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Canada, Ireland, Italy and the United Kingdom. The Association is a good barometer of what happened in the past year to community bands and their members:

Halloween concerts, Veteran’s Day concerts, and performances with a wide variety of themes were performed throughout the fall, and audiences eager to hear live music again returned to those venues in force. Band members themselves breathed a great sigh of relief, just to see old friends and bandmates again after nearly a two-year hiatus. Some are still wearing masks and washing their hands at every turn, but the outlook appears to be very bright.

The Association of Concert Bands (ACB) is the largest organization dedicated to community bands, with member bands in Canada, companies in Germany, Ireland and Spain, and individual members in Australia,

• Last year at this time the ACB had 589 member bands, which grew to 615 in 2022. 2023 will begin with 624 member bands, a clear reflection of resurgence following the pandemic. ACB also offers individual memberships: Those memberships numbered 1217 in 2021, and grew to 1312 in 2022.

• Corporate memberships in 2021 numbered 22, and now number 21. Several of the larger publishers/distributors who previously were members let their membership lapse during the pandemic, when music purchases dropped drastically, and have not yet rejoined; but the Association anticipates they eventually will renew their membership now that bands are ordering music at the previous rate again.

• The Association continued their virtual “ACB Connects!” series, with sessions on how to create virtual performances, and a look into how some bands returned to rehearsing and performing. (acbands.org/

Michael Burch-Pesses is Distinguished Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, where he conducts the Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band, and teaches courses in conducting and music education. He enjoyed a distinguished career as a bandmaster in the United States Navy before arriving at Pacific University. During his Navy career he served as Leader of the Naval Academy Band in Annapolis, Maryland, Assistant Leader of the Navy Band in Washington, DC, and Director of the Commodores, the Navy's official jazz ensemble. Dr. Burch-Pesses also is the Conductor of the award-winning Oregon Symphonic Band, Oregon's premier community band. In 2006 the band performed at the Midwest Clinic, and in 2007 the John Philip Sousa Foundation awarded the band the Sudler Silver Scroll, recognizing them as one of the outstanding community bands in the nation. He is the author of “Canadian Band Music: A Qualitative Guide to Canadian Composers and Their Works for Band,” and is a regular contributor to the “Teaching Music Through Performance in Band” series. He also is a Conn-Selmer Educational Clinician.