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Photos courtesy of Long Beach Community Band\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n One of Long Beach’s community-band ensembles, the Shoreline Symphonic Winds, kicked off their summer concert season this past weekend at Bixby Park. With 66 years of service, they are among the longest-running community bands.<\/p>\n Band president and decade-long member Amy Lind said the performance went better than expected.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the audience started clapping and cheering it was very heartwarming for the band, especially knowing it was appreciated by the community,” she said. “Our purpose is to enrich local communities not usually exposed to live music.\u201d<\/p>\n Along with typical concert band songs the audience heard more pop culture tunes from Star Wars<\/em> and Superman<\/em>, which coincided with the movie night at Bixby Park. They also play symphonic band literature, orchestral transcriptions, marches and patriotic songs at a wide range of community events.<\/p>\n Community bands are part of a longstanding American tradition dating back to the 19th Century. Long Beach Community Band was formed in 1946 by a group of World War II veterans who wanted to form a musical community.<\/p>\n They differ from the Long Beach Municipal Band, though the two are often confused. \u201cThe Municipal band is great and fun but the Long Beach Community Band is equal, just a different kind of fun and music,\u201d said Lind. Recently, the Long Beach Community Band began publicly performing as Shoreline Symphonic Winds in order to not confuse residents. The nonprofit still exists under the name Long Beach Community Band.<\/p>\n As a non-profit, Long Beach Community Band was affected by the economic downturn. They have been able to continue performing with the support of Arts Council for Long Beach, Los Angeles County Arts Commission and City of Long Beach.<\/p>\n Now the 45-member woodwind, brass, and percussion ensemble is volunteer-based, providing free performances in the city’s parks. Members range from professional musicians to amateurs who picked up their instruments after high school.<\/p>\n Donna Reckseen, timpanist, was a part of the community band back in the \u201980s and has rejoined after retiring from Long Beach Memorial Hospital. She was once part of the Buffalo Bills marching band. The band now provides her the opportunity to serve her community and remain involved in music.<\/p>\n \u201cMusic is stimulating\u2026Especially with percussion it\u2019s physically and mentally stimulating and youthful; it makes you feel good,” Reckseen said. “Music should be a part of everybody\u2019s life.”<\/p>\n Artistic director and conductor Greg Flores earned his master\u2019s degree in music at Cal State University Long Beach. Members said he has significantly raised the level of musicianship and added a bit of character with his sometimes-comedic interjections.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re unique because our conductor isn\u2019t afraid to make us play hard stuff. We\u2019re not afraid to cultivate the taste of audience but also play what they want including movie tunes,\u201d said Pat Mullen, the band’s vice president. As a professional trumpet player Mullen said he is involved with the band because he enjoys encouraging other members to practice in order to actively participate in creating entertainment for the community.<\/p>\n To show their patriotism, the band is gearing up for a 4th of July celebration concert at Long Beach Veterans Administration Hospital. This is a favorite performance among band members as many members are veterans as well.<\/p>\n The Long Beach Community Band encourages the public to come to their performances at the parks this summer and bring picnics. President Linden also encourages community members to join. \u201cIf you have an instrument sitting in the closet dust it off and join us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cMusic is good for the soul period,\u201d Reckseen said. \u201cWhen you hear us play you can tell it comes from the heart.\u201d<\/p>\n For more information about the band visit shorelinewinds.org.<\/em><\/p>\n 2013 Summer Schedule<\/strong><\/p>\n Thursday, July 4, 11AM Friday, July 12, 7:15PM Monday, July 22, 7:15PM Saturday, July 27, 2PM Monday, August 12, 7:15PM Monday, August 26, 6:30PM One of Long Beach Community band ensembles, the Shoreline Symphonic Winds, kicked off their summer concert season this past weekend at Bixby Park. With 66 years of service, they are among the longest-running community bands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":68999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[377,1669,287],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-3765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-concerts","tag-shoreline-symphonic-winds","tag-symphony","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3765"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=3765"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"DSC00107\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/DSC00107.JPG\")
<\/p>\n![\"DSC00105\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/DSC00105.JPG\")
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Long Beach Veterans Administration Hospital
5901 E 7th St.<\/p>\n
Wardlow Park Recreation Center
Movie Night–Hotel Transylvania<\/em>
3457 Stanbridge Avenue<\/p>\n
Pan American Park
Movie Night–Wreck-It Ralph<\/em>
5157 East Centralia Street<\/p>\n
Drake Park
Blue Pacific Swing Band
951 Maine Avenue<\/p>\n
Martin Luther King Jr. Park
Movie Night–Thunderstruck<\/em>
1950 Lemon Ave.<\/p>\n
Cherry Park
Movie Night–The Odd Life of Timothy Green<\/em>
1901 E. 45th Street.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"