Broad New Horizons for Community Bands
Founded in 1995, the Desert Foothills New Horizons Band (DFNHB) in Arizona is a non-profit organization which involves older players at all levels of musical ability. Some are complete beginners, others have not played an instrument since high school or college.
“These are people from all walks of life,” says clarinetist Deena Patfield, DFNHB president. “They bring with them all sorts of interesting stories and experiences, and play their particular instruments at a wide variety of levels.” No auditions are required to join, and band members come from all over the area, although they must be at least 50 years of age.
The DFNHB is part of a national program which has grown to more than 60 groups of New Horizons Bands throughout the U.S. and a few overseas. The original concept was created in 1991 by Dr. Roy Ernst, a former professor of Music Education and dean of the music education department at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Ernst’s philosophy is that everyone has musical talent. “In more than 40 years of teaching, I’ve never found anyone who couldn’t learn music,” he says.
Patfield says she definitely falls into that category. “I began the clarinet completely from scratch when I turned 50,” she recalls. “It wasn’t something I had ever considered until one day when I was sitting in on my son’s trumpet lesson. His teacher, Ron Phillips, one of our DFNHB directors, casually mentioned something about this new band that he was involved with. I asked him some questions about it, and the rest is history.”
Patfield’s older son had left his student clarinet at home when he went off to university, she picked it up and tried to produce some sounds. “It was ghastly, but I decided to give it a go. I knew music was something I had always wanted to do deep down inside me and had never had the opportunity.”
On the other end of the spectrum is Ken Bridges, the DFNHB’s tuba player. Bridges came to the band five years ago after a successful three-decade professional singing career in New York City. He hadn’t touched a brass instrument in 45 years, but finds himself enjoying the opportunity to play once again.
The point of a New Horizons band is that it gives adult musicians that opportunity, letting them reacquaint themselves with an old instrument or, as in Patfield’s case, discover the joys of playing music for the very first time—even if they can’t read music—under the direction of competent and capable conductors.
The DFNHB is fortunate to have two such conductors. Along with Phillips, who is a retired music educator and past chairman of the music department at Grand Canyon University, Bill Wells is a retired music educator in the Arizona Public schools. Both have won numerous awards for excellence in music education.
“New Horizons is a wonderful program that allows me to work with some terrific senior learners,” says Phillips, who has been involved from the very beginning and also conducts New Horizons band camps around the country. Ernst at Eastman approached him about starting a New Horizons band in the Phoenix area. “I had just retired in 1994, but decided to do it for the chance to help people from my own age group learn to play an instrument at a later stage in life, which offers so many benefits, both physically and mentally.”
Juanita Kuester, a member of the percussion section, agrees. Kuester took up the challenge of learning to play percussion, after being forced to give up the horn for physical reasons. “The DFNHB helps me have a better outlook on life, because it gives me something to look forward to, rather than just retirement,” she says. “It’s about being a contributing member of a group, rather than just sitting on the sidelines and listening.”
Kuester could read music, which helped, but that’s definitely not a prerequisite for a New Horizons band.
Dealing with people who can’t read music is not a real obstacle, says Phillips. “We teach them to count and to read, along with some basic theory, worked into rehearsals on an organized basis.”
Concert programs are chosen by the directors based on the level that the group is playing at. “Of course, our age group is big-band oriented,” Phillips adds, “so we try to incorporate arrangements of big band tunes for concert band that the musicians like to play, and that audiences will also recognize, but that are also challenging.” Several one-hour programs are performed from October to May, with a repertoire that also includes marches, show tunes, classical, and jazz.
Engaging with the community is high on the list of priorities for the DFNHB, according to Phillips, and community commitment works both ways. The band is financially self-supportive, with a small tuition covering the cost of sheet music, directors’ fees, supplies, and liability insurance. Cave Creek Unified School District offers logistical support to the band by providing the band room at Desert Arroyo Middle School for rehearsals. This allows band members to improve and develop their musicianship, and in doing so make new friends and—most important—enjoy themselves.
“I get tremendous enjoyment from the companionship, and the experience of making music with other people,” says Bridges. “The give and take that exists in any human endeavor where you have a group of people working together is very satisfying, and builds real camaraderie. No matter what our individual skill levels, the sense of support is really positive.”
“A few years ago we didn’t even know each other, and now we’re all friends,” Phillips adds.
“Sometimes I just sit in the band and pinch myself, thinking it might be only a dream,” says Patfield. “But the fact that I am really playing something on a clarinet and, more importantly, feeling that I am a valued member of the group, is wonderful.” She adds that it’s even better during a concert. “When you actually share these vibes with the audience, and when you get an audience who is quite obviously enjoying the show—it really is worth all the hard work.”
It’s precisely that hard work that keeps Bridges engaged. “Your fellow band members depend on you. Just having to practice, and having something that you’re responsible to other people for, is great for keeping your mind sharp.”
Percussionist Kuester also works hard to be a contributing member. “I practice every day, and I’ve been learning a bit more every year,” she says.
Of course, it’s not always easy to pick up an instrument as an adult, with a number of constraints that most children simply don’t face, including inhibition. “And confidence,” adds Patfield. And then there are the physical problems: poor eyesight, arthritis, breathing difficulties, problems in being able to coordinate the different facets of playing an instrument like fingerings, tone quality, breath control, learning notation, memorizing, and assimilating it all so as to actually produce music.
Patfield believes that all these can be overcome with the right teacher, and in fact she’s living proof. “Playing really does help with keeping the mind active and the fingers supple, and I don’t have half as many asthmatic breathing difficulties as I used to have,” she adds. “It’s a challenge to learn something totally new at a later stage in life, but it becomes a challenge you really look forward to.”
Challenges aside, it’s the music and the sense of accomplishment that matter most. “When I first started the clarinet, it was probably the most challenging and frustrating thing I’ve ever done,” says Patfield. “It still is, but at a different level now. I have been playing for eight years and, other than my children, this has given me more joy than I could ever have imagined.”
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New Horizons
