THE BALLOON MAN

Windjammers circus music coming to Waynesboro
WASHS graduate will be on stage with Windjammers


 

By Stephanie Harbaugh
from: The Record Herald
Mar 27, 2012 
Waynesboro, Pa. — Close your eyes and envision the clowns, trapeze artists, elephants, tigers and all the musical fanfare childhood memories of the circus evokes.


 In July, the musical sounds of the big top will come alive when Windjammers Unlimited marches into Waynesboro for its annual convention.


 Some 150 to 200 members of the nonprofit group, comprised of musicians from the United States, Canada and Australia, will begin arriving in Waynesboro on Tuesday, July 17. They will give a concert Friday, July 20, in Waynesboro Area Senior High School.


 Civil War circus


 In south-central Pennsylvania, commemorations of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War are in full swing and the coordinators for this year’s Windjammers convention, Bill Link and Marjorie Von Drach of Waynesboro, wanted to incorporate that history.


“This year our performance will incorporate 12 different conductors, and 12 musical selections including three from the Civil War era and nine circus pieces,” said Link, a long-time tuba player with the Windjammers.


“When circus musicians immigrated to America, they began their own bands and when the Civil War broke out those same musicians found themselves fighting in the Civil War and playing in military bands,” explained Link.


“Circus music embodies all kinds of music,” added his wife, Von Drach, a nonplaying member of the group, citing a laundry list of genres including waltzes, galops, rags and polkas.


 Waynesboro musician


 As part of the convention, one Waynesboro student or graduate was given the opportunity to join the Windjammers at the concert.


 Zachary Grass, 19, the son of Calvin and Deborah Grass of Waynesboro, who plays the tuba, will be accompanying the Windjammers. Grass is a 2010 Waynesboro Area Senior High School graduate and now attends Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

“He is a very talented musician and we’re very pleased to have him join us,” said Link.


“This scholarship has provided a great opportunity for a young musician to play with experienced instrumentalists and perform the particular king of music — circus,” said Von Drach.
  
 Windjammers


 The name of Windjammers comes from the musicians jamming wind into their horns and instruments for several hours at a time. Once a circus would begin, the musicians would play for one to three hours at a time. Because of their stamina with few opportunities to gasp for air, they earned the nickname Windjammers, explained a Franklin County Visitors Bureau press release.


“Its very vigorous playing,” said Link. “A lot of people cannot even begin to imagine a circus musician having to play three concerts a day plus providing accompaniment to all acts throughout the show,” Link said.
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