Malvin served as band director at Triad High School for 25 years before retiring in 2003. He founded his band in Troy He Community in 1985, but eventually decided that his stint with the Triad would not leave him enough time to hold both positions at the same time. Chief Bob took office. Roger took over the community band.

Eight years ago, after Roger retired from the district, Malvin became the director of the community band again.

“At first, the band started out as ex-Triad members getting together and playing concerts, and it was well received, so we kept it going,” Malvin said. “The band had about 20 members, but they kept adding members from all over the area and now he’s 42.

“We have current students of the Triad and former students of mine. We have members of St. Louis and Glen Carbon and teachers from O’Fallon High School. And we have a woman who lives in Belleville and teaches at Besalto. Our youngest member is in grade 7 and our oldest members are me and one of our flutists.”

busy schedule

In addition to their annual Memorial Day concerts at Tri-Township Park, the band performs at the park on the last Friday of June, July and August, this year on June 30 and July. 28th, August 25th.

The band will also perform at the Maryville Fireman’s Bell on Saturday, September 9th at Maryville Fireman’s Park.

The band’s annual Christmas concert is scheduled for Saturday, December 2nd at Triad High School.

“We’ve had a special guest soloist at that concert for the past four years,” Malvin said. “Last year we had a singer from the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and two years before that we had a flute player from SLSO.

“My band has a nationally known composer and his wife is SIUE’s cello teacher. He has written special arrangements for these people.”

After the Christmas concert, the band will take a break until April and resume rehearsals every Tuesday night at Triad High School.

The number of spectators who come to see the band’s performances is increasing year by year, and it has become a family event for both band members and spectators.

“When I first directed a concert, the audience was 25 or 30 people, but now we have 100 to 150 people in a park in Troy, and 300 people at a Christmas concert,” he said. Marvin, who was also an accomplished director, said: trumpet player. “The Triad students play with us, and my former students play with me.

“We have several father-son teams in our band. One of my former flutists in the Triad is the mother of a 7th grade student at Triad Middle School, who is our youngest member. ”

hit a high note

The band receives some money from the city of Troy to cover their expenses, but is an all-volunteer organization.

“After the concert, we go to this ice cream shop in Troy. It’s kind of become a tradition,” Malvin said.

Marvin’s connection to the Triad remains strong, and he still works as a substitute teacher at Triad High School and O’Fallon High School.

“Some of my ex-colleagues ask me why I’m still hanging out with young kids, and I love it,” he said after retiring from the Triads at the Good Shepherd Lutheran School in Collinsville. Marvin, who taught music for seven years, said.

“I started playing in the Troy Community Band again when Bob[Roger]was still running the Troy Community Band. And I can no longer play the trumpet, and Bob has already announced that he will not be returning as conductor, so he asked me to take over.”

Marvin’s love of music began in second grade after his father moved the family from San Francisco to Fairview Heights to take over his grandfather’s business.

“I went to Grant School in Fairview Heights and moved to Collinsville late in my senior year,” Malvin said. “Neil Strebel, who was the director of the band in Collinsville from grades 5 through 9, asked me if I wanted to join the band and play the trumpet. gave me

“When I got to Collinsville in my senior year, there was no band program, but in my fifth year, a band program started. The band director let me play in my high school band in the second half of grade 8. When I got to middle school, they had a pretty good sized band, so I worked my way up to the first trumpet position. , continued it.”

While in high school, Malvin and friends formed a jazz band that performed throughout Illinois and Missouri. After graduating from Collinsville, Malvin moved to Northeast He attended Missouri State University (now Truman State University) and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education.

A friend of his, who had also gone to northeastern Missouri, started another jazz band and also started a chapter of the national musical fraternity, the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.

busy career

After graduating from college, Marvin spent four years teaching music as a band director in Milan, Missouri, where he also mentored students. For the next two years he taught in Bethany, Missouri. Malvin then returned home, where he attended Southern Illinois University Edwardsville as a teaching assistant and completed his master’s degree.

At the time, Roger was superintendent of the Triad and hired Malvin as the high school’s band director.

“I started in Triad with 19 kids in a high school band, and when I quit in 2003, we had 130 in our band,” Marvin said. “By the time I came back here, I had played professionally for 10 years, but it was hard to coach and travel with my family at the same time. .”

Marvin and his wife Nancy have two sons. Their eldest son Chuck lives in Troy and is a former Marine. Their second son, Brian, served in the Navy, but was wounded in Afghanistan and retired due to medical disability. he lives in North Carolina.

Malvin and his wife were volunteers at the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, where they were lucky enough to find a special guest for the Troy Community Band’s Christmas show.