thank Mark for his work, and we look forward to sharing it with our audiences.

ICCB rehearsals are held at 10 a.m. on Saturdays (June 1 – July 13) at West High School. New members are welcome to join us (high schoolers and older) throughout the summer. New music is played every week, which is great sight-reading practice and also helpful if you can only participate in one or two concerts this summer! If you are interested in participating or learning more, send an email to iccb.communityband@gmail.com.

ICCB operates solely on donations from individuals and local businesses to provide free concerts to the public. If you would like to contribute, send your donation to: Iowa City Community Band – c/o West Music, 1212 5th Street, Coralville, IA 52241. Make checks payable to “Iowa City Community Band."

The Iowa City Community Band is ready for a great summer of making music together. We hope that you’ll join us often, either as a musician or audience member. See you at the park!

Katie Martin serves as the publicist and plays French horn for the Iowa City Community Band.

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Music Column: The Iowa City Community Band is gearing up for summer

Advertisement