BandTogether, a St. Louis community band for LGBTQ musicians and their allies, is celebrating a quarter century of music with an anniversary concert built around the work of composer John Williams. The group has operated since 1997 and now counts more than 100 volunteer members.
Artistic director Gary Reynolds founded the band to welcome anyone who wanted to play, whatever their identity or level of experience. It performs concerts throughout the year and takes part in the St. Louis Pride parade each summer.
Reynolds said the idea grew out of his own experience in a community band he joined after college. "I was often known as the gay sax player, rather than Gary," he said on Tuesday's St. Louis on the Air. He said he was glad to be making music but did not feel able to be himself or to talk about what he had done over the weekend.
When he searched for an LGBTQ band in the area, similar to the Gateway Men's Chorus, he found that such groups existed in other cities but not in St. Louis. He and a friend placed an ad in the newspaper inviting musicians to join, with the modest aim of getting a group ready for that June's Pride parade. "I didn't know if anyone would answer," Reynolds said. Ten people came.
Longtime member Jerry Farris joined two years later. After seeing a performance in which Reynolds, who is not a percussionist, tried a bass drum solo, Farris decided the group needed his help. He said attendance kept climbing from there, with more saxophone players and a few percussionists at each rehearsal cycle.
The band has never charged for its performances. Instead, it sets an open tuba case in the lobby for donations; early on, Farris noted, it was a trumpet case. Farris said a small voice in his head once told him the model would not last. "Well, that was 23 years ago," he said. Reynolds said the group is financially in the black and lives within its limits, supported by a generous community.
Both men said the band and the wider society have changed. In the early years, Reynolds recalled, some members asked that their names be left out of the program or that they be placed in the middle of the parade formation so television cameras would not catch them. Now, he said, people arrive having been themselves for as long as they can remember, and he finds that evolution fantastic to see.
Members describe the band as a close, supportive community. Harald Boerstler said at a recent rehearsal that fellow members rallied around him after a difficult surgery a couple of years ago. He also said a group of members helped build a ramp at the home of a bandmate whose mother had suffered a stroke. "Everyone sticks together," he said.
For Reynolds, the anniversary program has personal meaning. "John Williams is the reason why I got into music," he said, adding that he was playing Williams' pieces with the band in its early years, before it was probably ready for them.
The 25th anniversary concert is set for 8 p.m. Saturday, March 19, at the 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity Ave., St. Louis. As always, admission is free, and the tuba case will be open for those who wish to support the band.
