Coronado’s Community Band

The Coronado Concert Band welcomes players of all ages and abilities to become part of the band. Requirements are enthusiasm, participation, and practice.

The Coronado Concert Band, with its signature Hawaiian shirts, has been playing together since 1997.

In Tune

Camaraderie instrumental for community band

o say the musical gene runs in Phil Imming’s family is a bit of an understatement. He has 40 cousins across the United States who all play music professionally and a son who composes music in Los Angeles. His own storied past includes playing with the Coronado High School band (CHS class of ’66), T

By SAMANTHA BEY

directing the Stanford University band (class of ’70) and starting the Coronado Concert Band in 1996. Phil’s younger brother Ron Imming (CHS class of ’74), also played for the Coronado High School band under the legendary teacher Bob Demmon, who had been a member of the surf band The Astronauts in the 1960s. Ron stepped in as assistant band director when Demmon couldn’t be at an event; like the time he fell ill for the premiere of a CHS musical. Demmon told Ron to get the “red book from his office” and direct the band in the pit, which he did. Ron was a sophomore in high school.

Phil explained that students

The Coronado Concert Band kicks off the annual Coronado Flower Show in Spreckels Park.

The band's conductor, Fred Lee, now retired from the Sweetwater Union High School District, is an award-winning instrumental music director. were really inspired by Demmon, who transformed the CHS marching band into an award-winning group that called themselves the Die Hards. “Back then there were a lot of drugs in high school, and I know that Bob gave (band) students purpose and saved their lives,” Phil said. “The Die Hards were a bunch of friends, and they’re still friends today.”

The Die Hards decided to get together for a reunion and march in the Fourth of July parade in 1992. They marched in the parade that year, reminiscing about the “Demmon-isms” they remembered from two decades before such as how Demmon would yell, “you own this street!” as they performed, Phil said. Demmon marched alongside them in the parade, and said it was “good,” which, Phil explained, was high praise.

The Die Hards had such a great time, they decided to do it again the following years. To hone their sound, they hired Coronado local and professional trumpet player Dirk Komen to help them rehearse. The group still had what it took. Komen listened, then “he said, ‘I can’t really help you here – you guys have got it!’,” Phil remembered. “And he’s a particular guy, so it meant a lot to hear that from him.”

So much about the parade that year felt special that when the group got back to the band room they didn’t want to wait a whole year to play again. Phil, who had visited family in Kansas and watched them play in their community band, had always thought Coronado should have a band of its own. Phil got together with fellow Die Hards members Mel Lions and Joe Campbell and pulled it together. The Coronado Concert

The band, pictured here at Lamb's Players Theatre, has played at numerous local and regional events.

Band was born.

The band started with about 25 people, and the idea was that anyone could come play, regardless of age and ability, a framework that is still the case today. They also began a subgroup, the Coronado Big Band, for musicians who played brass instruments that didn’t always have a place in the more classical concert pieces. They began practicing in the high school band room once a week and performed their first official concert in the Spreckels Park gazebo for a September Coronado Concert in the Park in 1997.

They were on a roll. Three months later they performed under the tree in Rotary Park after the annual Christmas Parade, and just a few weeks after that, the city paid the band to represent Coronado in San Diego’s annual Holiday Bowl Parade.

They stopped marching in the Fourth of July parade, but in 2001 they had their first performance at the Coronado Flower Show, a tradition that is still going strong today. Since its inception, the Coronado Concert Band performed for a myriad of the city’s events and celebrations, including a 1999 concert for the dedication of the new Coronado School of

CORONADO CONCERT BAND Upcoming performances: • “Celebrating Music In Our Schools” 6:30 p.m., March 26. Coronado High School Performing Arts Center, 650 D Ave. • Flower Show Noon, April 18. Spreckels Park, 601 Orange Ave. • Memorial Day Promenade Concerts Opener 4:30 p.m., May 24. Spreckels Park, 601 Orange Ave.

The Die Hards, consisting of former CHS band members, marched in the Fourth of July parade from 1992 to 1999.

the Arts (CoSA); holiday concerts at the Hotel Del Coronado; summer twilight concerts at Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park; performances at the dedication of the Coronado Community Center in 2005; the Coronado Library’s 100th anniversary celebration; the City of Coronado’s 150th anniversary; and the Special Olympics Torch Run that came through town in 2015. They performed in the Coronado Concert in the Park every summer for 15 years, and after a several-year hiatus, they’ll return this summer to open one of the popular Sunday concerts. Today, there are about 40 people in the band (many of the original Die Hards included), with a member as young as 13 and others in their 90s. The group is open to anyone who wants to play or learn how to play, no audition required. They play everything from pop to musicals to classical pieces to popular film scores. Phil can play any low brass instrument but is best at the bass trombone and has the most fun playing the The band participated in the Holiday Bowl Parade in 1997.

Information The band rehearses from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursdays in the Coronado High School band room. Contact: (619) 435-1299 or coronadoconcertband.org

euphonium. He said it’s hard to choose his favorite song the band performs, but if he had to choose it would be John Williams’ The Raiders March. “We really nail that one,” he said. “And it’s a lot

of fun to play!”

Phil said that what really makes Coronado Community Band special is how it brings together the community. “Community bands as an institution are a special thing. There were 10,000 at the turn of the century, and I really want to keep that tradition alive,” he said. “It’s such a worthwhile experience for audiences and players, young and old. There is a real sense of pride that comes with it. You look at the band and think ‘That’s our band!’ And I just want to keep the music going.”