About Us

Director’s Report
Annual Meeting
October 15, 2018
Jack Prindle, Music Director

It has been another busy and successful year for our group. Since our last Annual Meeting on October 16, 2017, we have rehearsed thirty-six times, performed eleven times, and had one recording session. Our “formal concerts” have been arranged in four series, in which the same program has been performed twice, either on a Sunday afternoon and Monday evening, or on consecutive Mondays in Enumclaw and Sumner. The first series was presented on December 3rdand 4th, both in the community auditorium at Enumclaw High School. The second series was presented on March 11thand 12thin the auditorium at White River High School. The third series was presented on June 18th(at Rotary Centennial Park in Enumclaw) and June 25th(at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Sumner). The fourth series was presented on August 13th(at Rotary Centennial Park in Enumclaw) and August 20th(at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Sumner). Our participation in the holiday parade in Enumclaw on December 2ndwas cancelled because of heavy rains. We did perform in the Independence Day parade in Enumclaw on July 4th. We performed at ceremonies at Tahoma National Cemetery on Veterans’ Day (November 11th) and on Memorial Day (May 28th) and at the Enumclaw Veterans’ Memorial on May 27th(in honor of Memorial Day). The recording session was held at the Enumclaw High School Auditorium on September 10th.

Our concerts have continued to include soloists from within the band, and one occasion, had a guest soloist. In December, Anna Clarke performed a flute solo with the band. In March, Alexis White played a solo on tenor saxophone with the band. In June, Rob Sturza played a solo on euphonium with the band, and in August, a special guest soloist, Jim Prindle, played two solos on bass trombone with the band. In the August concerts, I also played a duet on cornet with Jim on trombone, with the band. Assistant conductors Stephanie Magnusson and Todd Frazier very ably conducted the band in several pieces over the past year.

Our fund-raising effort of having band members and concert patrons “sponsor” the music we’re performing has continued to be very successful. According to the records I have compiled, all 44 pieces eligible for sponsorship have been sponsored, for a total of $3,458 (at least, by my reckoning).

We have continued to have our indoor concerts and our Summer Favoritesprofessionally recorded and CDs have been available for purchase by members of the band and for the audience. We also continue to have compilations of our Holiday Favorites and Summer Favorites for sale at our concerts and from our website.

During the past year, we enjoyed “snack and visit” gatherings at our rehearsals on November 27thand June 11th. We also celebrated the 22nd anniversary of the beginning of our group with a “birthday party” on March 5th.

Since last October, we have added six new members, and had one long-absent player re-join us. Sadly, since last October, we have had eight players leave us and have dropped two long-absent players from the roster. In terms of instrumentation, we added players of the following instruments: one flute, one alto saxophone, three trumpets, one French horn and one percussion. The players we have lost played the following instruments: two clarinets, two tenor saxophones, one baritone saxophone, two trumpets and one percussion. Six players (one flute, two alto saxophones, one trumpet, one euphonium and one tuba) joined us for part of the year and left before this fall. One player (tuba) has not been attending lately, but hopefully will return.

The band trailer continues to be quite useful for storing and transporting equipment, stands, and chairs for our rehearsals and performances. The hitch jack started getting hard to turn again, so I had to take it apart again and apply more grease. I’ve since determined that I can avoid that problem by not retracting it all the way after hooking it up to the truck. In August, the plastic vent cover on the top of the trailer became brittle from exposure to the sun and broke away while I was returning from the concert in Sumner. It was easily replaced. The Enumclaw Church of the Nazarene has been very generous in allowing us to park the trailer on their property.

Our multi-function Epson inkjet printer/copier/scanner/fax (“Eddie”) stopped applying yellow ink to the copies last December, and had to be replaced. Unfortunately, its replacement (“Ernie”) developed the same problem this August, but fortunately, we have a service contract on it and should have it repaired or replaced at no cost. It still has been quite useful in scanning and printing additional parts, just not printing in color. Our Brother laser printer (“Bob”) continues to work well for inexpensive printing of black-and-white computer-generated material (including these pages of the Annual Report).

We continue to store our music and equipment in a heated storage unit at Enumclaw Self-Storage. Though it’s a little pricey (about $90 per month), we get a 10% discount because we’re a non-profit and a free month’s rent by paying for a year at a time.

Calvary Presbyterian Church is still generously allowing us to use their folding chairs for most of our outdoor performances. And we are very fortunate that Christ the King Lutheran Church in Sumner generously hosts our June and August concerts in Sumner on their lawn, and hosts an ice cream social after our June concert there and a barbeque dinner before our August concert at their church.

A group of seven (including myself) performed the last litter pick-up on the Auburn-Enumclaw Highway on Saturday, May 19th. It took about 3 hours, and we collected about 70 bags of garbage. I advised the Department of Transportation and they took down the signs with our names on them the next day. A few weeks later, I returned the signs, sign holders, vests, hard hats, warning cones and remaining bags to the DOT shop in Kent. We are officially off the list for “Adopt-A-Highway”.

I have selected themes for the concerts for the upcoming year as follows:

December 16 & 17, 2018: “Holiday Favorites”
March 10 & 11, 2019: “Springtime Spectacular”
June 17 & 24, 2019: “Name Those Tunes XXI”
August 12 & 19, 2019: “Summer Splendor”

I want to acknowledge and thank those who have served on our Governing Board, particularly Brian Bailie and David Luke, who complete their two-year terms at the end of the month. Thanks also goes to our continuing Governing Board members: Paula Evjen, Gretchen Nelson and Carol Sturza. I also wish to express my appreciation to our Concert Coordinator, Kathy Datin, for her valuable management of concert logistics, and to Todd Frazier, for managing our website.

In closing, I want to thank you very much for allowing me to continue to direct this wonderful group. I thoroughly enjoy my involvement with the band and the chance to meet with my Band Buddies every Monday evening and for our performances. Thanks for another fabulous year of very satisfying and enjoyable music-making and for all your hard work, assistance, and friendship.