We're talking music summer music. Well, we're talking about winter music too, but summer
music a little later on. When I see Mark Ackner, music director and conductor of the
Racine Concert Band, I think of summer. It's 20 degrees. That's not quite summer there.
We've got a concert. You've got a concert coming up the 24th, which would be tomorrow.
Tomorrow night. Tomorrow night at Horlick High School. Let's talk about that.
Sure. The concert is at 7 o'clock at Horlick and it features the Racine Concert Band and also
the students in the Horlick High School bands. We'll play a full set and then we combine forces
for two combined pieces that are very high MMG. The whole night is dedicated to dance music,
mostly Latin dance music. It's really been a pleasure to prepare this music because it's some
of my favorite composers. The featured work is El Salon Mexico by Aaron Copeland based on the
visit he made to a dance hall in Mexico City. He was so charged up by watching all the dancers
in these three different dance halls that he came home and wrote a sort of a postcard piece
remembering his great time in Mexico City. Not the Macarena though.
No. Okay. Just, just, just thing happened. How far up into the 21st century, 20th century,
you went there. Okay. What else are you going to, what else on the agenda on that program?
Our other big piece is by a British composer, a modern-era composer, Philip Spark. It's called
Dance Movements and he was commissioned to write a piece for the Air Force Band and he decided he'd
wanted to be a dance flavored and he, even though none of the music has actually drawn from it,
he really tried to draw on the character of the dance scenes from West Side Story, from church,
from Robin's Great Dance Choreography for Leonard Bernstein's music and you can really feel that
in and it's got it's got a little Puerto Rican Latin flair in that music too.
I told you my letter Bernstein's story, right? You did with my dad, a quick story again. My dad,
he used to work for a company that repaired pumps in big giant buildings, not
home buildings, big giant buildings and one day there was a problem in this co-op building and
the problem was in one particular, he can reach the problem in one particular apartment and
that happened to be the Department of Leonard Bernstein, the myster himself. So my father went in
there, he knew my father was coming and he took a look around the living room real quickly, a
white grand piano in this beautiful spacious living room and Leonard Bernstein showed him what the
problem was was in the ceiling right above the bathroom. So I father stood on the toilet bowl and
went into the ceiling. Leonard Bernstein was sitting on the rim of the bathtub talking to my father
the whole time and my brother had a rock and roll band at the time in the 60s and he was saying,
well, wouldn't a storm as does he play? My father is having a conversation in the bathroom with one
of the greatest composers and mysteres of our time. Leonard Bernstein, while he's my father standing
on his toilet and he's sitting on the rim of the bathtub. Isn't my father game home that night
because you'll never guess who I talked to today. Leonard Bernstein. That's a wow, that's great.
What a great story, but I digress. Okay, so the concert is tonight is at a holy night school.
Tomorrow night. Tomorrow night, I'm sorry to have the 24th thing. I was testing it. See if you're paying
attention to the 24th. How do you get it? Is it free? It's a free concert open to the public.
It starts at seven o'clock and if you're coming, you should park on the west side of the building by
the tennis courts and then come in those big like there's six sets of doors there. Come in the
building, take the first left and you're at the auditorium. That's a major historic building
at Hallock High School. It's big and it looks like it looks like a high school from from the movies
whenever these high school movies like back to the future. That's what it looks like one of
those high schools. Well, you know, both the rehearsal room and the auditorium were remodeled
in the last year. So okay. And the sound, it's more resonant now. Who sticks better? I think so.
Now, how do you fit your concert band and their band on that stage at the same time?
Let's speak pretty crowded. We pack them in. And these are brass instruments. This is a violence
or anything like that. Not a orchestra. No, but it's a folk brass and woodwinds. Oh, it is.
A lot of woodwinds. Okay, woodwinds. There's a lot of percussion in this concert too.
Well, this will be great. And how long is the concert last? Oh, about an hour and 15 minutes.
Oh, that's perfect. Yeah, perfect. Okay, so this is at Hallock High School absolutely free.
I remember last year, remember you had to get online and do all that stuff within. That's gone.
Just walk right in. Who did that song? You got a whip right in. I'm going to look that up now.
