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WALLACEBURG ARTS: Concert band celebrating 10 years with greatest hits concerts

What do you celebrate? 

People celebrate all manner of things, perhaps not all “important” events, but I think sometimes people simply look for a reason to have fun, so count me in. 

WALLACEBURG ARTS: Concert band celebrating 10 years with greatest hits concerts Back to video

By now, hopefully readers know that this season the Wallaceburg Concert Band is celebrating its 10th anniversary, and we want to celebrate! 

Our group has been looking forward to 2026 for a few years now. 

We are quite young in comparison to our friends in the Lambton Concert Band who are celebrating their 25th anniversary this season, and the Chatham Concert Band who will celebrate their 100th anniversary in 2027! 

Those are much more spectacular numbers than our piddly 10 years of existence, but what this group has accomplished in 10 short years is nothing short of stunning. 

Many will know the story of how and why we came to be which I will not re-hash, but I wish I had video tape of our inaugural meeting. 

I shared my vision before a crowd of largely former musicians I had taught who indicated a willingness to re-visit a skill they once plied back in their school days. 

In most cases, those potential musicians hadn’t touched an instrument or read one note of music notation in decades. Some were more than 40 years removed! 

We found some instruments, cobbled together a band of about 25 musicians and over the fall months of 2016 rehearsed a band that played some simple Christmas music for the residents of the Oaks Retirement Village.     

Fast forward to today and we have a highly skilled band of 60 musicians playing some very challenging music who have worked incredibly hard to become what I will describe as a semi-professional musical aggregation. 

I don’t recall that I’ve ever said this publicly but despite playing in, and conducting concert bands for most of my life, even I am not a big fan of the genre. 

But this band has won me over. 

They make me smile and give me goosebumps at every rehearsal. 

Winning sports teams parade through the town on fire trucks, get championship jackets, medals to display around their necks, and winners of contests get ribbons or cash prizes and their pictures plastered everywhere, but us?  

We blow our own horns! We’re forced to. 

For a few years now I’ve been urging readers to attend just one of our concerts to experience something that most would never expect to see or hear in Wallaceburg, and 2026 is the year anyone who has not been to a WCB concert should consider doing so. 

For our 10th anniversary season, we went to our membership with a long list of every score that we’ve played in our first 10 years and asked them which were their favourites, and which ones they would like to revisit. 

The results poured in and we’ve been forced to schedule not one, but three concerts that we’re titling “WCB’s Greatest Hits: Volumes One, Two and Three.” 

Our Greatest Hits series of concerts will also extend into our Christmas season as well, but of course we haven’t started work on those scores yet. You’ll hear more about our Christmas plans in the fall. 

But we’re not just re-hashing some old scores readers may have heard before.  

I like to think that we’ve “re-imagined” them, playing them better than before by a band that is currently at its zenith in terms of its skill level. 

Attendees have consistently provided accolades for the ever more challenging, ever more interesting arrangements, and excellent execution of the scores this band has performed. 

However, both I as music director, and our board of directors listen very carefully to our audience and despite the incredible community support, we know of a few concerns that we are attempting to address. 

The first thing we are addressing is when our concerts are. 

We like evening concerts but we’re also aware that many do not like driving after dark.  

Based on the incredible support of our matinee Christmas concerts at the Capitol Theatre in Chatham, we are moving all our concerts in 2026 to 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon matinees, hopefully encouraging those who do not appreciate being out later in the evening. 

This will allow for an earlier completion time, more clean-up time for us and, hopefully, allowing our townsfolk to go out for a meal afterward and support our local eating establishments. Make a day of it! 

We’re also going to insert an intermission into our concerts and supply some light snacks and water, giving patrons a break from the less-than-ideal seats and get to meet some of our musicians who are encouraged to join you.  

We’re also taking a novel approach to each concert by allowing the audience to choose a few of the scores we present.  

Be sure to bring your cell phone to the concert (silenced of course) and be prepared to scan the QR code on-screen to choose between a few different songs. 

As I always say, “This isn’t your grandfather’s concert band!” 

As mentioned, the music has been chosen by our musicians, and I can honestly say they have great taste. 

After every concert we’ve presented in the past, I’ve felt that there were arrangements that were so good that I hoped that one day we might be able to present them again, and now I’m getting my wish!  

We are increasing our standard four concerts per year to five simply because we have so much great music for you. 

WCB’s Greatest Hits: Volume 1 will be presented at Wallaceburg District Secondary School Sunday, March 29, with Volume 2 on Sunday, May 31 and Volume 3 on Sunday, Oct. 4. 

Our band is so excited to be offering their favourite and finest work to you once again and hope that you will join us for every concert. 

Attendees will not only get to hear our bands greatest hits but also some of our favourite “additional elements” that we add to each concert such as our tribute to Gordon Lightfoot (though I won’t tell you which concert that will appear in). 

Cel-e-brate good times, come on!

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