Come See Us on Memorial Day Weekend

Posted on April 24, 2024 by matt
Just for reference, this is NOT any real brass instrument. This image is totally a figment of AI’s twisted imagination. How would this thing even work? – Image created by OpenAI.AI

The Star City Brass Quintet is putting on a public concert for free on Saturday May 25, Noon – 1 pm. We will be playing at the corner of Grandin and Memorial in Grandin Village between the Heights Community Church and the Grandin Theater, next to the coop. We’ll play mostly upbeat American music, although we also may just play whatever strikes our fancy. Movies, pop music, marches, patriotic, blues, Disney…

This would be an excellent opportunity for kids interested in music to see real musicians up close and casual. It’s also a great chance to bring a bag lunch or take out a pizza from Grace’s and sit in the little amphitheater there beside the church.

If you aren’t familiar with the little park next to the Heights church, it has some shade under the trees, there is parking nearby, it has a nice little raised area for seating. Plus, it’s centrally located, near Tazaa, Grandin Theater, Graces Pizza, the Co-op, the Farmers Market, Local Roots, Community Inn, Pop’s Ice Cream, On The Rise Bakery, FarmBurgesa and of course Screaming Vegan Cafe.

We also played in this same space last year on the 4th of July weekend.

We’re hoping for great weather, and we’d like to thank the folks at the Heights Church for allowing us to play in this beautiful little space.

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Easter with the SCBQ

Posted on April 8, 2024 by matt

Easter is a big time for brass players. Every church wants a group to add to their worship service, and each of our members probably had to turn down a couple of churches this year. It’s nice to see things coming back from the scary pandemic years. Our Easter 2024 was spent with the inaugural service of the Messiah Lutheran congregation that meets at the Rosalind Hills Baptist church facility. So we were very excited to play for two congregations.

Star City Brass Quintet at the Rosalind Hills Baptist Church
performing Easter Services 2024 for the Messiah Lutheran Church

For the services, we played the Bankelsangerlieder (which my best sources tell me translates from German into “the Bench Singer’s Song) and Haydn’s Achieved Is the Glorious Work as a rousing postlude (which actually prompted people to hang around and listen to the end!) We also played along with the choir and a few hymns.

You may notice that we have a couple of new members. Timothy Murphy (bottom left) on trumpet is a local school music teacher. He and his wife recently had a baby, so please congratulate them when you come to see us next. Also Dr. Marc LaChance (upper right) is new on tuba. Marc is the Director of Bands at Roanoke College. He is normally a talented trombone player, but has agreed to help us out on tuba. Lise’ (bottom center), Elmore (bottom right) and me (Matt, upper left) are founding members.

Star City Brass is excited to be working on a lot of new music. Initially we worked on ceremonial music for weddings and churches, and then worked on more pop music styles including an ABBA medley, Frankie Valli. And of course we had to work up some Christmas tunes (secular and sacred) for two performances of Dickens of a Christmas and the annual St. Andrews gig.

But lately we’re working on some American theme music including a suite from Bernstein’s West Side Story, a Stephen Foster medley, Ashokan Farewell (from Ken Burns Civil War documentary), of course Sousa marches, some Charles Ives and other surprises.

But also we’re working on some more serious quintet classics like Ewald #1, Suite From the Monteregian Hills, and a newish reduction of Marquez’ Danzon #2. So you can see we’re busy expanding our repertoire.

We would be very happy to come play for your event or organization. Give me a call (540.748.1138), send an email (matt@starcitybq.com) or just leave a comment here at our site.

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SCBQ at The Glebe for Fat Tuesday

Posted on February 14, 2024 by matt

Last night we played New Orleans and Dixieland styles for Fat Tuesday/Mardis Gras for the great folks at The Glebe. We prepared such classic selections as Basin Street Blues and Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans, and more that weren’t all necessarily strictly NO style, but fun music nonetheless. Kansas City is at least on the Mississippi, and also full of jazz. We also played the classic latin tune La Bamba and the Jamaican island feel Bobby Ferrin’s Don’t Worry Be Happy.

Selecting music turns out to be more work than you might imagine. You have to pick music that fits the theme of the event, and it has to be sheet music you can acquire one way or another if you don’t already have it, or you aren’t going to write it yourself. Then you have to be able to practice it into performance shape.

The Glebe has a fantastic facility, and 3 of the group had played there for New Years Eve with the Let’s Dance Band. (We loved this gig, since The Glebe is imminently practical, and they did the midnight count down at 9:30 pm instead of midnight. Really love that!) The music community in Roanoke is tightly intertwined, and musicians are shared between many different groups.

