IMG_ 4423 - Henry Platt directs the band. Photos by James Kinneen
IMG_ 4424 - Inside of Wellesley High School, the town band listens to Platt’s instructions.Photos by James Kinneen
IMG_ 4411 - A couple of French horn players work on their newest material.Photos by James Kinneen
IMG_ 4409 - Platt directs the band as a pair of flutists look on.Photos by James Kinneen
IMG_ 4433 - A pair of flutists play their piece in ‘Folk Dances.’Photos by James Kinneen
By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
It takes a while for a band to come together as a cohesive unit, and the new-look Wellesley Town Band began its journey towards cohesion last Monday night inside of the Wellesley High School band room. “[There are] lots of totally different people,” said Director Henry Platt of the individuals who showed up to the open rehearsal. “There are a lot of new people that I don’t know, and I’m just meeting them tonight for the first time.”
The band warmed up with a variety of scale exercises that Platt acknowledged might be new to some of the musicians, but would be very familiar to any of his former students. Having spent 28 years as a teacher, Platt has perfected his warmup scales and recruited a few former students into the band.
The first song they worked on was “On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss,” which Platt noted was about a shipwreck. For this and a couple of other songs, Platt told his musicians that there are performances on YouTube they could watch to see how other bands have performed them. Another song with an interesting background was the uptempo Russian tune, “Folk Dances.” Before introducing the song, Platt noted that because of its lightheartedness, it is a significant departure from the dark, brooding work for which Dmitri Shostakovich is known.
This summer, Platt was emailing back and forth with a band member and sent a the link to the song. The member emailed back that the song sounds like “Shostakovich in a good mood.”
Inside of Wellesley High School, the town band listens to Platt’s instructions. Photos by James Kinneen
This was one of eleven rehearsals the band will have before their first concert in December - though there were a couple absences and one man playing with the band who will be moving to another state before any concert performances.
Platt also noted that the band could always use more percussionists, for those who might like to join.
Further information about the Wellesley Town Band can be found at wellesleycommunityband.org.
