Main Street Community Band’s Director Retires

‘The Joy is in the Journey,’ says Jeff Seffens

 

Longtime Fairfax music educator and musician Geoffrey “Jeff” Seffens recently retired as director of the Main Street Community Band, a position he has held since the ensemble was founded more than 16 years ago.

Seffens handed over the conducting baton during the Sherwood Community Center performance on April 27, his last regular concert as director, while the band played “The City of Fairfax March.” Henry Heidtmann, formerly the band’s assistant conductor, is now the new director.

Seffens led the first rehearsal of the group, affectionately called by members as “Main Street” for short, in February 2009. It is part of the City of Fairfax Band Association, which also includes the City of Fairfax Band, founded in 1969.

The association created Main Street, Seffens said, after the well-regarded City of Fairfax Band had had a full roster for some time with a waiting list that had grown to roughly 200 people.

A Natural to Become Main Street’s Director

Given his background, Seffens was a natural to become Main Street’s conductor. He is a Fairfax native and comes from a musical family. A grandmother played tuba, and his mother played the baritone horn. When he and his mom went to the music store in Seven Corners to purchase his first instrument, a trumpet, “she taught me my first scale in the car on the way home,” he said.

Seffens played trumpet at Katherine Johnson Middle School (formerly Sidney Lanier Middle School) as well as Fairfax High School.

He was a founding member of the City of Fairfax Band in 1969.

He tried the University of Virginia’s engineering school for a year but abandoned it for music. “I just had this bug. I just had to give that a try,” he said. It led to a bachelor’s degree from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, where “I lived with the horn in my hands.”

“I never regretted it for a minute,” he added.

Seffens returned home to Fairfax County to begin teaching and conducting music, first at elementary schools for four years and then at the Katherine Johnson Middle School (formerly Sidney Lanier Middle School), where he once attended. He was the school’s band director for 28 years, retiring in 2007.

He gained community band leadership experience as the Vienna Community Band’s music director from 1975 to 1981.

 

Band Members Praise Seffens’ Leadership Style

Under Seffens, Main Street has embraced volunteer instrumentalists of all abilities, offering a welcoming and enjoyable environment for making music.

According to Main Street members, the group has grown in musicians and musicianship due in large part to Seffens’ positive, patient, and caring leadership. “As much as he likes his performances to be top shelf, he’s never concerned about any one musician not playing well. He pulls all of us up. If things are difficult for us, we play what we can,” said clarinet player Angela Galper.

Brass players agree. “He’s a guy you love playing for because rehearsals are so enjoyable. He never could make anybody feel uncomfortable,” said trumpeter Tom Wells, a founding member of the band.

Jim Walker, a trombone player, concurs. “He really, sincerely makes every band member feel appreciated. It’s more like a family to him.”

But Seffens’ approach also gets results, says Walker. “I’ve always been very amazed with how much improvement he gets from rehearsals.”

Clarinet player and Librarian Sharon Triska notes that under Seffens the band is performing much harder music now. Wells agrees: “The big comment is how the band has grown and improved…up to where we are a pretty high caliber band these days.”

Another factor in Main Street’s progress has been Seffens’ shrewd music selection, Triska said. “He plays to the strengths of the group.” For example, if the band has but two French horns available (four to six are customary) he will perceptively pick pieces spotlighting other instruments.

“I think Jeff has prepared us very well for the transition [to successor Henry Heidtmann],” Triska added. “I think we will rally to play at the standard that Jeff has set for us.”

Seffens’ Notable Achievements Include….

 

When asked about his top three achievements with Main Street, Seffens pointed to:

 

·      “The band has become a family. People genuinely care about one another, and they support and nurture each other’s efforts,” he said. “We have fun at rehearsal. If something is silly, we laugh, but when my hands go up to rehearse, they are with me 100 percent. I’ve never felt as comfortable on the podium as I do now.”

 

·      Of special significance was the band’s commissioning of Hollywood film score author/orchestrator and wind ensemble composer Rossano Galante to create a work for the group. Named “The Rings of Saturn,” the band premiered the composition in 2021, and performed it again at the National Community Band Festival, held in Fairfax.

 

·      Three smaller ensembles have come from the larger group: the Main Street Brass Quintet, the Four Winds Clarinet Quartet, and Route 236 (a trombone quartet).

 

His So-called “Retirement” Will be Musically Active 

 

Seffens will remain active in the City of Fairfax Band Association after leaving the Main Street podium. “All my friends are in the City of Fairfax Band Association. It’s a part of my life,” he said. “I look forward to returning to my roots, playing IN bands,” he added.

 

He plans to pick the trumpet back up to play in Main Street. His percussion section skills will remain on call for either the Fairfax Band or Main Street. He also plays tuba in the Fairfax Wind Symphony.

 

In addition, Seffens will continue honoring the nation’s veterans by conducting live music for Honor Flights arriving at Dulles International and Reagan National airports. The flights carry World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War veterans from around the country to Washington as part of free trips to see the national memorials dedicated to their service. The performances under Seffens involve players from both the Main Street and Fairfax bands.

 

“It’s an honor to play for them,” Seffens said. “I just think of my uncle who had two tours in Vietnam and who painfully remembers how he was welcomed home. This is an opportunity to provide them the welcome home that they never got.”

 

Seffens Leadership Lessons

 

In reflecting on his years leading the Main Street Community Band, Seffens puts forth three lessons-learned relevant to other community band leaders:

 

·      “Don’t do everything yourself! Learn to delegate. For example, allow folks to help set up for rehearsal and put things away. People want to help, they just need to know what they can do to assist.”

 

·      “As a conductor, your most important job is to pick good music people will enjoy playing!”

 

And finally….

 

 

“A concert is not the only joy we receive during and after a performance, it’s also the time we spend together in rehearsal preparing FOR the concert—the journey. If we don’t enjoy the weeks spent together rehearsing and practicing at home, why are we doing this? So, for me, the ‘journey’ is just as important as the performance.”