Band Goes Out to People
By Annette Jurgelski
Wednesday May 4, 1977 Chapel Hill Newspaper
Chapel Hill's own Village Band, which brought the melodies of the season to
University Mall at Christmas and provided a tuneful backdrop to this year's Apple
Chill Fair, will be performing at the Forest Theater on the UNC campus Sunday, May
8 at 6 p.m.
Director Dan Margoni said the concert will be in the Village Band tradition of playing
"outdoors, where the people are." The open air theater has been reserved from 4 to
9 p.m. so that concert goers can enjoy a picnic lunch before settling down for a
program that will include George M. Cohen's "Patriotic Fantasy," the "Solo Pomposo
for Tuba" and selections from George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess."
Admission is free. Beverages and light refreshments will be on sale with proceeds
tabbed for the band's scholarship fund. Last year, the band raised $400 to send two
Chapel Hill junior high students to the summer band camp at West Virginia
University in Morgantown, W. Va. It hopes to do as well or better this year.
Margoni, who directs the band programs at Guy B. Phillips and Grey Culbreth Junior
High Schools, promotes the scholarship project to give music camp experience to
talented youngsters who might otherwise be unable to afford the tuition. "They
need to be with people their own age who share their enthusiasm for music. And
they benefit from a program that is broader, less structured than the school music
program."
Trained in music education at West Virginia and Indiana Universities, Margoni has
devoted much of his career to developing young musicians. His involvement with
the redevelopment of adult musicians came about when parents of some of his
students complained that adults had little opportunity to exercise their music skills
acquired during student days.
An adult amateur musicians groups later called the Village Band, seemed the
obvious answer. Organized in 1974 with Margoni as director, the group grew rapidly
from a dozen original members to its present 45.
The backgrounds of the members are even more diversified than the instruments
they play. The clarinets include a minister, a teacher, a dentist, a nurse, a
physician, a biochemist, an army recruiter and a student. Other sections have
housewives, students, Duke and UNC professors, a carpenter, lawyer, and farmer.
"No matter what you do for a living, music is still good recreation," says flute player
Alice Neebe, who is a nurse anesthetist at Memorial Hospital. "We practice hard,
particularly before a concert, but we enjoy what we're doing."
The group has an advantage over professional bands because many selections can
be played just for the enjoyment of members. "We don't play a lot of concerts so
we don't have to play the Fifth Symphony 30 times," Margoni says. "Much of the
music we play is traditional in the spirit of the small town bands at the turn of the
century. It's perfect for us because it isn't played much by the big professional
bands."
The band gets much of its material on loan from the music files at UNC and
reciprocates by providing opportunities for music education majors at the
University to conduct an adult group.
Margoni is confident that the Village Band is representative of a trend towards the
revitalization of the adult amateur musician. One future possibility that he
envisions is the establishment of adult music camps where amateur players might
get together for a few days of sharing music experience culminating in a community
concert.
The Chapel Hill group, he said has been essentially self promoting. "We under
publicize, if anything. The group has grown largely from word of mouth. People
hear about the band and come in to play with us."
As the group grows larger, Margoni anticipates dividing it on occasion into small
chamber groups and a stage band of the Glenn Miller type. Both versatile and
mobile, these small groups would be available to play for smaller gatherings.
The Village Band currently has openings for adult musicians who play the bassoon,
oboe, alto sax, trombone, trumpet and baritone horn.