Okay, thank you. And so this is the 24th tomorrow. And then you also have one coming up on my
birthday, May 28th. Where's that going to be? That's a case high school. Okay. And as a special
feature of that funded by the Recording Arts Council, I've been working with the students there.
Composing some melodies. And we're going to work all of their melodies into a piece that'll
be premiered at that concert. You know, I forgot to bring with me today. I was going to bring
the book from Del Ish. It is a history of the Brazilian concert band. I had it and I walked
out of the house this morning without it because I wanted to ask you some questions about that.
We're going to talk about the history of the band. You can answer it for us.
Sure. You don't have to give us a detailed history like who was the first,
but do you know who the first conductor was?
Because you're like you didn't have that many. I'm only the fifth conductor in 104 years.
I know they didn't have that many. So you're in a real elite group. Yes.
And yeah, I think you're the only living conductor. The Schultz brothers were the first two
conductors. The band was founded as part of the as the Racine Park Board band and was part of
the Parks and Recreation Department. And so even when I was hired in 2002, we were still part
of the city. We were privatized in 2007. So ever since then,
well, once the band, it's called the Racine Concert Band, but it's not run by the city anymore.
We're incorporated and we're still subsidized by the city. They provide about 30% of our operating
expenses, but we do a lot of fundraising and selling ads and we have some loyal patrons
that support the band. And so our budget's over $100,000 now. I remember we broadcast live
the Racine Concert Band and you're at the gazebo by North Beach. Now, people have never
been to that gazebo. It's not big. It's nice concrete gazebo. It looks like a picturesque gazebo
that you would see in an old movie from the 1800s. They show what the gazebo looked like.
To this day, I still think you squeezed the band in there because it was tight, but it was nice.
It was we broadcast that concert. You were there. You were conductor, right?
Yes. As I say, we couldn't fit the whole band in the gazebo. So you don't think that people
have played well. And it was, and it was really, and the production section was always telling me
how dangerous it was just to get the equipment on and off of that stage. It was just a small little
walk up. I think my dog up there all the time, just to walk around and, you know, it's it's right.
But it's, it's fenced in. I mean, you can't fall backwards off of it, but it's not that big at all.
But it was nice. It was a nice concert right there at North Beach. And that's because people
are good still life. Yeah, right. It's a good still life. We're talking to Mark Eichner,
conductor of the Racine concert band, also a music director. Who selects other music for the
Racine concert band? That's part of my job. You do. Okay, good. I know you have a librarian,
but her job is to get the sheet music out for each individual instrument and make sure it goes
back. So next time you play that piece, you know, where they are. That's how many now,
if one to begin a piece, like you do a lot of circus music, how many different pieces would
you have? Because every, every instrument's got to have its own sheet music, but it's all different,
right? Right. And so there's, there's usually 23, 25 different parts and there's 40 players in
the band. And so, yeah, for even a single concert, you're talking about more than 1,000 pages.
And it's really rough if it's a windy day. And I've seen pieces, pieces of paper fly. Now you
have these giant way to use to hold down because you are out in the elements where most of them are,
you know, tucked under a tent or under cover, you're out in the elements. And everybody's out in
the elements when you guys are in the fourth of July parade. You're on that, everybody's out there,
you're on a flatbed truck. Now last 4th of July, the weather wasn't that great. We arranged that.
Instruments and everything, huh? Yep. Wow. I thought maybe you, you said, pull over, we're getting
out. You know, it's funny. You mentioned those weights because those weights were passed down.
Yes. The history to them. The third conductor of the band, John Ope for Cook,
made those weights. And he gave them to Delayche, the fourth conductor of the band. And he
presented them to me and they work. So they've been in, they've been with the band for like 60 years
now. Wow. And you're going to pass them down to the next person. I will for sure. Even the idea
of the next person is going to be, you don't have to tell me who. Just do you have an idea? No. And
I won't be picking the next conductor. There'll be a search committee. And that'll be up to the band
because it's a cooperative. The band runs and governs itself. Oh, okay. We have a board of
precedent and vice president and the whole board of directors and they make administrative
decisions. But that's long down the pathway. Don't do worry about that. So, okay. So let's talk about
these two concerts. People just coming, coming on the radio right now, coming up tomorrow night.
