Band Celebrates a Decade of Music-Making

By the time the New Horizons Band of Cincinnati celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2009, it had grown into a strong organization with more than 40 dedicated musicians who could play marches or show tunes for their own pleasure or for audiences across the region.

It took real imagination to envision that outcome back in January 1999 when a few willing-but-weak-lipped seniors gathered for an inaugural rehearsal at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Montgomery.

One of those visionaries was Pete Metzger, the organization’s first musical director and still an active participant as an instructor.

. “Our first rehearsal brought out about 8-9 people,“ Metzger recalls.“We had to start out with fifth and sixth grade music, playing whole notes and half notes, since some of our ’bandsmen’ hadn’t played for decades or had never touched an instrument.

“We had no tuba and no drummer, so when we staged our first concert at St. Barnabas we invited a few other musicians to sit in with us.”

The group’s first tentative notes grew from a collaboration between Metzger, who had directed the Sycamore High School band for 30 years before retiring in 1995, and two other founders. One was Bill Harvey, vice president at Buddy Roger’s Music in Cincinnati, who offered his company’s sponsorship to nurture the infant ensemble. The other, the late Jim Key, worked with the others to create a band that could encourage long-dormant musicians like himself to break out their instruments.

Key found his interest in playing revived when he spotted a gleaming trumpet on display in a music store. After buying a horn and resuming practice, he heard about the New Horizons bands being organized around the country. “He thought, wouldn’t that be a great thing to start in Cincinnati?” remembers his widow, Nina Key, who taught organ and harpsichord at Northern Kentucky University. “He contacted Bill Harvey at Buddy Roger’s, and found that Harvey was already interested.”

Harvey had just received a book from Dr. Roy Ernst, who conceived the New Horizons concept as professor emeritus at the Eastman School of Music, explaining how to start a band for seniors. “It was an intriguing idea,” Harvey says, “but I‘m not sure I would have pursued it had Jim Key not walked into my office the next day.”

Harvey explained to his enthusiastic visitor that he was already considering organizing a band, but needed someone to lead the organizational efforts. Key quickly told him, “I‘m your man.”

Harvey invited Metzger to direct the group, and the Cincinnati New Horizons Band was ready to move ahead..