At President Theodore Roosevelt’s inaugural parade in 1901, he saw a band marching down the street, and quickly jumped to his feet, exclaiming, “That’s my band.” Roosevelt was talking about the Port Washington Brass Band.
Although the Brass Band doesn’t exist anymore, the Port Washington Community Band, which took over for the Brass Band, formed in 1931 and carries on the town’s musical tradition. Performing on the first four Fridays each year in July, the band is made up of members of the Port Washington community, including adults, high school students and professional musicians.
Aaron Prindle, the band’s director, is originally from Seattle but moved to Port Washington in 2006 to teach band at the elementary school. In 2010, he began playing trumpet in the band, and when the band’s former director stepped down, he took over.
“The Port Washington Band is just a community experience,” Prindle said. “We play music — and we want to get that right — but our ultimate goal is to have fun.”
Prindle, a second-generation band leader, learned from his father, who founded a community band in Seattle and still directs it. Prindle said the band is always looking for new members to join the band’s core and the various people who step in on occasion.
The band, which is made up of about 25 members, performs its Friday concerts at John Philip Sousa Memorial Band Shell in Sunset Park, entertaining guests with a variety of songs that are always changing. The band is made up of a brass section, a woodwind section and a percussion section.
“We don’t have much time to prepare, but we learn and perform 40 songs throughout the summer,” Prindle said.
The band performs hourlong concerts and incorporates a different theme into each performance, Prindle said. For the July 15 concert, the theme will be “Brought to you by the letter B.” All songs performed by the band will begin with the letter “B,” including “Be Our Guest” from “Beauty and the Beast” and the “Looney Tunes” theme song, which relates to the “B” in Bugs Bunny.
The last performance of the summer will be called “Summer Sunset.”
“This band is great for people who participated in their high school music program and want to move on,” Prindle said.
A Port Washington resident, Doug Paulsen, began performing in high school and continued playing in bands at different parts of his life. He played one year with the Port Washington Community Band in 1963. He then moved away, but when he returned in 2000, he got involved again, joining the John Phillip Sousa Band Shell Committee, which raised funds and built the venue. Then, he rejoined the band but, because he was born with congenitally defective corneas that get progressively worse, he needed to find a way to play percussion and accommodate his vision problems.
He created a contraption that allowed him to play holding a magnifying glass to see the sheet music, because he couldn’t pass up the opportunity play with the band, he said.
“I went to a performance and saw the band had no percussion,” Paulsen said. “So I joined, because a blind guy is better than no guy. And the band is just great under Aaron’s lead.”
“I just want everyone in the band to have as much fun as I’m having when we’re performing,” Prindle said. “It’s such a fun experience.”