If you pay attention to the photos, the personnel changes from time to time. Last night I was covering the tuba part on bass trombone. Several people in the audience were actually interested in seeing the instrument close up. Bass trombone has 2 valves and has a deeper sound than the normal tenor trombone. Some quintets play with this configuration instead of using the more standard arrangement with tuba. The tuba gets more of an Ooom-Paaah sound, while the bass trombone gets a bit more bark.

Here’s a picture of the bass trombone I was using. The big difference between this and a normal (tenor) trombone is the size of everything (mouthpiece, tubing diameter, bell, extra valves and extra tubing). It takes a lot of air, and it’s heavy.

Our next scheduled public performance is at a church for Easter. We’ll be sure to keep events posted.

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St. Andrew’s Basilica Performance

Posted on December 26, 2023 by matt

For the second year in a row, the Star City Brass was asked back to perform again at St. Andrew’s Catholic church in Roanoke. Recently St. Andrews has been upgraded by the Catholic church to a Basilica. I’m not entirely sure what that means, but they will have more prominence due to the new designation. Star City Brass Quintet was happy to help them celebrate the Christmas season in this new phase for the church.

Along with this performance we’ve said hello and good-bye to group members. Tuba player Will Divers will be moving on to another quintet in the area. Will has helped us book some gigs with all of his contacts in the Roanoke Valley area, and has contributed several tunes to our repertoire. I’m sad to see Will go, but we wish him the best in his new endeavor and know he will continue to perform at a high level.

Also, Lori Wingo joined us for the first time at the St. Andrews gig on trumpet. Lori is a local music educator, and a fine musician.

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Dickens of a Christmas

Posted on December 4, 2023 by matt

Every year Roanoke puts on December Dickens of a Christmas nights downtown. Star City BQ got on the performance list this year, so we were caroling at the Center In The Square Building as well as on the community performance stage.

In this photo we were down one member, but managed to pull off some carols anyway.

From a performer point of view, Dickens is a bit of chaos, but I have to say that I personally had a lot of fun. It was just a lot of fun to get out of the house and play for people, even if the crowd wasn’t as big as the 3770 screaming fans at the hockey game last week.

Here’s a video of us performing Sing We Now O Christmas, with all 5 of us this time. The weather was cold and damp, and playing outside in these conditions is not ideal, but just comes with the territory this time of year. Enjoy.

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Railyard Dawgs and the Star City Brass Quintet

Posted on November 28, 2023 by matt

Star City Brass Quintet recently had the opportunity to play the National Anthem at a Railyard Dawgs hockey game. We were excited to play for the largest crowd we have ever played for. And if you have ever been to a Dawgs game, we got a huge ovation.

This is more than a performance of a ceremonial tune for 3700+ fans, it is participation in the community. Of course I had to wear my Dawgs jersey to the performance to show a little spirit.

Community participation is central to SCBQ. Will and I both played for the Drumstick Dash runners on Thanksgiving morning, and Lise played with a mariachi band recently. Elmore plays with a community band and the Bedford Symphony. Matt and Lise perform around the area with the Let’s Dance big band. Matt also plays with a trombone quartet.

You’ll next see us on stage after the tree lighting at Roanoke Dickens of a Christmas, and next at St. Andrews catholic church in Roanoke. Christmas music for both of these events. Come see us or book the SCBQ for your event.

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Drumstick Dash

Posted on November 23, 2023 by matt

Drumstick Dash is a popular Thanksgiving morning run in Roanoke. For the last several years I’ve signed up to offer some music on the course. Each year I try to use my Fender bass amp with a portable power supply, playing backing tracks off of my phone, with varying degrees of success.

This year they had me set up at the Big Lick brewery. I borrowed a traffic cone to serve as a trombone stand when I wasn’t playing.

Will Divers our tuba player was also playing at another location on the course.

We start playing pretty early, maybe 8:30 am, and it’s still cold – definitely in the 40s. The sun comes up to warm things quickly, but this isn’t ideal trombone playing weather.

Last year I was joined by musical faculty from Roanoke College and Virginia Tech, and we played trios. This year a trumpet player who was I think from the Baltimore Symphony (?) came by and heard me hacking through some Queen tunes. He was going to join me, but I didn’t really have anything “joinable”.

Every year I see certain friends from around town who are actually running or walking or pushing a baby carriage. It’s a great cause to help the homeless in Roanoke, and this year there are as many homeless here as ever. It’s a great thing to do on a great day for a great cause. If you haven’t been a part of it, put it on your calendar for next year. It just takes a couple hours of your morning, and helps you feel great the rest of the day.

