A quite remarkable joining of musical forces took place recently in the USA, where three leading brass bands came together for a highly enjoyable reading session.

The three brass bands in Minnesota, Sheldon Theatre Brass Band, based in Red Wing and founded in 1989, the Lake Wobegon Brass Band, based in Anoka and founded in 1992, and the Winona Brass Band, based in Winona and founded in 1995, were the bands invoved in the project.

On stage

On August 4th, members of the three bands gathered on stage at the Sheldon Theatre in Red Wing for the first ever joint rehearsal of the three groups.

Under the baton of Sheldon Theatre Brass Band director James Kurschner, the musicians enjoyed reading through a dozen selections, including two never-before-played works by band members.

Said euphonium player Gerald Schultz who, at 81, is the oldest band member; "That was a splendid time!”

Host

One of the leading forces behind the idea, Glen Newton, told 4BR: "We’re hoping to make the reading session an annual event. Geographically, the STBB in Red Wing is between the other two bands, so it makes us the logical ones to host it.

Above Average Brass,” a tongue-in-cheek reference to author Garrison Keillor’s description of Lake Wobegon as a place where “...the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and the children are all above average"4BR

Commitments

"This year, it took longer than anticipated for the host band to get the basic preparations (including the date) in place before contacting the others, and the conductors of the WBB and LWBB already had other commitments, but in the future we hope to share the conducting duties."

Glen added: "The bands have occasionally drawn on each other’s personnel as subs; for example, two of the STBB members joined the LWBB for their British tour in 2001, and one of the WBB members subbed with us in the STBB when we went to contest a couple of years back."

Above average

Two of the bands have even got together for a performance. In 2005 the STBB and LWBB performed a pair of joint concerts in Anoka and Red Wing, which we dubbed “Above Average Brass,” a tongue-in-cheek reference to author Garrison Keillor’s description of Lake Wobegon as a place where “...the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and the children are all above average.”