This past April, the Traverse City Philharmonic launched Act 2. It's an opportunity for adults with little to no musical experience to learn how to play an instrument.
All spring, the Act 2 participants have been learning the fundamentals of reading music, how to handle their instrument and how to play in an ensemble.
Their final rehearsal is Wednesday, June 10 with a short, informal concert at 7 p.m. at the Traverse City Philharmonic Center.
Jennifer Wesling and her friends Tom Wright, Nancy Giffels, Jean Callum and Marlene Robinson all joined Act 2 together and even created a group text called "7th Grade Band." They attend rehearsals together and practice together during the week.
Wesling says she's most proud of the fact that she and her friends have not only stuck with it but really put their all into the efforts.
"We have really sunk ourselves into this," she said. "We have our extra practices. We've carried it through all the way for the last nine weeks very consistently and had a ball doing it."
Wesling shared a recording of the band's rehearsal from week 9, but she pointed out that it's really more like week 2.
"If we really were in seventh grade, we would have band every day at school," she explained. "So in nine weeks, we've really just finished two weeks of school."
When Act 2 band wraps up on June 10, its members have two options for the fall if they want to keep playing: repeat ten weeks of the Act 2 band, or move on to the Act 3 band.
Wesling says she thinks she'll move on to Act 3 band or, as she and her friends are calling it, 8th Grade Band.
"The big discussion everyone is having now is, 'Am I ready for 8th grade band?'" Wesling said. "But
I practice every day, and if I keep practicing through the summer, I might be ready for 8th grade band in the fall."
Wesling and her friends already have big plans for making music together this summer.
"Jean [Callum] is arranging the Interlochen theme for us to play," Wesling said. "My music is for the snare and the triangle. But if anyone out there has a set of timpani drums that they'd like to bring to our little house rehearsals, we're open to that."
Wesling says those who are hesitant to try the beginning band should do it.
" If I can do it, you can do it," she said. "It's okay if you don't play every note. Maybe you just play the first note of each measure, and maybe you don't even know what a measure is. But, yes, you can do it, and it is so much fun."
The next sessions of the Traverse City Philharmonic's Act 2 and Act 3 bands begin in September.
