“John Williams is the reason why I got into music. Reynolds is glad to have cultivated this type of environment over the past 25 years - and, he’s excited to be celebrating the anniversary with a performance of John Williams’ work. That’s just the way that people are - everyone sticks together.” And so a bunch of us showed up to help build a ramp at the house. One of our members, his mom had a stroke. “If anyone needs help with something, everyone shows up to help. And the family just came together, and they were all there. “A couple of years ago, I had a bad surgery.
The members show up for each other and can be themselves around each other, said Harald Boerstler at a recent rehearsal. Many of the band’s members expressed similar sentiments, saying that BandTogether is a supportive community. And that's a fantastic thing for us to see how that's evolved over time.” “Now we have people come in and, you know, they've been who they were since it seems like birth.
JOIN TOGETHER IN THE BAND TV
When we're marching in the parade, put me in the middle so if the TV cameras are there, I'm not going to be seen,’” Reynolds said. Like, ‘Please don't put my name in the program. “In the early years of the organization, many were very hesitant. Not only that, Reynolds and Farris said, but society has become much more accepting, and the culture of the group has changed positively. The band has come a long way since its beginnings. “So we've never charged, and we're thankful for that because we're in the black, and we live within our limits.” He added that fortunately, the group has a generous community that supports it. “I think we were very humble - and we still are - in the very beginning,” Reynolds said. “Well, that was 23 years ago.”ĭespite his skepticism, the model has indeed worked for 25 years - the band only asks for donations by setting an open tuba case in the lobby of their shows (when they first started, it was a trumpet case, Farris noted). “And in the back of my brain there was this little voice saying, ‘This business model does not work, it won't work, won't last’” Farris said.
More and more saxophone players, and a few percussion players," Farris said. Every rehearsal cycle, more and more people would show up. “From that point on, the band seemed to grow. After watching a performance in which Reynolds - who is notably not a percussionist - attempted to play a bass drum solo, Farris decided the group needed his help. That number grew, and two years later, now-longtime member Jerry Farris got involved. So it was like, we couldn't have grand plans. “We set a goal of just trying to get some musicians that would like to get together and rehearse to try to perform at that June's Pride parade,” he said. They put an ad out in the paper asking for people to join. I didn't feel like I could talk about what I did that weekend, I just didn't feel comfortable.”Īfter looking for an LBGTQ band in the area - similar to the Gateway Men’s Chorus - Reynolds found that these spaces existed in other cities but not in St. “I was glad to be playing music, but I didn't feel I could be myself. “I was often known as the gay sax player, rather than Gary,” Reynolds said on Tuesday’s St.
Reynolds saw the need for an LGBTQ space for musicians after feeling discomfort in the community band he’d joined after college. Louis Public Radio Gary Reynolds rehearses selections by John Williams on March 9 during a rehearsal of the BandTogether concert band at Washington University’s 560 Music Center in University City.
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