Jean Barchman

Jean Barchman

Growing up in a small Iowa farm town had its advantages.  The music director was in charge of the instrumental department giving personal music instructions to all grades.  I started in 4th grade and continued through high school playing the B flat clarinet.  Our high school band received first place many times in our area competitions.  Proud of that!  After high school graduation, I quit playing until 1991when a “friend” suggested I join the Bettendorf, Iowa Community Band.  Dusted off the horn and joined.  Our band was asked to play for the opening of the new activity center, the Mark of the Quad Cities.  Neil Diamond also performed for the opening.  It was quite an honor to be asked.  In 2006 Rich and I moved to Tucson, AZ and joined the Tucson Concert Band.  We performed concerts at Reed Park during the summers and the rest of the year for community centers.  In July 2015 I joined Rich and played with the Sousas National Community Band in Las Vegas.  February 2018 the Tucson Concert Band had the privilege of playing with the US Navy Band Southwest at Sprekles Organ Pavilion, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA and on the USS Midway.    April 2018, Rich retired from the U of A and we moved to Sun City West.  To continue our playing, we joined the West Valley Wind Ensemble and Sun City Concert Band.