AN OVERVIEW OF OUR MUSICAL GROUPS |
Oroville Community Concert Band and Chorus Oroville Community Concert Band(OCCB)Our membership is 45-60 musicians who love to play together; friends, families and committed community members. In public performances we present music prepared for concert bands. Members pay no dues and receive no benefits in exchange for membership other than voting rights accorded members of a nonprofit public benefit corporation under California law. Oroville Community Chorus (OCC)It operates as a major ensemble of the band. OCC performs as an integral part of 4July and Christmas concerts. Band and Chorus are made up of volunteer musicians, singers, and music directors. Performers range from young teenagers to senior citizens, come from all walks of life, mostly from Butte County, and perform at a very high level of achievement. Any person possessing recent, or former, musical skills is eligible. How To JoinOCCB and OCC attract performers by invitations to locals by fellow performers' recommendations, or from students’ music teachers, as a number of those teachers perform with the band. It is also announced at every band performance that anyone with musical skills is encouraged to join the band, after discussing it with the conductor or band members. The opportunity provided middle school, high school, and college students to perform with us supplements their education and is an incentive for excellence in musical studies. Interesting Numbers About All PerformersAn astounding fact is that well over 800 musically talented people, mostly county locals, have performed with band and chorus. In 24 years since 1992, that is a lot of community folks utilizing our groups as musical outlets. By 27 Feb 2016, we have played 221 concerts, and in that time, 325 folks participated in Community Band, and 397 as Community Chorus, of which (40) doubled from the band. In addition, there were 217 guest invitations to performers associated with groups outside of Community Band-Chorus, (152 young folks and 65 adults). Disallowing 84 cross over guests who were also OCCB-OCC, or later became members, at least 855 different people have participated in our concerts. Interesting Numbers About Our YouthBand-Chorus history was not begun until fifteen years into our existence, so remembering all the past youth is incomplete. So far, there are 103 regular band teens identified performing with our groups, of which a few sang with the chorus. That's almost thirty-two percent of all band folks. Nineteen band teens played 5-10 years with us. Adding 139 young guests who didn't become OCCB-OCC, 242 different youth were involved. The 139 young guests are breakdown as follows: (103) Oroville Christian School musicians, and (36) other musicians, singers, and a dancer. Eleven of the OCS youth were eventually invited to join OCCB, and enriched the groups. Starting with the 2002 OCS concert, the Oroville Christian School musicians were asked to sit in with our Community Band for a number chosen by their director ahead of time. So far (103) young musicians have played with OCCB in this way, at least (63) have been in more than one of those concerts, and (11) joined the band sometime during, or after OCS. NEXT: Band and Chorus Roots in Birdcage Return to TABLE OF CONTENTS |