Manatee Community Concert Band kicks off a new season

Listening to a band is a great way to spend an evening, but musicians say that being part of a band is an unforgettable, immersive experience. 

“I can’t tell you how powerful it is,” Del Webb’s Patrick Dolan said. “You get 70 people playing something like the 1812 Overture, and you’re part of that, it’s just consuming and exciting.”

Dolan plays trombone in the Manatee Community Concert Band, which kicked off a new season on Nov. 2 with a Veteran's Day concert. The band rehearses on Tuesday evenings at the State College of Florida. 

As a child, Dolan tried several instruments — piano, French horn, trumpet and kettledrums. By college, he’d settled on the trumpet and enrolled at Western Michigan University to study music. 

A drunk driver changed his plans. While he and his wife, Christine Dolan, survived the crash without any major injuries, Dolan’s injuries were life altering because a muscle in his lip was severed. 

He no longer had the muscle movement required to play the trumpet, so he returned to the piano. 

Dolan never fully recovered from his injury, so his range on the trombone is limited. He said he’s not good enough to play a solo, but he can play the accompanying parts. And the upside of being in a band is that he can “finger through” the parts he hasn’t mastered yet. 

Photo by Lesley Dwyer

“The guy who sits next to me plays bass trombone,” Dolan said. “His sound is just unbelievable. When he hits a note at the lower end of the instrument, it resonates throughout the entire auditorium. He can play softly, or he can fill the place. If there’s something I can’t play, he covers it.” 

The only skill required to join the band is being able to read music, conductor Lynn Cleary said. If you can’t read music, you can’t play along with the songs. 

Any age is welcome to join. Dolan is an 85-year-old retiree, while other members still attend middle school.

After college, Dolan said he had to step away from the piano and find a job that paid “real money,” so he spent 40 years working for the Michigan Education Association, which is a teachers union.

Dolan didn’t pick up a trombone until he was 60. A sailing friend convinced him to join the New Horizons Band in East Lansing, Michigan. When he and his wife started snowbirding in Naples, he joined a New Horizons Band in Bonita Springs.

When they moved to Del Webb in 2018, Dolan immediately signed up for the Manatee Community Concert Band. Since then, he’s enlisted a few neighbors. 

One of those neighbors is Jim Donathen, who now serves as president for the nonprofit. Dolan found out that Donathen played trombone for the Notre Dame marching band. Even better, Donathen still had his instrument.

The band also performs at Del Webb around Christmas. The performance schedule consists of five big shows at SCF’s performing arts center, but they use smaller concerts in between as dress rehearsals. Dolan said they pack the house at Del Webb every year.

Photo by Lesley Dwyer

Band members are from all walks of life. Dolan sits between a lawyer and a Vietnam veteran who also worked in the aerospace industry. 

As far as musical skills, Dolan said the band can basically be divided into three groups: Those who always wanted to learn to play an instrument, those who used to play an instrument and those who never stopped playing their instruments. 

As a whole, Dolan said it’s a high quality band. The sheet music they’re reading from is a Level 3 (intermediate) or above. The songs have tempo changes that offer a challenge. 

Even with 70 members, the band could use a few more musicians. It’s missing a bassoon player and needs one more bass clarinet.

“It’s not a full percussion section unless you have seven people back there, and right now, we have four,” Cleary said. “I wouldn’t take violins or cellos, but I’d probably take a string bass.”

Cleary loves the low sound of a bass, but most strings are out because it’s a band, not an orchestra. For anyone looking to join, play for Cleary and she’ll find a place for you. 

“Do the best you can,” Dolan said. “What they ask in these community bands is that you commit to learning your part and practicing it.”