About Us
The Southern Oregon Concert Band began as the Hillah Temple Shrine Band in 1909. Over the years, it has evolved into a broad-based community band, with players from a dozen or so communities in the Rogue Valley of southern Oregon. This all-volunteer ensemble meets Tuesday evenings from 7:00 to 9:00 at Ashland Middle School in Ashland, Oregon.
The Southern Oregon Concert band chooses music that is designed to please our audiences. Programs are chosen based on their musical value. We wish to communicate with our audiences and leave them with a warm feeling. Occasionally we will introduce a piece that challenges the audience and the musicians more than usual, but we will not compromise on the quality of the composition. We play music written originally for band as well as quality transcriptions of the best orchestral music. We also include literature in the pops category, marches and patriotic music.
The band's members range in age from high school students to as old as ...well, almost that old, and come from all walks of life. We have players who are or have been professional musicians, others who are hobbyists, and still others who, for example, played in high school, put the instrument away while pursuing a career, then after decades of letting it gather dust in the closet decided to get it back out and start playing again. We have a mother-son duet (the mother was the first woman attorney in Jackson County, the son is in real estate), a World War II combat photographer and correspondent for the "Stars and Stripes" in the European Theater, and several retired and active music teachers.
The
first book on the band, People and Notes, was published in 1994.
Four years later People and Notes II, Ben Webber, editor, was
published to reflect new membership. The book is available in Oregon State
Library and the Library of Congress, among others. Persons desiring to purchase
copies may be able to do so as supplies last, through any popular bookseller
as the ISBN [1-878815-08-3 for People and Notes II]. Tuba player
and professional photographer, Preston Mitchell, did the photos in the book.
The band is an Oregon non-profit corporation, qualified as tax exempt IRC 501(c)(3).. Donations are tax deductible subject to the Internal Revenue Code. If you wish to make a donation, please refer to the Support page.