Although the band is composed of nonprofessional musicians, when the Ann Arbor Civic Band (AACB) rehearses new music for concerts, they play as though they’ve been playing the songs for years.

AACB Director Bill Gourley stands in front of the more than 60-person band and goes through each song, entrances, transitions, endings and all, in order to make the songs concert ready. Except for two additional rehearsals before the season begins June 18, the band only has one rehearsal before each Wednesday-night concert in Ann Arbor’s West Park Band Shell.

The Ann Arbor Civic Band rehearses for their upcoming season, which starts June 18, 2014.

David Cummins, an Ann Arbor resident and trumpet player in the AACB, said the band can play concerts with little practice thanks to the players’ and conductor’s musical experience.

“An awful lot of the people in the band, a high majority I bet, have played, have come to music from a solid music program. They've had a good teacher, they've played in a good band, they've seen good literature, they can read music, and so that's how we can have each concert with only one practice,” Cummins said. “And Bill is a very, very good conductor. A very capable conductor.”

As the AACB enters its 79th year, there are many performers in the band who have participated for many years. Although Gourley said the band is getting younger, three men in particular have played with the band for more than 30 years: Mac Danforth, who plays clarinet, Robert Bartlett, on euphonium, and Cummins, on trumpet.

Danforth, originally from Ann Arbor and a former member of the Marine Corps, has played off and on with the AACB since the summer before his sophomore year at Ann Arbor High School – in 1953. In 1984, he decided to stick with the band and play every summer. Now, he drives 60 miles to and from each rehearsal and concert in order to be part of the band.

“I like to play my instrument, and the park setting is a neat place to play,” Danforth said. “I’ve played in concert halls around the world, and to play in a park with hills and picnics is just a fun setting.”

Danforth grew up playing the piano and watching the University of Michigan Marching Band. When he finally attended the University of Michigan, he joined both the marching band and the symphony band as a clarinet player.

Bartlett got involved with the band years after Danforth's first appearance. He joined the band when he moved back to Ann Arbor in the 1980s, after having spent time in California. As a retired surgeon, who, according to Gourley, “is a very successful guy, but the only thing he’s not successful at is retiring,” his instrument is an outlet for him to play music with a group.

“It’s fun to play good music with good musicians. It’s most enjoyable when you can play intact pieces of music that you can’t play by yourself,” Bartlett said.

Bartlett began in music as a trumpet player as a kid. When he reached high school, he switched to euphonium, or the baritone horn. Once he became interested in jazz music, he learned to play the bass. In other performance groups Bartlett is a part of he plays bass, but he said playing the euphonium in the summers for the AACB is "like having an annual rendez vous with a dear old friend."

Cummins who has consistently been in the band the longest, having started 1968, after participating in Ypsilanti’s community band through the 1960s, claimed his chair when he first started with the band, and he still sits in the same chair position.

“I go in and stake the claim for last chair because no one can challenge that and every part has to be played by someone,” Cummins said. “The fact that we have a group of really good musicians makes it possible to make concerts for the city’s people.”

While growing up in Midland, Cummins began playing piano as a kid, and played the cornet and trumpet in junior high and high school. He said he hasn’t stopped playing and that learning to play an instrument is beneficial to a person all through life.

“If people have played an instrument, there is no cutoff date when they lose it. If they play, play occasionally, they can go practically until they die, and they have fun doing it,” he said.

Cummins, Danforth and Bartlett have seen band members and directors come and go over the years, and particularly, they have watched the band change as the band moved through the decades.

Cummins said when he joined the band, Tom Tyra, the then-director of bands at Eastern Michigan University, directed the Ann Arbor Civic Band. At the time, many of the performers in the band had connections to EMU.

“A lot of his principals, the first chairs in each section, were Eastern people. And that music was classical band music, either marches or concert opera,” Cummins said.

When a member of the band, the first-chair saxophonist Max Plank took over the band in the late 1970s, Cummins said the band had a similar style and a lot of the same performers.

Cummins remembered a particular rehearsal moment with Plank, which came about because of the short rehearsal time the band has before concerts.

“I remember one time, when Max Plank was the conductor, and we were struggling with a piece that was difficult, and Max said, ‘I am fighting the urge to rehearse.’ You see there’s not much time, and he really wanted to go over the piece,” he said.

Charlotte Owen, the only woman conductor AACB has had, took over the band 1986 and conducted the band through 2001. In the 1940s, Owen was also the first woman conductor for the U.S. Marine Corps and the only conductor of the U.S. Women’s Marine Corps Band.

Danforth saw a connection to Owen through the fact that both of them had been in the Marine Corps. After the Marines, Danforth became a high school band conductor and taught in Saline and at L’Anse Cruise High School.

“Marines teach leadership through a series of steps, and young conductors aren’t taught that,” Danforth said. “Going to work (as a conductor) was not going to work; it was having a good time, and that’s really fortunate.”

Owen also created the program format for the band that they still use today, where each week’s concert has a different theme. This year’s season consists of a concert of marches June 18, big-band swing June 25, a Fourth of July celebration July 2, a children’s concert July 9, Broadway tunes July 18 and movie soundtracks July 23.

Gourley, who took over AACB 12 seasons ago, said the themed concerts seem to work well with the community.

“We do themed concerts so people can know what to expect, and that seems to be pleasing to most people,” he said. “We try to offer things that would be popular to a broad audience.”

Danforth, who has performed all over the world with bands, including a Soviet Union tour University of Michigan Symphony Band, said the Fourth of July tribute concert is one of his favorites every year.

“Every year we do a Fourth of July tribute, and those who were in the service play, and it’s always fun to get that kind of recognition,” Danforth said.

Members of the Ann Arbor Civic Band, including David Cummins (left), rehearse for their upcoming season, which starts June 18, 2014.

Cummins, however, said his favorite concert is the march-themed show that kicks off the season.

“I have an interesting favorite. What makes it interesting is that it’s also the most difficult,” Cummins said. “Marches are wearing on you. Your lips are about to fall off walking out of the band shell, but I like marches.”

Although the 2014 march-themed concert will have some traditional marches that much of the audience will recognize, other marches will be less traditional. One song that will be performed at the concert is the Spanish march “Sol Y Sombra.”

“They’re a lot different from your typical Marches,” Gourley said about the concert’s repertoire.

He added that the AACB summer concerts have a different atmosphere and environment from other concert bands in the community.

“These are people who enjoy playing. These are people that will play in multiple ensembles,” Gourley said. “A lot of ensembles will do rehearsals and then one concert, and then with this one, it’s read it and play it. It really keeps you on your toes.”

Bartlett, having playing in the band since the ‘80s, said the AACB concerts are an Ann Arbor tradition, and the musicians who perform enjoy playing the concert band repertoire.

“A lot of families come out and spend their Wednesdays in the park listening to our concerts,” he said. “They can bring their kids and dogs, and the music is really great.”

The 2014 season begins June 18, and continues every Wednesday through July 23 at 8 p.m. in the West Park Band Shell. Each concert lasts approximately an hour. For those unable to walk from Seventh Street to the band shell, the Ann Arbor’s Parks and Recreation department offers free transportation from Seventh Street. Admission to the concerts is free.

For more information on the band and this year's concert series, visit the Ann Arbor Civic Band website.

Kelly McLaughlin is an intern reporter for The Ann Arbor News. She can be reached at kelly_mclaughlin@mlive.com.