Where to see SLCC’s Summer Fun Parade Band
June 30 9:00 a.m. Taylorsville Dayzz
June 30 10:00 a.m. West Valley West Fest
July 3 6:30 p.m. Riverton Town Days
July 4 8:30 a.m. Murray Fun Days
July 4 10:30 a.m. West Jordan 4th of July
July 4 6:00 p.m. Sandy 4th of July
July 14 10:00 a.m. Days of ’47 Youth Parade
July 16 6:00 p.m. Days of ’47 Float Preview Party
July 20 6:00 p.m. Bountiful Handcart Days
July 21 9:00 a.m. Draper Days Parade
July 24 9:00 a.m. Days of ’47 Parade
Salt Lake Community College’s Summer Fun Parade Band is stepping up to the challenge of entertaining over a million people this summer.
The Summer Fun Parade Band is now in its seventh year and the plan is for the band to participate in 11 events this summer. There are two rules in the band. The first is that members must make the music sound good and the second is that everybody has to have fun.
“The whole point of the band is just to entertain and for the people and the band to have fun. If they are having fun then the people on the parade route are having fun as well,” said SLCC music instructor Dr. Craig Ferrin. “As long as we have accomplished those two things we have accomplished a lot.”
Ferrin looks for students who are enthusiastic and play brass, woodwind and percussion instruments. Prospective band members need to show that they can walk and play musical instruments at the same time.
“These are students from high school. These are students from the college. These are people from the community. [Ferrin] puts together a band that has maybe 60 to 70 members in it,” said Division of Arts and Communication chair Neil Vanderpool.
Band rehearsals began in May.
“It is phenomenal what they do in just five practices and they march in over 10, 11 maybe 12 parades per summer,” Vanderpool said.
The band’s first public performance of the season will be at the Taylorsville Dayzz parade on June 30. Over the month of July, they will march at various locations throughout Salt Lake County. Their final performance will be at the Days of ‘47 Parade in Salt Lake City on July 24.
“Probably the crowning joy of all of this is that they get invited to come to the Days of ’47 and perform in that parade. Not everybody just gets to be in that so I am extremely proud of them,” Vanderpool said.
Marching bands come in many forms, such as military style, corps style, show and parade bands. Terms such as rank, row, file, company and columns have been passed down from military tradition and are still used in today’s marching bands. In the early days, musicians were used in directing battlefield troop movements.
“The band’s a lot of fun. A little nontraditional in that we play a lot of rock ‘n’ roll music,” Ferrin said.
SLCC’s Summer Fun Parade Band is a show band with the goal of entraining. A drum cadence is played to keep the band in step when it’s not playing a song.
“It’s all about energy and entertainment. I consider it a success if the students have entertained the audience,” Ferrin said.
For more information about auditions and other music programs go to www.slcc.edu/music.com.
