As you may have read from my other blog posts, the quartet has performed the past 2 years at a home game of the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, which are the AAA affiliate of the Phillies.  That is always a special experience and, even though it is minor league baseball, is still a cool thing to be on the field by home plate to play.  When we performed in September 2017, I inquired to the events coordinator who booked us, what would we need to do to be selected to perform for the major league team.  He instructed me to wait until January and then check out their website for info about it.  Well, I found the site and it required me to fill out an application and more importantly, include several videos of us performing.  Well, considering we had a good video of playing in the previous September, I felt our chances would be ok.  To my surprise, on February 16^th I received an email from the Phillies congratulating us on being selected to perform.  I had figured this might be political and you more or less needed a connection or had to know someone to be asked to perform.  But, that was not the case.  They had liked our arrangement and sound and wanted us to be there.  Now, we needed to review the schedule and select find a date to play.

The Phillies required you to visit the schedule and select 5 dates. From these dates they would select your day and you would have to play for that game.  You couldn’t just send in one date and that was it. As I checked the schedule, I realized that this was the year that the Yankees would be going to Philly for a three game set (June 25-27).  So, I quickly selected our five dates with June 26^th being a favorite and replied.  A few days later I was pleasantly surprised to read the email that they gave us June 26^th to perform.  As you can probably assume, I was thrilled.  It has been probably 5-6 years since I have been to a major league baseball game let alone a Yankee game.  Going to the Bronx for a Yankees home game really isn’t an ideal situation. The travel to the Bronx, parking, food, etc. is just really costly and something I didn’t feel is worth the money to spend.  But, now it is much easier to travel to Philadelphia and as a perk, we are given preferred parking for free! We do have to buy our tickets, but, the parking alone is worth it. So, to have a chance to go see the Yankees in person but not have to deal with the cost and travel to go to New York is something I am extremely looking forward to.

It will definitely be a great experience for us.  I can remember being in high school when each year the band played the national anthem in the outfield at the old Veteran’s Stadium in Philadelphia.  But, that was always on a hot Sunday afternoon and our tickets were usually in the 700 level high up in the outfield’s nose bleed section.  We were told that most likely the anthem would not be live on television, only showed on the ballpark screens. But, we would be able to have a copy for ourselves. Who knows if we may be on TV at all or maybe even partially. But, it is still a great experience to perform as well as knowing that once that is over, I can sit back and enjoy watching Aaron Judge, Didi Gregorious, Gary Sanchez and the rest of the New York Yankees all thanks to the Phillies!!

On December 22, 2016 Ken Brader and the musicians of The Holiday Brass gathered once again for our annual holiday performance at the Outlets at the Sands shopping mall in Bethlehem, Pa.  This year, we had almost 40 members join us as we spread the joy of our music to our audience.   As you can expect, trying to coordinate the schedules of 40 people in December is nearly impossible.  Due to this difficulty we are only able to schedule one performance.  Because of this, it makes the opportunity that much more special.  Like we have in the past, we played at 7:15pm and 8:15pm in the center of the mall by the large tree.

I believe I am the longest performing member of the group.  Boy, do I feel old! I remember my first time as a student in elementary school when the group began.  It was shortly after I began studying with Ken. We were playing in a nursing home in Easton, Pa. The group was small but took off after that.  Growing up through high school I made many friends from different schools and enjoyed the camaraderie with musicians from other areas.  The last two years have been eye opening as I have seen several players who have either graduated or are in college.  I look at them and think, “wow, I remember when that person was in elementary school playing Jingle Bells in the small group and now they are in their twenties!”

The group has always been very important for a lot of people.  Routinely I hear from members who say that the holiday doesn’t feel like it is official until the Holiday Brass performs!  This year, in fact, we had several parents of former members who do not play anymore come to the mall just to hear the group! It was great to see them and know that this tradition is still enjoyed by many.  Ken always handled both the musical and communication duties.  But, with his performing schedule very active in the early 2000’s, and the group up to 50 musicians, it was hard for him to continue handling everything.  So, rather than potentially see the group end, I assumed the business and administration responsibilities for the group.  I did not do it for any reason other than to see us grow and continue to be a Blessing for so many people during the holiday season.

All of the music has been arranged by Ken Brader specifically for the group. Because it is so unique, it never gets old.  You can’t go to any music store and purchase these arrangements.  This music is meant for a large group and has certainly stood the test of time for over 30 years.

I am very thankful to the Errica Rennig and the management of the Outlets at the Sands for taking such great care of us and providing us with everything we need to ensure a successful performance.  We are looking forward to our performance again in December of 2017.

The Holiday Brass Quartet

In June of 2016, I received a call from the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs Baseball Team.  They were filling their schedule for musicians to perform the National Anthem before an upcoming home game and wanted to know if I was interested.  Since the Iron Pigs are the AAA affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies, I thought it would be a great opportunity to perform.  Except, who would join me?  Since Ken had been doing some arranging for a student quartet I asked him if he had any interest in forming a Holiday Brass Quartet and creating his own arrangement of the Star Spangled Banner to perform.  Well, after some discussion, Ken began working on his own arrangement of the National Anthem and the Holiday Brass Quartet was born. We played at home plate on Wednesday, July 27, 2016 for their 11:00am home game at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, Pa.  It was a great experience.  It is always neat to have a chance to go behind the scenes and through the areas usually off limits to the general public.  The performance went well and we were honored to be asked to perform.  We are hoping to be able to expand this for the upcoming season.  Stay tuned..…

I’d like to thank and acknowledge the following musicians for joining us this year–

Scott Albert, Andrew Applegate, Alan Babp, Michael Brown, Jim Buchinski, Joe Buza,

Mark Campbell, Shannon Cawley, Donald Davis, Richard Davis, Donte Delvecchio,

Joe DiMarco, Ryan Dupuis, Rachel Ewaniuk, Rebecca Franco, Ethan Hawkes, Jim Hegedus, Joan Hillyer, Stephanie Kocher, Ali Korona, Jeremy Kratzer, Austen LaBarre, David LaBarre, Taylor LaBarre, Budd Matlock, Jesse Nitchkey, Linda Oaks, Nick Owsik, Matt Pasch, Bob Peruzzi, Ashley Pizzino, Nash Rochman, Jean Sampson, Jim Smith, John Spangenburg, Nick Stein, Isabel Stoeckley, Crystal Trinneer,