Laguna Concert Band dips into patriotic repertoire

The writing was on the wall very early on. The kitchen wall, that is.

Gary Gould, then only 2 years old, simply couldn’t get enough of using pots and pans as drums.

Hearing her son thump away, Gould’s mother knew that music was his calling. And he didn’t disappoint.

Now 51, the two-time recipient of the Louis Armstrong Award plays the saxophone, clarinet, theremin and Irish penny whistle, among other musical devices. A music teacher at the Orange County School of the Arts, Gould, who lives in Huntington Beach, is adept at about a dozen instruments, although that’s a fluid number, since he keeps adding to the list.

“It’s just something I was really good at,” he said. “I really enjoyed it and it made people happy. And I love, I just love music. I mean, how can you not?”

Gould will join nearly 70 fellow music aficionados at the Main Beach cobblestones in Laguna Beach at 12:30 p.m. Monday. Like him, they are members of the Laguna Concert Band and will perform an hour-and-a-half Memorial Day Patriotic Concert.

“It’s a very patriotic day in America,” said Peter Fournier, the group’s associate conductor. “It’s a holiday, so people gather at the beach and it provides us an opportunity to share our spirit of America and our freedoms of our country. Also, all the military groups are recognized — the Marines, Coast Guard, the Army.”

Members — from dentists to engineers and retired professors to lawyers — pour in from all corners of Orange County and even Oceanside in San Diego County. They meet for weekly rehearsals at Laguna Beach High School all year and are seen in action at the Laguna Playhouse and Pageant of the Masters.

The 14-year-old band, which was founded by William Nicholls and recently performed with Grammy-nominee Lee Rocker, includes smaller flute, swing and Dixieland ensembles. The musicians’ efforts combine for about 32 shows annually.

“Making music is their passion,” Fournier said. “They also enjoy the social and emotionally therapeutic effect of being in a group of musicians and to feel and sense the music. It’s a part of their hearts and souls.”

The Newport Beach resident estimated that the band began rehearsing 15 songs for its upcoming show about three weeks ago. The concert will feature musicians on trumpets, trombones, French horns, tubas and percussion instruments like snare and bass drums and symbols. Members will set up their chairs and stand on the asphalt and concrete areas where visitors otherwise play volleyball or soccer.

Monday’s fare will include “Anchors Aweigh,” “God Bless America,” “America’s Finest,” popular John Philip Sousa marches like “The Washington Post” and “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” and selections from “The Music Man.” Local eighth-grader Sydney Haik will sing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and concert band member Linda Hughes will croon renditions of “On the Sunny Side of the Street” and “Quando, Quando.”

Also, Fournier will contribute “weather with a beat” fashioned after radio personality Johnny Magnus, while Gould will be the soloist for Rudy Wiedoeft’s “Saxophobia” — a jazz song that made the artist a household name nearly a century ago.

“It’s just a dazzler,” he said. “It’s got beautiful saxophone gymnastics and it’s got the 1920s feel to it. It really captures early Americana.”

Having created his own arrangement for the nostalgic piece, he will use a C melody saxophone, which, although quite the rage during Wiedoeft’s time, is now a bit obscure. Gould is the third owner of the instrument — first purchased by a boy in a Chicago music store, treasured for decades, and then sold to a band leader who passed it his way. The musician admitted to picking it “strictly for the novelty of it — it’s a piece of history.”

In previous years, Fournier noticed viewers bringing their own food and settling in to watch some or all of the Memorial Day event. Upon recognizing songs, many would begin dancing, tapping their feet or singing along.

“Its not just ‘long-haired music,’ if you know what I mean,” he remarked. “It’s not like heavy classical literature from Europe like Mozart or Beethoven. It’s not that. It’s American music, which makes it really special.”

If You Go

What: Memorial Day Patriotic Concert

Where: Main Beach cobblestones, 107 S. Coast Hwy., Laguna Beach

When: 12:30 p.m. Monday

Cost: Free

Information: https://www.lagunaconcertband.com, [email protected] or (888) 308-8324