GREENFIELD — On warm summer nights every Tuesday in July, people can go to Energy Park to hear the Greenfield Military Band, directed by Al Benjamin, play a variety of tunes from “Sweet Caroline” to “Take Me out to the Ball Game.”
“We are not going to Carnegie Hall, OK, but what we are trying to do is spread our joy of music to the community in a light-hearted manner,” said Benjamin.
For the past 36 years Benjamin has spent his summers and early falls as the band’s director. He said rehearsals start in March and the band plays different performances throughout the summer into September.
Benjamin picked up his first instrument, the alto saxophone, in seventh grade and fell in love with music.
“I like music, it was in my heart. I love to sing — some people are just musical, you hear a tune and you are into it,” he said.
Benjamin started to play in the Greenfield Military Band during the 1970s as a student growing up in Sunderland and said the older band members inspired him to continue playing.
“Their heart and soul were in the band — it was their life,” he said.
Benjamin eventually made his way to Heidelberg University in Ohio to study music education and received his master’s degree in the subject from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
“Music education is about enlightening people to be interested in music, liking music and sharing your joy and expertise of music with people,” said Benjamin.
After college, Benjamin moved to Athol, where he taught music in the local school district for about 35 years. From kindergarten students to high schoolers, he taught a wide range of individuals. Benjamin also taught at Worcester Academy for another seven years. He said throughout his time as director, he’s had former students join the Greenfield Military Band.
“It is amazing how in this area how many people … are interested in music and they tell me I started it — that is a nice feeling, it really is,” said Benjamin.
In 1982, after playing in the band for years, Benjamin began his role as director, following Stanley Kopec, and has stayed ever since. He said he enjoys interacting with the band and community members and finds creating a positive, constructive atmosphere is the best way to get everyone playing their instruments.
“Al has always been consistent and very dedicated,” said band member David Miller. “He has been an inspiration for a lot of people. We enjoy his leadership … the fact that he can get people to come and play is a credit to his temperament.”
Miller also started playing in the Greenfield Military Band in the early 1970s and plays the trumpet in the band today.
But the band hasn’t always had Energy Park as their home. Benjamin said throughout the 1990s the band, for about 10 years, was what he called “homeless.” The group would play throughout Greenfield — outside supermarkets, on the town common and in various spaces in downtown Greenfield.
Sandy Thomas of Greenfield, the director of Energy Park at the time, knew the band needed a place in town to perform. Once the group started to play at Energy Park, she felt it needed something a little more.
“One of the people who came to hear the band said to me, ‘You need a stage,’ and I thought that would be a great idea,” she said. “The next week a member of the band, David Miller, brought back a pencil sketch (of a performance pavilion) and it is exactly what it looks like today.”
The community came together to donate their time and materials to help build the pavilion in 2003 and the band has been playing there ever since in their green T-shirts and khakis uniform.
“One of the highlights of being in the band was designing and build the pavilion down at Energy Park,” said Miller. “It is a fixture now in Greenfield. They use it for other performances and community events.
For the Greenfield Military Band’s weekly hour-long July performances at the park at 7 p.m., Benjamin directs the band to start off the show with the “The Star Spangled Banner.” Then, band members bring out train whistles and starts into Duke Ellington’s “Take the A Train.”
“Is it corny? Yes. It is funny? Yes. Is it germane to who we are? Definitely,” he said.
Thomas said she enjoys the variety of songs the band plays each show, from show tunes to marches and even popular songs.
“Because of Al’s expertise, his selection of music, he is very generous as a director. He’ll explain the songs before they play — what is unique and who wrote it — it is a wonderful opportunity for a summer night to listen to great music in a beautiful place,” said Thomas. “We dreamt it would be like this and my gosh, it really is.”
People come from all over to partake in the Greenfield Military Band, said Miller, from Athol to Orange and South Deerfield. Many of the musicians play for other local community bands as well, he said.
“The band is a community band — we can skip the military part. That is our heritage, that is where we came from, but the band has nothing to do with the military. It is OK if you’re a veteran, but it is not a requirement,” said Benjamin.
Each time Benjamin directs the band at performances at Energy Park or other places such as the Franklin County Parade, he uses a conducting baton bestowed upon him in 2004 in honor of the band’s 100th anniversary. Given to him by band members, etched on the little wooden baton is his name, along with “our director,” and he’s been using it at every performance since.