In February, the Cressona Band was looking for middle school-aged musicians to form the first Junior Cressona Band.
As of Tuesday, it had 35.
"We're really pleased with the turnout, since it's the inaugural year," Lauren Ward, the Junior Cressona Band associate conductor, said Monday just before a concert in Port Carbon, which included the junior band's third performance.
"But we want a bigger band. We're hoping to get up to 50 this year. And we want to play more gigs," Caroline M. Tucci, secretary for the Cressona Band, said.
Looking ahead, Tucci and Ward said they're hoping the Junior Cressona Band will play its first solo concert in the next year.
Its first public performance was June 7 at Zion's Church, Lewistown Valley, and its second was Sunday at Heisler's Cloverleaf Dairy, Walker Township. The Junior Cressona Band will play its fourth and last concert for the season at 7 p.m. tonight at East End Park in Tamaqua, according to Ward.
"And that's the last for the season for the junior band. Their next concert will probably be next summer," Ward said.
The Cressona Band was incorporated in 1902. This year, it has 72 members. This is the first year there's been a Junior Cressona Band. Tucci said she came up with the concept in 2013.
"I thought it would be a nice idea if we teach these young musicians and keep them playing all summer and give them an incentive to keep playing," Tucci said.
The Junior Cressona Band held its first practice in April at the band hall, 12 Wilson St., Cressona.
"Students must have a year of playing experience to join the junior band, which is focused on those in fourth through eighth grades," Tucci said.
To promote membership, Tucci sent information to middle school band directors of local and Hamburg schools. Angela Dowd, the orchestral director at the Hamburg Area School District, is the conductor for the Junior Cressona Band.
"I thought it would be interesting and a chance to play more music," said Mark Disabella, 12, of Pottsville, a seventh-grade student at D.H.H. Lengel Middle School, who plays percussion.
The junior band played a variety of selections Monday, from "The Valley Forge March" to the Pharrell Williams song "Happy" from the film "Despicable Me 2" to the theme from "Mission Impossible," according to the concert program.
"I was interested in what it was all about. It's a chance for younger musicians to interact," said Dowd's daughter, Hannah, 15, a sophomore at Nativity BVM High School, who plays bass clarinet.
Other members include Katie McCormick, 10, of Ashland, a fifth-grade student at North Schuylkill, who plays trombone, and her sister, Cori, 11, a sixth-grade student at North Schuylkill, who plays alto saxophone.
"She's also a member of the big band," Tucci said, referring to Cori.
"People like her are a good reason for us to have the junior band because it's so exciting to see young people so interested in joining the bigger band. Sometimes the music the Cressona Band performs is just a little too difficult for them. It can be discouraging to some players, like 'The Sinfonians' by Clifton Williams," Ward said.
So far, the Junior Cressona Band has been performing a 20-minute set at Cressona Band concerts. But Tucci said she's like to have the junior band perform its own full concert sometime in the next year.
Young musicians interested in joining the band can contact Dowd at 570-366-0709.