And the band played on…

The little boy sat cross-legged on the sidewalk with his head tilted up toward the band shell and, along with the mostly much older crowd sprawled out behind him, showed us all how multigenerational the gift of music can be.

For the past 110 years, the Appleton City Band has been hosting Tuesday night concerts near the Pierce Park Pavilion. The concerts began during WWI with the 121st Field Artillery Band and it’s really easy to close your eyes on a warm summer night and transport yourself back in time . The 100-year old sounds of Leonard Bernstein blends seamlessly with the age-old music of playground laughter and you can just picture yourself with a parasol and pearls.

Busloads of people pull up to the concerts unloading cheerful, older people with memories as old as the band.

Once a military band that played patriotic music to a war-time crowd, the Appleton City Band has expanded both its repertoire and its reach. Conductor Jim Thaldorf pulls from a wide variety of musical influences as he plans each concert; the musicianship of each section never fails to impress.

Community band concerts offer generous and genteel entertainment to a world in increasing need of both. Of course they appeal to older people, because the music and the setting let them reminisce in concert with their peers.

How wonderful, too, that young people can also absorb that musical magic and make some memories of their own. Hopefully, they will be inspired to learn an instrument or two and let the band play on for generations to come.

Many thanks to Jim Thaldorf and the Appleton City Band for another season of music.