Village Brass

This group hails from the Columbus, Ohio, area and includes two trumpets, a French horn, a trombone and a tuba.

Paul Bierley, the tuba player who leads the group that formed 12 years ago, has never missed a Great American Brass Band Festival.

``You'd have a fight on your hands if you tried to keep me away.''

One of the pulls has been that he's a member of the Brass Band of Columbus, which has performed at the festival.

In addition to entertaining through music, Bierley will speak at the Elderhostel about the prominent names in the golden age of bands.

``We'll be heavy on John Philip Sousa and Henry Fillmore since I'm a biographer for them.'' He has written four books on Sousa and two on Fillmore, and is working on four more books on Sousa.

The group has a wide range of music but tries to focus on the festival's history conference theme.

``This year we'll play more traditional band music. The theme of the band seminar is old instruments and traditional band music. We won't be playing any modern stuff. We'll probably play several marches this time.''

They try not to conflict with what the other bands are playing. ``You're going to have a Civil War band so we won't play any Civil War music.''

They always focus on entertainment.

``If someone comes up and requests something, if we've got it, we'll play it.''

The group has three former school teachers, an engineer and a customer service representative. In addition to Bierley, members are: on trumpets, John Bierley and Tim Jameson; French horn, Heather Doughty; and trombone, Jack Stierwalt.