We're seeing concert band. We'll play with the Horlick High School band. And that will be at Horlick
High School starting at 7 p.m. Park by the tennis courts. And there's an entrance there. Come on in
and you'll follow the crowd and you'll find your way in free. There's no charge. Just show up with
your family. And I'd love to want to bring babies. But it might be if you have like grammar school
kids. This might interest them in picking up an instrument. Sure. Because somebody's going to take
the pick up the slack later on. And I would mention that the concert is part of the larger
education outreach program of the band, which is founded by, which is funded in part by the
Racine Community Foundation and other organizations. And it includes not just the concerts,
but I go into the high schools and conduct rehearsals. And members of the band come in and give
sexual instruction throughout the year, not just during the week of the concert. So there's
about a hundred teaching sessions that our members conduct throughout the school year in these high
schools. The first one was back in October at Walden 3, actually, Washington Park High School,
but it involved the Walden 3 high school band. And this one's going to be Horlick. And the next one's
case, you got them all covered. Yeah, that's good. Good for you. And people go up their own time
to do this, right? To work with when you say outreach during the year, right? Yes. No, that's great.
I've told the story a million times. I always wanted to play an instrument because my brother
played every instrument. He just was able to, some people can pick it up and do it. My brother
was one of those people. He plays the clarinet, the guitar, the piano. He plays all of them just
because he, he has musicality. I don't. And I wanted to play the trumpet. And in fourth grade,
I took the trumpet. And Mr. Mars, who was the superintendent for the school district when it
came to music, said, stop, stop, stop, everybody. Though we all agreed that if somebody is holding
us back, because they don't know how to play, that we all agreed that that person shouldn't be here
anymore. Everybody shook their head. Yes. He said, Mr. Rosen, can you please leave? I'll talk
you later. Right in front of everybody threw me out of the band. Now, if you come back playing
the drums later on, Mr. Mars, I wish he was around today. So I could punch him in the nose.
Or that was just a horrible thing to do to a kid who was like 10 year, 11 years old. That was
unconscionable. It was. It was in front of everybody. He did that, Mr. Mars, the nasty person. Anyway,
then just recently about a year ago, I started taking up the piano.
Don't practice. That's my problem. What I'm going to do is I'm going to start all over.
I just started to play with two hands. But I'm looking at my left hand and I don't know how
people do that. I don't pay attention to both their hands. Now, I was able to do it. But I
on real simple pieces. And I spoke to the guy who plays our piano at church. And he said,
I just have to keep it simple with my left hand. Nothing fancy. And then I saw this video of this
woman playing rock mom and off for some and she's going a hundred miles an hour on this piano.
And I said, how do people do that? But practice, I guess. Just practice over and over and over
and over again. You play the trumpet, right? Yes. And you know, I never played the piano until
college. Well, not well, but yes, well enough to graduate. But then later, you know, I was
I was the conductor of a jazz band. And I really didn't understand everything that was going
out of the rhythm section. I took drum sad lessons. Now you got four four limbs moving independently.
That's even really wild. I watch your band because we go to every concert. And I got to tell you,
I look at them and I don't know how they do it. First of all, they're outside of the elements.
But they all come together. And you say you only rehearse once a week with when during the
regular concert, if the summer concert once a week. And I've been to a couple of those rehearsals.
And it's like, all right, do this. Do you not do in this right? Boom. That's Sunday night. It's perfect.
At least I hear it's perfect. You probably look and say it's not perfect. But you can hear where it's
not. But you know, it's gold. I've been saying, Mr. Jones, could you please leave the band? Please
thank you. We'll talk to you. You don't do anything stupid like that. Before we started,
you're listening on the radio. I was talking about my first high school date,
Barbara Kirschner. I think it was in, it must have been 10th grade because I didn't,
I didn't drive a car yet. So it must have been 10th, maybe 11th. And I asked her out and I rehearsed
asking her out, you know, it was a landline phone. So I was, I rehearsed it. Oh, I actually picked
up the phone and rehearsed it over and over and over in the basement when the body was listening.
Finally made the call and I followed the script. And she said, yes. And I think she said, yes,
because she couldn't think of no fast enough. She said, yes, went on the date. My mother drove
us to the movies, the peak with theater. We watched the movie. I can't tell you what the movie was.
