Our most recent event was Christmas Eve at St. Andrews Catholic church in downtown Roanoke. St. Andrews is the unmistakable church on the hill in Roanoke that you see as you travel down I581. It was a privilege for us to be asked to play there on Christmas Eve. Star City Brass provided prelude music in the Fellowship Hall for the afternoon mass.

We performed selections that ranged from simple Christmas carols to Bach’s Sheep May Safely Graze and the Ukranian Carol of the Bells, along with others.

It is always fun for brass musicians to prepare for Christmas events. Christmas music is one of the standard genres that quintets always have to be prepared for. Selecting the tunes for this event required some collaboration with church personnel.

Performing music takes a lot of concentration and teamwork. We practice playing together weekly, and each tune presents its own challenges. If you’ve ever played an instrument on your own, you know that even playing alone can be difficult, but getting multiple people to play together requires skills that take a while to develop.

Still, music, and live music in particular is one of the most satisfying things to do or to listen to. The audience certainly participates in the performance. We enjoyed our gig at St. Andrews very much this year and hope to return again next year.