These residents found music to be a fun hobby you can continue to do your whole life

Members of the Mississippi Community Symphony Band (and their companion group called Mississippi Swing) are gearing up for the debut performance of their 19th season this Saturday, Sept. 9, at the Belhaven University Center for the Arts.

The free concert, which begins at 3 p.m., is being performed under the theme “Remembering 9/11” and will include a variety of patriotic songs including “An American Fanfare,” “Armed Forces Medley,” “Stars and Stripes Forever,” and the United States national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner.”

Musical Director and Conductor Dr. Paxton Girtmon specially selected the music to remember victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack and honor all the military and first responders from that day.

“I thought it would be a great idea and fitting to honor the brave men and women who risked their own safety to save others,” Girtmon said.

A native of Bastrop, Louisiana, Girtmon came to Jackson initially to serve as an associate director of the Sonic Boom Marching Band at Jackson State University and later joined the music faculty at Belhaven University.

In addition to the music this Saturday, MCSB Treasurer Helen Simmons has put together a stunning slide presentation for the audience to enjoy, and MCSB Music Librarian Christine Campbell is creating a red, white and blue handmade quilt to raffle at the concert. There will also be drawings for door prizes.

The group currently has about 50 members and is still rebuilding after the number dropped somewhat during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The musicians include teachers, community and business leaders, medical professionals, symphony musicians, church performers, students, retirees and more with ages ranging from the teens to people in their 80s.

Member Susan Cox of Brandon describes playing in the band as “a fun hobby you can continue to do your whole life.” She said her interest in music began in the third grade in Cleveland (Mississippi) where her teacher allowed students to go next door to the high school to see and hear all the instruments. “We all got to pick which instrument we wanted to play,” Cox said.

Member Mike Nash from Pearl was once a member of the Ole Miss Marching Band in Oxford beginning in 1969. “I met Archie Manning at my first football game,” he said. Of his continuing interest in music, Nash said it is fun, “but you have to be good at it.”

Though 2024 marks the 19th season for the MCSB, the Jackson area has a much longer history of volunteer, non-profit community bands. One of the best known was the Capital City Concert Band, begun in the early 1970s by David Elliott and initially directed by retired Murrah High School Band Director Roger Dollarhide.

For nearly two decades the concert band was a regular draw for fans, but by the late 1990s it had become dormant before the new Community Symphonic Band came about in 2004.

David Miller, a retired U.S. Air Force pilot from Florida who came to the Jackson area in 2001 and became the new band’s first conductor, recalls the early years.

“It was in 2003 I was playing with the Mississippi Baptist Symphony Orchestra where I met Wayne Miller (no relation) who was then a band instructor at Whitten Middle School,” David Miller said.

“I asked where the local community band practices and he said the last one had died out about eight years ago. So I said to Wayne, ‘We need to start one,’” Miller said.

The two men soon brought in a third person, Rayford Woodrick, to help organize things and created a mission statement: “To provide a fun and challenging place for adult musicians to play their instruments and to provide fun concerts for the community we serve.”

The first show, in 2004, brought together about 40 musicians with about 275 people in the audience. By the second show the number of musicians had increased to about 60.

All performances are free (although donations are welcome) and members of the band are, what Miller describes as “self selecting,” with no auditions required.

Miller said experience has shown that people who are not really dedicated or who can’t play at the level required will usually lose interest and drop out. “But anybody who really wants to play will be allowed to come in,” he said.Performances are typically divided into two sections with the MCSB companion group called “Mississippi Swing” playing during the intermission.

Mississippi Swing, which is directed by David Schommer, plays classic jazz and big band numbers from the 1930s and '40s made famous by band leaders such as Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey.

Past guest conductors for the MCSB have included Sweet Potato Queen Jill Conner-Brown, Judge Bill Waller Jr. and television personality Walt Grayson, to name a few, while guest musicians have included members of Jackson-area churches, the Mississippi Boychoir, the Jim Hill High School Choir, mezzo-soprano Viola Dacus, vocalist Kathy Baxter Gautier and the Ballet Magnificat dancers.

Additional performances for the 19th season will include the annual holiday concert, “Spreading Christmas Joy,” on Dec. 16, featuring favorite Christmas songs and a visit from Santa to entertain children.

Two concerts in 2024 will round out the season, with “The Sound of Music” on March 2, and the Season Finale concert on May 4.

The Belhaven Center for the Arts is located at 835 Riverside Drive in Jackson and all concerts begin at 3 p.m. Those unable to attend in person may view the concert remotely by visiting the band’s website: www.mcsb.us or they may obtain more information by visiting the group’s pages on X, formerly known as Twitter, and Facebook.

Proclaimed by former Gov. Phil Bryant and the Mississippi Legislature as “Mississippi’s Ambassadors of Musical Entertainment and Goodwill,” the Mississippi Community Symphonic Band is a 501(c)3 organization, funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mississippi Arts Commission, foundations, corporations and private donations.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi Community band to kick of 19th season this weekend