We didn't say one word in the car the whole way there. And then the only thing I said to her was,
we'd like to get some to eat and say, no, took her home and that was it. As to her second date,
then she knew how to say the word no. As she learned how to say that. But you were talking,
but you couldn't remember your first date. And then you remembered it. Let's talk about her. Come on.
Spill the beans. It was with Susan Brown. And she was the twerler in our high school band.
Also a clarinet player. But yeah, that was a sort of a glamorous position to have back in those days.
So you even dated a band member back then? Yep. Wow. Who knew? Now your current wife,
she's in the band. Yes, she plays horn to the band. And she's a biologist. So that's, you know,
a lot of our musicians have played a lot of professional work. And a lot of them have just,
you know, our adults who enjoyed playing their instruments while they pursue other careers.
One of my favorite parts of the concert beside the music you guys create is your soloists,
the singers who come in. I love it because a lot of them sing Broadway show tunes. And I love
Broadway show tunes. They grow up going to Broadway shows. And I love it. They haven't picked
down for this year already. A lot of the, a lot of the people are turning. But you know, since you
mentioned that, Doug Clements, he said it was a band at the very last concert. We went to see him
in Madison where he performed this crazy music called Gutenberg the musical.
That's the guy who made the moveable press. Yes, of course. Okay. And almost nothing is known
about Gutenberg's life. But this guy wrote a musical about, they were just trying to sell this
musical. And they were sort of making it up as they go. And there were only two actors and
singers in the show. And they had to play about 40 different roles. And it was really just,
it was hilarious to crack this up. And so Doug's really, and after that, Doug went on, he did a
residency at the Royal School of Drama and Music in Scotland. So he's really getting around.
But we're going to have him back, I'm sure. Now, when we did Sunday brunch on Broadway on WR,
actually, I think was on our FM station that time. I used to get a lot of Broadway show CDs sent
by different record companies. And what I got was cannibal, the musical. And I looked it up,
I said, this is real. It was, it wasn't on Broadway. It was not even off Broadway. But it was in one
of these, you know, companies. And it was cannibal, the musical by cannibals. I mean, they'll write a
musical about anything. If they can have Gutenberg, the moveable press, they can write what about
cannibals. All right, quick review here. Mark Eichner, the conductor and music director of the
Racine Concert Band is going to be conducting tomorrow night, Hordeke high school. The Racine
Concert Band continues educational outreach with the Hordeke high school bands. Their director
is Jacob Myers. He's a member of the Racine Concert Band. And I assume you guys are going to,
you know this and you know him. So it's easy to work with them, right? But it's a little better
when you know who you're working with. Well, we've been doing this while. So we have really good
relationships with all the school bands. Except the kids, they're brand new. Every year, you're
never there. Yeah, it's like the, it's like the high school football coach every year. He's got
new people to work with. Well, that's great. And it's free to go. Hordeke high school,
brand on rapid stride there. Go to Hordeke high school, park by the tennis courts, go in the
door by the tennis courts and enjoy a concert. Start at seven o'clock. Now what you call that
with downbeat? What do you call that? Yes. The downbeat is seven o'clock. In modern lingo,
we say we hid it at seven o'clock. And I will tell you so with the summer concerts, seven o'clock
on the dot. You come out, you point to them and they do the national anthem exactly at well,
seven, thirty, whatever, you know, whatever time it is. Well, good luck. I can't wait for the
concert series. Now we're going to be a little hint. It's not going to be a rotary park this year.
And you're working on the venues. Part of them will be at the zoo,
but you're working on the venues. When you finalize it, you come in here and tell,
tell me about it, okay? You bet. When it's finalized because we want to get the word out.
All right. Well, thanks for coming in. How do we be here? How do the how many years have
been hosting the concert band? It's been a lot. More than we can count on their fingers. Yeah,
because I remember I got a 10 year anniversary plaque and that was about five, six, seven years
ago. About 17 years. It's hard to break a bad habit. Thank you. More Wagner. We're seeing concert
band, musical director and conductor. I'm looking forward to the concert tomorrow night and
the summer concert series. I love it every Sunday night.
