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Milford's Sgt. Pepper: Joe Lear, founder and leader of Milford Community Band

MCB's 2013 season opens April 27 at Bug and Bud Festival
April 24, 2013

When Joe Lear put down his trombone in 1939, he planned to pick it up as soon as he settled down. Sure enough, 50 years later, after getting a trombone as a Christmas present, he founded the Milford Community Band.

“I was helping with the Milford High School Band in 1989 and I complained to the band director that I didn’t have anyplace to play. He suggested that I start a community band. So I did,” said Lear.

Lear put an ad in the local paper and eight people responded. Those original eight have grown to nearly 45 with musicians coming and going. The youngest member is in seventh grade and the elder statesman is Lear, 88. Four of the original eight are still on board. They are Lear, Margie Newnom, Bill Mayhew and Tony Perrone. Membership rules are simple. Members have to have a horn and know how to read music.

Today, the MCB gives 80 performances per year, half of which are performed as public service for which no donation is received. The MCB is actually several bands in one, as members form ensembles that play every form from Dixieland to oompah.

Lear prefers Dixieland because of its risqué themes and feel. “It’s outlaw music, bootleggers’ music,”’ he said.

The band has played many historic Washington, D.C. sites as well as most Kent and Sussex holiday festivals. The two biggest events are the summer and Christmas concerts. Half of the shows are performed free of charge at nursing homes, hospitals and senior centers.

The long and winding road

Lear was born in Texas in 1924. His musical love affair began the first time he picked up a trombone in high school.

“When the band director asked what I played, I answered, ‘What do you need?'   He said they needed trombone players. That’s when I became a trombone player,” he said. Lear paid $25 for a used trombone and started practicing. “I must have driven my parents crazy. Later, I worked and paid for a better trombone for $150. I wore that out, too.”

But then high school graduation, a world war, and life in general intervened, and Lear’s trombone went silent. He entered the Army and had just completed basic training when World War II ended, but he decided to stay in the military. After the military, he began his second career with General Foods in Dover. He retired from General Foods in 1986 and decided, at age 62, to go to college. It was around this time that he mentioned to his wife that he wouldn’t mind taking up the trombone again. That Christmas, a new trombone glistened under the tree. He joined the Wesley Jazz Band and performed with it until he left to assist the Milford High School Band.

"I’m with the band"

It was here he complained to the band director and got the response that changed his life. The MCB’s first gig was April 1990 at the Wesley Jazz Festival. “I love to play because of the fellowship. There are very few bad people in community bands. The whole focus of community bands is to make music together,“ he said.

Kay Meade, who has been playing in the band since 2000, agrees. “I’ve been playing with my kids since they were teenagers. And you know how it is raising teenagers? Even when we weren’t talking - we were still playing together,“ she said.

A little help from their friends

The recession has wreaked financial havoc on many bands, but the biggest deficit may be cultural. “When orchestras put on concerts, the entire downtown community thrives,” said Bruce Ridge of the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians. The MCB is a nonprofit organization. It receives a small grant from he Delaware Division of the Arts. The rest comes from donations and ticket sales. Selling tickets has always been a challenge. Members need more financial support from their fans.

In 2015, the MCB will celebrate its 25-year anniversary with a concert playing an original score written for the band. Until then, they will continue to perform, mostly for free, in front of their fans.

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