We had a great visit with New England musician, outstanding music educator and consummate music advocate Dr. David Neves. He traces his mother's wisdom during his early interest in playing Alto Sax through participation in Portuguese Bands, School Bands, General Business Bands, and All-State Ensembles leading to a music education major at Berkeley College, being named RI Teacher of the Year, and elected both President of RIMEA and eventually MENC Eastern Division. After retiring from RI teaching, Dr. Neves served as Arts Coordinator for the Needham, MA school district and is currently directing RIPYWE (Rhode Island Philharmonic Youth Wind Ensemble: dneves@ri-philharmonic.org)), Coordinator of Music Education for The University of Rhode Island and his life-long passion as Advocacy Co-Chair for RIMEA. Buckle-up for a fascinating story of accomplishment with a few memorable gems along the way!

This episode features our guest Alison Patton, Director of the Westerly Band. She leads a band that has a very long and storied history in the southern most town of Rhode Island. The band has a rather unique role in the community and some very creative recruiting mechanisms that keep things fresh and sustainable.

The band can be contacted at: WesterlyBand@Yahoo.com

Dr. Brian Cardany is the director of one of the oldest community bands in the nation, The American Band of Providence, RI. The band's original charter was in 1837 and it has been performing mostly continuously since then. Dr. Cardany provided an entertaining and informative sketch about the bands storied history, the current triumphs of the band and his path to becoming it's director.

Here are a few samples of The American Band available online:

https://youtu.be/_N0jrqMs2cM?si=pYq0qB_CzBXjSEV5

https://youtu.be/mtNUBe4spK0?si=tII66QGiS2ol9zDp

If you would like to contact Dr. Cardany, his e-mail is bcardany@uri.edu

We welcome friend, great musician, band director and scholar Dr. Matthew McGarell. While serving as Director of Bands at Brown University, Matt was unexpectedly thrust into the world of Portuguese Bands locally and eventually internationally. His research and expertise has positively impacted Portuguese Club bands in the New England region as well as in Portugal. His modest demeanor should not diminish his amazing personal story and brilliant insights into the essence of what town bands are about. He provides a wonderful primer to this vibrant community of musicians and a unique perspective into the larger community band culture.

Town Band Banter will be expanding well beyond Rhode Island very soon with guests lining up on a national scale. However, this episode lays a great foundation for future topics with one of the founders of the Jamestown Community Band who was also the Family Doctor on the Island accessible by bridges in Little Rhody. Joe England offers a unique perspective on life-long learning and the role of community bands in participants' overall health and well being.

A lovely visit with an awesome person, Dr. Sandra Enos. She is a new member in the Jamestown Band and took on learning how to play an instrument while in her 70's to be able to do that. Her life history and path to and through an influential career in Sociology and eventually into the band is a great story!

Of course, any comments or questions can be directed to us via e-mail: info@TownBandBanter.com

or Dr. Enos has agreed to share her e-mail: Sweetfern@cox.net

Remember to "Follow" and "Share" so your friends can enjoy the ride with us each week.

After making a very serious (life changing?) correction from the previous episode, Dave and Doc explore more humorous anecdotes about critical issues within most town bands.

We are looking forward to hearing from our listeners for ideas about future topics, guests and comments.

info@TownBandBanter.com

A very brief, but humorous, overview of bands in the past and how we fit in along the way.

We are looking forward to hearing from our listeners for ideas about future topics, guests and comments.

info@TownBandBanter.com