The Nashville Community Concert Band is Associated with the Metro Schools Community Education program at Glencliff High School - Peggy Drew, coordinator.

      The Band began in 1973, with a group of 24 players and a small grant which quickly disappeared.  The group soon expanded to about 65 members and has remained at that level to this day.   Harold T. Hellegaard has been director of music and principal conductor for 28 years.   Thomas H. Steger has been associate conductor for 25 years.  Matt Ward, who has been a long-time member of the Band as a trumpet player, has filled the shoes of assistant conductor in recent years.

Click on a name for a short biography:

Harold T Hellegaard
Thomas H. Steger
Matt Ward

     The founding conductor was Brad Kinney, who many of you will remember as a top high school band director in the Nashville Area.  Brad passed away about 6 years ago.

     The NCCB has been associated with the Metro Schools' Adult Education Program since 1973. No one involved with the NCCB is paid for their services.  Conducting and performing are "labors of love".  Over the years, the NCCB has had about 400 different members.  This has allowed the Adult Community Education Program to continuously offer an opportunity to adults who want to develop and hone their musical skills while offering the Nashville Area Community exposure to the quite competent performance of an adult symphonic wind band.

The Major Purpose of Having Community Concert Bands

     There are thousands of students being educated and trained in instrumental music at the high school and college levels.  Very few of those will become professional musicians.  Many of their educators,  while quite competent as performers, pursue the education career in lieu of a performance career.  The NCCB believes that many of those would like the opportunity to be a part of a performance group.  Their training and desire should be allowed a "lifetime" of performance opportunity.  The availability of community concert bands, orchestras, choral groups, big bands, and ensembles give that opportunity.

Composition of the Nashville Community Band

     The NCCB has always been open to any adult with musical training who wants to play.  Many have taken their instruments out of a closet or attic after years of gathering dust.  Most have been members of high school and college bands while some have been members of military and other professional and high quality amateur groups.  This band has a stable core of about 50 members.

     The present members range in age from their 20's to their mid 80's.  To date, people become a member by showing up and cease to be a member when they do not attend.  This usually results from job changes, completion of a graduate degree or program, moving away, having children, illness, and death.

     The Band members represent many professionals - lawyers, physicians, teachers, retirees, band directors, bankers, air traffic controllers, social workers, housewives, and others.  The NCCB has not seen a return from the thousands of high school and college graduates with instrumental training until their careers and family situations have become stable enough to allow a rehearsal night.  The Band also believes that in this busy world, performance can be a great "stress" reliever.

Range of Music and Performance Exposure

     The Concert Bands (Prize Bands) were historically the forerunners of the Symphony Orchestras in this country.  They brought a great range of music to the towns and communities through the performance of transcriptions of the great opera overtures and classical works from the well-known European composers.  They also brought the popular works of the day.  The great Bands of Edwin Franko Goldman, John Phillip Sousa, the Detroit Concert Band, the military bands and the orchestras of today keep the professional wind symphonies alive.

     The Nashville Community Concert Band Strives to provide both the performer and the audience with a wide range of opportunity from the great transcriptions, to choral and band works, vocal accompaniment works and works from the modern and more challenging composers.  Examples of works performed by the NCCB can be seen by clicking this icon.>>    These pieces, however, certainly do not include everything the NCCB has performed for the last few years, but are representative of the mix and level of performance.

Rehearsal and Performance Schedule

     The NCCB strives for about twelve performances per year and one Monday night rehearsal per week, two hours in length.  The Band rehearses year round with a brief hiatus in December and January.  In order to be a performance band, the repertoire must include a variety of works that can be mixed and matched with minimal rehearsal and that can be mixed and built upon with the new works that are introduced each year.

Organizational Structure

     The NCCB is incorporated as a non-profit educational organization.  It does have 501 (c3) tax exemption status from the IRS.  It does have an active Board of Directors and the Band as a whole is involved in the acceptance of performances.  As with any performing group, sites must be checked out, equipment hauled, public service advertising sought and the business of the band handled.  Currently, the delegation of responsibilities are as follows;

Performance Venues

     Over the last six or seven years the Director of Music has developed a venue for challenging literature through an annual joint program with the Belmont University Concert Band in a format of individual and joint performance.  Those concerts have taken place in the Massey Performance Hall on the Belmont University Campus.

     It is hoped that a recent combined performance with the 129th Army Band of the Tennessee National Guard which took place in the War Memorial Concert Hall can also become an annual event.  The Band also participates in liturgical concerts to increase the range of performance.

     The Band regularly performs for the Jewish Community where Broadway Medleys, Big Band Music, Jewish Folk Music, and Marches have been featured.  Similar programs are performed for the Metro Parks Summer Program in the Centennial Park Bandshell.  These programs also include the classics and transcriptions which are appropriate for outdoor performance.

     Click on the link labeled "Past Performances"  for a sampling of appearances.  Click here for the list of sample works which the Band has performed.

Encouraging or Supporting Other Groups

     About seventeen years ago a group of NCCB members wanted to play music of the Big Band Era.  The NCCB encouraged the formation of a stage band and that group, now known as the Moonlighters, provides a venue for rehearsal and performance and is also associated with the Adult Community Education Program at Glencliff High School.

     About six years ago, the Director of Music of the NCCB formed a brass quintet which was named the Graylyn Brass.  It provides an outlet for ensemble brass performance and has performed with the NCCB and for many other occasions.

     The NCCB has been supportive of high school string programs by providing the brass and woodwind players to help students have a symphony orchestra experience.  This has been as enriching and enjoyable experience for Band members.

Choral Groups

     The Director of the NCCB believe the traditional concert band is well suited to combine performances with choral groups.  The Band has performed jointly with a number of choral groups.

     In Sacred and Liturgical performance the NCCB has performed with multiple choirs of Lutheran, Methodist, Nazarene, and Presbyterian congregations.  In addition, the Band has performed with the Concert Chorale of Nashville, a semi-professional group founded and directed by Sherry Kelly.

Recorded Material

     With the improvements in small digital recording equipment and computer software for editing, the Band has been able, with the help of some very skilled members, to record and reproduce for its own use, concerts and other material.  The recordings have been a motivational factor for the Band members and serve as a record for posterity of the NCCB.