When a real estate lawyer, a fastener distributor and an accountant walk into Mokena Junior High School on a Thursday night, they aren’t trying to buy property, improve the building or even pick up a child from practice. They’re there for the music.
For 12 years, the Encore Concert Band has been inviting musicians of different backgrounds, age groups and skill levels to join the ranks of what has swelled to a 50-person ensemble. Members travel from all over the south and southwest suburbs for rehearsals and concerts in Mokena and elsewhere in the region.
“Some people can jump right in. Other people come in and they say, ‘I haven’t played my instrument in 20 years,’ which actually means it’s been 30, and it sounds like it’s been 40,” said Bill Schuetter, the band’s founder and director. “But if you like it, you go home and you practice.”
The band doesn’t require tryouts. Most of the time, if new members can’t keep up with the level of music, they know by the time the band takes a break halfway into its regular Thursday night rehearsal, Schuetter said. With the exception of a few who are school band directors by day, none of the band members calls music a career.
“We take our music very seriously, but we don’t take ourselves very seriously,” said Dave Stejkowski, a real estate lawyer who plays percussion.
The community-based band plays four formal concerts a year to go along with smaller performances, such as the village of Orland Park’s Christmas tree-lighting ceremony and summer concerts. The next concert is at 3 p.m. Dec. 12 at Mokena Junior High School, 19815 Kirkstone Way. A schedule and information on how to become a member is at encoreband.org.
For some members, band rehearsal is an escape from their daily responsibilities.
“Work is work. It’s drudgery. You come here and you’re creating something, and every couple of months you get to put a tux on,” said Glenn Ruklic, a hardware distributor who plays baritone. “Nobody’s a professional. It’s not going to be perfect, and I certainly am not anywhere near perfect. I’m glad that people understand that and can live with that.”
Members are as young as 16, and others are well into their 70s.
Playing with older musicians has helped Nicholas Lordis develop his skill on the trumpet, the 16-year-old said.
“When you play with more advanced people, you become a better player,” said Lordis, who has been playing trumpet for five years.
Bringing together musicians –– most of them adults –– from different backgrounds does provide some interesting challenges, Schuetter said. At one concert, two soloists had to be replaced on the fly because both were at the hospital –– one with an injured child and another in the delivery room.
But band members are understanding of personal problems because they have become a tightknit group, said Rachel Ozark, a clarinet player who works in information technology.
“I think it’s a true sense of community,” said Ozark, who met her husband, Jeff, and several friends in the Encore Concert Band. The couple married earlier this year and filled two tables at their reception with band members.
During one recent rehearsal for the band’s holiday concert, Schuetter asked a chatty clarinet section to get ready for the song, but was rebuffed by a chorus of laughs from the players. “We’ve got six measures of rest,” Monica Tenuta shouted over the music.
“People are here because they like to play their instrument with other people who also like to play their instruments,” Schuetter said. “There are people around here who play in two or three bands. They’re band junkies.”
