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Spare Time Swing

Ask the simple question "What do you do for a living?" in Washington, DC, and you are probably with a shrug and the empty phrase to be fulfilled: "I, for the government." bureaucrats work for many federal agencies often live an anonymous existence, hidden behind the desk, in imposing gray building.

The employees of a large federal agency, however, have a way to revive the daily grind DC found. The EPA Starlight Orchestra, a jazz big band that many of its members drawn from the Environmental Protection Agency, holds weekly rehearsals in the massive EPA West Building. Your lunch break attendance at a little splash in the jazz player routines to a musical outlet in a city best offer for the pomp of the famous President's Own.

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Organizing a jazz band practice within a large Authority is an impressive behind-the-scenes operations. Every Friday, members have to clear the tables and chairs from a sixth floor conference room. Dan Reinhart, a statistician who plays trombone, call charts and led the group through eye-readings, even though he dislikes as a formal title as "Director". "It is a to break morale for us, "Reinhart, 63, of Kensington, Maryland, says." We turn parts and take it for solos. "He joined the band as he the EPA came nearly 20 years ago and is now the longest tenured member.

The group has a number of state-owned instruments, many of which former U.S. military bands belonged. The instruments for measurement in a storage room in the basement will be stored so that intervention doubled as rehearsal room – up to Mother Nature. "We have a book of 150 charts like, "Reinhart says," but we lost the charts to a flood in 2006. "

Since then the band has entrenched in the sixth floor, clearing space in the week for chairs, stands, and rhythm section instruments including the drums of Paul Shriner, 38, of Dumfries, Virginia won. Shriner, a chemical engineer, plays many instruments, including saxophone, guitar and bass, but he spends most of his time drumming. "Swing is the hardest thing to do, "he says," but if you can read, music, and to devote adequate time to practice, you can play an instrument. "

The band has performed at events for the fundraising program Combined Federal Campaign as well as outdoor concerts during the summer months at the Woodrow Wilson Plaza, farm set in a monolithic government buildings just outside the Federal Triangle Metro station. The money they get from gigs goes towards new music and instrument repairs – A new Restrung bass and saxophone with new pads are products of their recent windfall.

Sax player John Adams serves as the announcer at performances, injecting Frankish Humor in his songs between skirmishes. He sometimes calls the group "The Toxic Winds of the EPO and takes as a soloist hailing from different departments EPA, such as sewage or air pollutants.

An outdoor performance drew the attention of the trumpeter John Alumbaugh few years ago. At a concert to commemorate the 11 September, the orchestra performed America the Beautiful "and Alumbaugh, who works at the U.S. Agency for International Development, was deeply moved. Although he is not an EPA employee, the band found a place for him in the trumpet section.

"I just wish it were more," Alumbaugh, 46, of Woodbridge, Virginia, says the Group practices. "Sometimes you have to play only 45 minutes."

How Alumbaugh, the younger members have a penchant for music from the hot jazz and Swing eras that came before the boom of the big bands in the 1940s. The band, the audience love it too. "The FBI are an older audience anyway," Alumbaugh says.

Alumbaugh, who served in the Army and trained as a lawyer in the military Judge Advocate General's Office, played trumpet in high school in Illinois, lost But touch with music during his military service. After the Starlight Orchestra caught his attention and brought him back to get the trumpet, the music is rooted in his life taken his seven-year-old daughter recently piano lessons, and he is often at her side when she practices.

The band is a ray of hope in the lives of other members as well, such as alto saxophonist Carey Johnston, an environmental engineer from Arlington, Virginia. "This is a godsend," says Johnston, 38 "I have two children, and it is difficult to find time to play at home, so this is every week at work big. "

In recent years the band has played summer concerts in the plaza, where the employee has at the other places nearby herd weekday afternoon, and the band of the present brought about some unexpected connections. When the drummer had not managed a last minute preconcert e-mail brought a drummer from the State Department out of the woodwork. In Washington, DC, where competition between agencies together , and frustration with the bureaucracy and regulations can be high, the collegial atmosphere of the music of the turf wars have replaced with some common ground.

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About the Author

Making Music is a bimonthly magazine for adult amateur and recreational musicians. Our readers make music simply because they enjoy it—it helps them to relieve stress, connect with their loved ones, and express themselves creatively. Many have played all their lives, while others have only discovered music recently. We publish articles on music theory, practicing and performing techniques, and the health and wellness benefits of playing a musical instrument. Our stories feature real people who find ways to fit music making into their lives, and is intended for musicians of all playing abilities.

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