Music Column: The Iowa City Community Band prepares for a summer stretch run

The Iowa City Community Band’s 2024 season is off to a great start and there are just a few more opportunities to attend a performance this summer.This year, the Iowa City Community Band (ICCB) celebrates our 41st season of playing. We are delighted to have Rob Medd, recently retired band director at Iowa City West High, serve as our director for the 17th year. Again this year, we are honored to provide the July 4th pre-fireworks concert as part of Coralville’s 4thFest on the Showcase Stage.We perform eight times throughout the summer. Our remaining concerts are:

8:30 p.m., Thursday, July 4 at 8:30 pm – Coralville 4th Fest Pre-Fireworks Concert (also see us in the parade!)

7 p.m., Sunday, July 14 – Plum Grove Historic Site for Lucas Farms History Days

To learn more about our band and for any schedule changes or cancellations due to inclement weather, visit our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ICCBand).

ICCB rehearsals are held at 10 a.m. on Saturdays (July 6 and 13) at West High. New members are always welcome to join us (high schoolers and older). New music is played every week, which is great sight-reading practice and also helpful if you can only participate in one concert this summer! If you are interested in participating, send an email to iowacitycommunityband1983@gmail.com.

Last summer, ICCB premiered an updated arrangement of our very own “Iowa City Community Band March."

The arranger is Mark Rheaume, one of our members, who completed his PhD in music in March 2023. Mark shared the following about the arrangement: “This new edition began as a simple re-engraving—a chance to give the score and parts a new look, while also renewing our band’s approach to a piece which we play at the beginning of every concert. The upshot of this re-orchestration is that the ICCB March now functions a bit more like a “bandstand” piece, that highlights different parts of the band throughout.”

We thank Mark for his work, and we look forward to sharing it with our audiences. ICCB operates solely on donations from individuals and local businesses to provide free concerts to the public. If you would like to contribute, send your donation to:

Iowa City Community Band – c/o West Music, 1212 5th Street, Coralville, IA 52241.

Make checks payable to “Iowa City Community Band.”Even though our summer season is coming to an end, we plan to hold our annual holiday concert in December. Stay tuned to our Facebook page for updates. In the meantime, we hope that you’ll join ICCB often over the next few weeks, either as a musician or an audience member. See you at the park!Katie Martin serves as the publicist and plays French horn for the Iowa City Community Band.