At every summer Boulder Concert Band concert in Boulder parks, we invite kids to come up to the podium and help conduct one of our popular marches. How did this tradition begin?

In the summer of 2003, the Boulder Concert Band was playing a Monday-evening concert at Salberg Park in North Boulder. For our final piece of the concert, we played Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”

When the music began, a curly-haired two-year-old boy confidently marched up to the band, stood next to director Brian Hopwood, and started to conduct. He was adorable, and it was such fun to watch him!

That little boy, Joey, joined Dr. Hopwood in conducting “The Stars and Stripes Forever” at every concert for the entire summer. As his podium, Joey began to bring a bucket to stand on. This photo, with permission, was taken at the Band Shell in Boulder’s Central Park and Civic Area.

The next summer, and several summers after that, Joey again joined our conductor each week to lead “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” When Randall Coleman became director, he invited all the kids from the audience to the podium to conduct, and a tradition began.

Boulder Concert Band commemorative “batons” were eventually added (which, conveniently, could double as pencils when school started), and director Will Kinne even led the kids in a little march as the band played.

Eventually, so many kids of all ages joined us to conduct that they had to take turns at the podium. At the end of “The Stars and Stripes Forever”, all our little conductors join the band in a grand bow, to the thunderous applause of our appreciative audience.