Summer Showcase of local talent returns to Deerfield
By ELLIE kIRSHENBAUM June 13, 2011 9:24PM
Bob Gand | Dan Luedert~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: June 16, 2011 11:46AM
Learning to play one instrument requires plenty of effort, so imagine learning to play 26.
Bob Gand, founder of the Village Music Store, does play 26 instruments, although these days he mostly sticks to banjo and trumpet. Gand shares his passion for music with his students at the Village Music Store, as well as with the greater Deerfield community.
So the Village Music Store Summer Showcase of Deerfield returns at 7 p.m. Wednesdays to Starbucks Plaza, 675 Deerfield Road. A different band will play each night through July 20. An assortment of youth and adult bands play pops, swing and jazz.
“All of these six [bands] have people who are affiliated with the Music Store,” Gand said. “Particularly the kids. They take lessons here.”
The Summer Showcase features folk, rock, pop and swing music. With a sound system set up on Starbucks’ porch, the music can be heard all over town.
Gand himself is an original member of the Deerfield Community Concert Band, scheduled for June 29, and is the leader of the Big Band Sound of Deerfield.
“Prior to the Showcase, we’ve always had some kind of recital,” Gand said. “This is just another opportunity for some of the students and some of the faculty to perform.”
This is Deerfield’s sixth Summer Showcase, and even though groups come and go, kids grow up and bands break up, friends and family always come out to support the musicians. Whether they’re in seventh grade, high school or well into adulthood, showcase performers can always count on enthusiastic fans.
While Gand enjoys watching his students perform for the community, his favorite part of the event is witnessing just how dedicated those students are to the entire process of putting on a successful show.
“It takes them almost two hours to set up all the stuff, the amps and the sound system,” Gand said. It’s really great to see that the kids know how to do this stuff because so many kids today just do [videogames] and that’s it. Then I love to hear them play.”
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