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Church Music

Posted on August 9, 2023 by matt

Brass quintets love church music. The music is brilliant and majestic, and creates an atmosphere of awe and reverence. Music as a special event commands the attention and lifts spirits. Sacred music can range from the Renaissance to traditional and modern, and Star City Brass has a special affinity for worshipful and glorious brass music, as if Gabriel himself is playing the trumpet!

We have a wide range of church music in our library, and of course special requests can be accommodated with sufficient lead time. We can play for any part of the service, including along with your choir or congregational singing.

Brass music is traditional at Easter and Christmas, but it can also offer a lift to your congregation at any time throughout the year (and we’re easier to schedule off-peak).

Here are some selections of recordings taken during rehearsals and performances of representative pieces from our library. Click on the links to hear sample clips of Star City Brass in action:

To God Be The Glory

A Mighty Fortress

Alleluja from Mozart’s Exultate Jubilate

It Is Well With My Soul

Stand Up Stand Up For Jesus

Take My Life and Let It Be

Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us

Prayer from Hansel and Gretel

Achieved Is The Glorious Work From Haydn’s Creation

Benedictus

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Come Hear Us At Grandin Village

Posted on June 6, 2023 by matt

Star City Brass Quintet is going to play in Grandin Village at the intersection of Grandin and Memorial on the walk way to the Heights Community Church on Saturday July 1, around lunch time. Come listen to us as you enjoy the many shops and businesses around the area and maybe drop a couple buck in the open trombone case covered with local stickers.

Donations go toward buying new music and keep us playing live music for free in public.

This is a great opportunity for kids (and adults) who are interested in music and might want to learn about brass instruments.

We have our set list picked out, an hour and a half of patriotic music, some familiar favorites you’re sure to know, and maybe even some that will make you sing along or dance! Definitely an all ages show.

Grandin is a community that supports the arts, and listening to a local brass quintet while you eat Gracie’s Pizza out doors or wait for your Grandin Theater movie to start, or visit the Co-op, or maybe get carry out from Tazaa or the Community Inn. There’s a breakfast place (Scratch), an ice cream place (Pops Ice Cream), and of course Local Roots, the Falafel House and the Farmer’s Market. Also don’t forget Screamin Vegan, Village Inn or the Cardinal Bike Shop. …On the Rise, Farmburguesa, Spikes and the Barber Shop.

If you want, there’s even a little amphitheater on the church grounds where you can sit, listen and enjoy your take out.

Star City Brass Quintet is available for your party or special event. Contact matt@starcitybq.com

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Roanoke Bridal Expo

Posted on February 27, 2023 by matt
Hotel Roanoke, beautiful location of the Roanoke Bridal Expo

Brass quintet is an iconic sound closely associated with dignified events, especially weddings. The wedding circuit can be difficult to break into unless you get introduced to the main players in the field. So we had the crazy idea of getting started by playing for a wedding show.

Lise’, Elmore, Will, Ric and Matt getting ready toplay for the brides at the Roanoke Bridal Expo

It just took a little research to find that Roanoke had a bridal expo in February, and a little more to get connected to the organizer. From there, the Star City Brass Quintet was signed up to perform at the show. That show was today.

The bridal show was 4 hours long, which is a long time for brass players to play. We had to manage our playing and breaks carefully to make sure we didn’t burn out. We were able to play music you would typically hear at a wedding for all 4 hours of the show, with breaks here and there of course.

Wedding music can be broken up into several types: Prelude, Interlude, Processional, Recessional, and Postlude. It turns out there’s a lot to know about weddings, ceremonies and ceremonial music. Some of the music you hear tends to be pretty standard, but every couple also tends to pick some highly personal music that means something special to them.

Selecting the standard ceremonial music for our Bridal Expo performance was mostly fairly straight forward, but there was a lot of lee-way for selecting songs that represented a more personal flair. There’s no way we could play every tune ever played at a wedding, but we could select from representative styles.

The Bridal Expo put SCBQ in a nice area with a lot of people who could hear us. The music wasn’t overpowering, and they were able to have conversations while enjoying the music.

If you are getting married, we can work with you to select the right music to create the right atmosphere for your event.

Below is a sample recording made on a cell phone of snippets taken from one of our rehearsals (not professional quality recording, and edited only for length). We’ve got some ceremonial music and some more contemporary music in this sample, just to show we can play a range of different styles. Our available repertoire includes hundreds of classical and modern tunes.

In order, the tunes are

  • Rondeau by Mauret (Masterpiece Theater)
  • Canon in D (Pachelbel)
  • Sheep May Safely Graze (Bach)
  • Die Bankelsangerlieder
  • ABBA Medley
  • Chattanooga Choo Choo
  • Kansas City

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