ABOUT US
The Brazos Valley Community Band is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization which plays a wide variety of musical styles, including patriotic, blues, movie themes, jazz and classical. The band is an all-volunteer group of musicians, many of whom played in high school or college bands, and still simply enjoy making music.
For many of us, music has always been an important part of our lives. Whether it was the hours of practicing on our own mastering our instrument or spending time with fellow musicians to perfect a piece of music together, we have enjoyed the camaraderie of performing live music as part of a group.
The Brazos Valley Community Band invites you to continue to perfect your craft and join with like-minded musicians who want to work together to create great music. And in the end, we all get to bring a variety of live music to our Brazos Valley community.
No matter what your musical background, we welcome any variety of brass, woodwind or percussion instruments to be a part of the band. All we ask is that you are faithfully committed to learning the music, participating in band rehearsals, and playing in our performances. Join us for practice on Monday evenings from 7:15-9:15 pm at Covenant Presbyterian Church in College Station, TX. For directions, or if you have any more questions, please reach out to us at the link below.
Our Board
Dan Siegert
Band Director
Music has always been the defining passion of Dan's life. At the encouragement of his step father, Dan started piano at the age of 5 where he quickly grew and excelled as a young musician. He then transitioned to trumpet during his middle and high school years where his love of wind ensemble literature developed. Dan graduated from Midwestern State University with a degree in music education and promptly started working for Wichita Falls ISD as a middle and high school band director for 6 years. About this time, he met his soon to be wife, Ashley and plans were made to move closer to central Texas to start their life together. Dan continued his teaching career in the Brazos Valley area directing bands in the Navasota ISD for 7 more years only to be retired early by his wife's entrepreneurial successes.
Dan continues to exercise his musical talents throughout the area by both performing with local organizations and providing private lessons. He also assists with the direction of the Texas A&M Hullabaloo pep band along with being a guest clinician and judge throughout the area. Outside of music, Dan is a devoted stay-at-home-dad for his son Owen and enjoys a multitude of personal hobbies including: traveling, learning to cook, video games and Taekwondo.
Richard Alexander
Board Vice President
Bill has been playing a musical instrument for over 60 years, starting on the clarinet in the fourth grade in Renton, Washington. Later in school he switched to tenor saxophone which he continued to play through two years of college, including one trip to the Rose Bowl with the University of Washington Husky marching band.
After a 20-year absence from formal music, he became a charter member of a community band in Renton, Washington. He continued playing in as many as three community bands, a week, for several years playing while working during the day and attending night school to finish a college education. Bill always noted that playing in the bands was the best way to relax while managing a heavy schedule. He was also heavily involved, both as a member or board member, in four different community bands in the Seattle area over the years.
After moving to Texas in 2003, there was a brief time when he was unable to play in a formal group, until he discovered the Communities in Concert Band in Rockdale where he has played a variety of instruments as needed. He learned of the Brazos Valley Community Band in 2015 through a member who was also in the Rockdale group, and promptly joined. Within a year he was elected president of the group, a position he currently holds. Music has always been a part of his life. During the 20 years he was not in a formal band, he continued to practice by playing along with a recording made when he was a member of an all-star regional band during high school. Bill enjoys playing good music, playing it well, for an appreciative audience, and believes that the Brazos Valley Community Band can provide that musical outlet.
Richard began his love of playing the clarinet while a member of the Arlington Heights High School band in Fort Worth, TX. He continued his musical career in college at Texas A&M where he served as one of the Drum Majors for the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band. Upon graduating and entering the work world, his clarinet went into “hibernation” for about 15 years. He eventually rediscovered the joys of playing music in an organized group when he joined the orchestra of First Baptist Church of Bryan. After retiring as a professor from Texas A&M, Richard and his wife moved to Arkansas where he joined the Hot Springs Concert Band while continuing to play in his church orchestra.
When family brought them back to the Bryan/College Station area, Richard was happy to find the Brazos Valley Community Band where he currently serves as Vice-President of the board. Richard enjoys the variety of music that the band plays and spending time with his fellow band members. His motto is “If it’s not fun, I’m not going to do it!” so he is thrilled that the band always has a great time rehearsing and performing music together.
Julie Anna Clark
Board Secretary
Julie Anna began playing the flute in 6th grade in Tomball, Texas. She established her love of band while going to marching band competitions before she was in high school. She was an enthusiastic member of the Tomball Cougar Pride Band in high school. She then went on to Texas A&M University as a musician in the University Concert Band for many years. Still an avid music lover, she joined the Brazos Valley Concert Band in 2019. Julie Anna very much enjoys the BVCB because it has given her great connections to fellow band members and the community. Her favorite music includes musicals and challenging pieces! She looks forward to many more years playing the flute and piccolo with people who love making music.
Bryana Childers
Board Treasurer
Bryana’s musical journey began quite inauspiciously in the seventh grade when she couldn’t even make a sound on her new flute. But she didn’t give up, and after three weeks of nothing, it finally clicked! Thankfully, things picked up after that.
Playing in junior high, high school, and college gave her the opportunity to meet many good friends. Several of her friends from the West Texas A&M University Band still meet and travel together. Playing the flute as an elementary teacher and playing in churches continued to give her an outlet for her love of music.
Bryana read about the Brazos Valley Community Band in the newspaper and decided to give it a try. Well, nine years later she often asks people she meets, “Do you play a musical instrument?” Often the response is, “Well, I used to many years ago.” She always tells them, “If music is in your heart, it wants to get out!” Several of the BVCB members hadn’t picked up their instruments for years, but now they are enjoying the rehearsals, the individual practice needed, and the relationships formed with other musicians.
“I am thankful for the God-given ability to play a musical instrument and for the opportunities I have been afforded to share that gift,” says Bryana. She would encourage you to join the band and be a part of something that gives great joy to so many people.
