Columbus Community Orchestra's leadership transition prompts members to reflect on group's impact

As they gathered for one of their weekly rehearsals last month, Columbus Community Orchestra members -- some in the final movement of their life's symphony -- cheerfully ventured into storage closets to lug folding chairs along with instruments.

They transformed the carpeted gym in the St. Mark United Methodist Church Activity Center from a basketball floor into a makeshift music hall. And at midcourt, Bill Fry conducted them in this otherwise empty space with the same enthusiasm as if they were playing before a soldout crowd in the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts.

The Columbus Symphony Orchestra's musicians are the pros who call the RiverCenter home. The Columbus Community Orchestra's musicians aren't paid to play, and folks don't pay to hear them play. Instead, these amateurs simply share and spread their passion for orchestral music -- and make friends along the way.

So as Fry, 62, passes the baton after 16 years of leading the CCO, members reflected on how far they have come and the impact of their collaboration.

Transition

Jon Carmack, 27, previously the assistant, will make his debut as the CCO's conductor at the Oct. 26 concert, starting at 7:30 p.m., in the St. Mark center. He will conduct five of the seven selections. Fry, now the assistant, will conduct the other two. As music director, he will continue to handle the programming.

"It's time for someone else to do the majority of the conducting," he said. "It's an infusion of some young blood. This will take a little bit of the load off me."

It also will give Fry more time to play his saxophone with the CCO and to teach more music appreciation classes at Columbus Technical College.

Around 1998-99, Paul Weise, then a retired Columbus College associate professor of trumpet, and his wife, Janie, then a violinist in the CSO and a strings teacher, founded Bach to Basics, which became the CCO. Paul, however, died before the group's first concert, and Janie asked Fry to take his place.

Fry then was an orchestra teacher at Kendrick High and Rothschild Middle School, but most of his background was in band music.

"Being able to take an all-adult group -- because at that point I'd been working with middle-schoolers and high-schoolers -- I was a little out of my element," Fry said. "To be asked to do that, I mean, it was quite an honor."

The CCO's first performance was in November 1999 at First Presbyterian Church.

"It wasn't as ambitious as our concerts are now, that's for sure," said retired surgeon Ken Goldman, a CCO violinist.

"It was kind of small and with a low ceiling," Fry said. "We didn't have a lot of room for folks to come in, so we kind of had a packed house, but it was like maybe 40 or 50 people. I never thought that I would still be doing this 16 years later, much less conducting a full orchestra."

What started as a string ensemble with approximately 10 members has quadrupled to a 40-strong orchestra. The CCO has grown from three concerts per year to six scheduled for this year. Other venues where they have practiced or performed classical and pops music include Hardaway High School, Covenant Woods retirement community and Temple Israel.

"It's been truly exhilarating," Fry said.

Therapy

While he was busy with his medical practice, Goldman said, "I killed myself" to make it to orchestra practice on time.

"Nobody gets a medal, and we're not in a competition," he said with smile, "but it beats seeing a psychiatrist."

Ila Berenson also has played with Fry since he started conducting the CCO. Having taught piano to countless students for 62 years, she feels this orchestra rejuvenates her.

"It doesn't matter how tired I am," she said. "Even after I finish a full day of teaching, I jump in the car to go to practice. It's so stimulating. I always come home just so full of love from the music I've learned and the fun I've had."

Wendy Harding, retired from Hardaway High and the 2007 Teacher of the Year in the Muscogee County School District, has played clarinet with the CCO for nine years.

"I just love this group of people," said Harding, the orchestra's president. Beyond the music, "the connections with friends" are what she cherishes most about the CCO.

Through it all, Harding said, Fry has been "the glue that holds everything together. He's a champion of music in this community. He's brought in high school students who are promising musicians to play with us."

So members range from teens to seniors.

"It just shows how much music means to every age group," Harding said. "Music is a gift you can continue to enjoy throughout your whole life."

The musicians praise Fry for giving them and the community a wide variety of programming presents, such as a concert honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and an annual one featuring Jewish music. During one of the concerts at Temple Israel, Fry glimpsed some people in the audience mouthing the words to the folk tune -- with tears in their eyes.

"It's such a great environment there," he said.

Trust

Fry has provided a great environment for the CCO members, Berenson said.

"The love in his face as he conducts, his expressions, his leadership, his planning, he's just a fantastic conductor," she said.

Berenson also has confidence in Carmack.

"He's very good," she said. "I've enjoyed working with him. I think Jon will really grow with it and everyone respects him."

Charlie Parsons, retired from TSYS, has been playing trumpet with the CCO for 5-6 years. He called Fry "a really good conductor. He's easy to follow. He gets his point across very well."

Asked to describe the conducting styles of the veteran and the rookie, Parsons said, "Bill's style is more flowing, and Jon's style is more pronounced."

Regardless, Fry hopes Carmack understands that, as the CCO's new conductor, he guides "a very dedicated group of people who are here for the music but, in a certain respect, are here for the conductor too. I see it as a real endorsement of what I'm doing that they keep coming back. That's a great feeling. I want him to feel that.

"I don't want him to feel like it's mechanical to just get through the music. It's more of a family thing."

No worries, Carmack insists. Just like his predecessor, he starts his tenure as CCO's conductor while working his paying job at a middle school. He teaches band and orchestra at Double Churches.

"It's definitely a change of pace since I teach middle school all day," he said, then added with a laugh. "But sometimes the adults are tougher than the middle-schoolers."

Carmack, however, appreciates the trust the orchestra has placed in him, and he values the mission.

"It's about bringing music to the people," he said. "That's the whole community aspect of it, bringing it to the masses who might not normally get it."

Mark Rice, 706-576-6272. Follow him on Twitter@MarkRiceLE.

IF YOU GO

What: Columbus Community Orchestra fall concert, featuring some of the world's most famous marches and processions.

When: Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m.

Where: St. Mark United Methodist Church Activity Center, 6795 Whitesville Road.

Admission: Free

How to join: The CCO has openings. Call the orchestra's music director, Bill Fry, at 706-322-3714.

REST OF SCHEDULE

After the Oct. 26 concert, here is the rest of the Columbus Community Orchestra's 2015-16 season schedule. Unless otherwise noted, the concerts will start at 7:30 p.m. in the St. Mark United Methodist Church Activity Center, 6795 Whitesville Road. Admission is free to all the concerts:

Dec. 7, Christmas concert

Jan. 18: Music of the Civil Rights Movement

Feb. 29: at Temple Israel, 1617 Wildwood Ave.

April 11: Best of opera and ballet

May 21: Memorial Day tribute, 3 p.m.

This story was originally published October 25, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Columbus Community Orchestra's leadership transition prompts members to reflect on group's impact ."