Local musician looking to start community band

Five-year resident Jim Wulfkuhle's love for music began when he started taking trumpet lessons as a young student in school.

From there, he decided to switch and began playing the French horn when he entered junior high school.

He still does to this day.

At present, Wulfkuhle said he's not about to stop playing and is encouraging other local past and present musicians to do the same.

Wulfkuhle is now organizing a community band.

He said the idea came to him while thinking about the time where he helped to organize a concert band while living in Southern California, with a group of roughly 25 musicians.

"We ended up with a beautiful 30-piece band and we were one of the largest volunteer community bands west of the Mississippi," he recalled. "It was called Placentia Symphonic Band and it was made up of people mainly in the community. Some drove in as far as 50 to 60 miles."

Wulfkuhle said he's spoken to Pahrump Valley High's band director to gauge whether his plan is feasible, due to the talent pool within the community.

"I'm hoping to get a small local group of at least 25 to 30 people from this community to get it all started and if people see what we get going, hopefully they would be inspired to participate."

Wulfkuhle said he looking for musicians to join even if they haven't played in years.

"I want anybody who hasn't picked up their musical instrument that's sitting in the closet collecting dust," he said. "It's an excellent opportunity to get the instrument out and play it."

Wulfkuhle also said he wants to form not just any local band.

His idea involves the band performing at various functions in town including Veterans Day, Fourth of July and other observations throughout the year.

"I'm basically looking for concert band type music to perform," he said. "I don't want to make things too complicated in the beginning so I just want to take it one step at a time. Quite often, people increase their musical skills as they go, but I'm not real sure of the base that I'm able to draw on here in Pahrump. I would just like to see if we can find some talented local people who are interested in joining a community band here."

Wulfkuhle has already gained the support of a handful of local musicians, while noting he's established an email account for individuals who are interested in joining the community band.

He can be reached pahrumpcommunityband@gmail.com.