Blue Sky Carnival Band wants to incorporate music in culture

The Blue Sky Carnival Band plays New Orleans style jazz music at the Folly Moon in downtown Muncie. The band plays Wednesday nights at Be Here Now. PHOTO PROVIDED BY TIM BRECKON
The Blue Sky Carnival Band plays New Orleans style jazz music at the Folly Moon in downtown Muncie. The band plays Wednesday nights at Be Here Now. PHOTO PROVIDED BY TIM BRECKON

Blue, sky, carnival and band.

“That’s just four nice words,” said Tim Breckon, a graduate student and trombone performance major. “I hear a lot of weird band names, and blue skies and carnivals, it’s got to be at least worth checking out if you like fun.”

The “band” part of the name comes from the members Breckon assembled in his quest to bring New Orleans style music to the not so traditionally jazzy mountains surrounding Denver.

In 2012, Breckon moved to Muncie to study at Ball State. Soon, Blue Sky Carnival Band’s signature brassy, second-line sound could be heard emitting from the doors of the Folly Moon.

Breckon began playing trombone 16 years ago. He’s dabbled with the violin and piano, but he said his favorite is the trombone.

“It has a tone and a presence,” Breckon said. “You have a trombone in this kind of music; you have it in orchestra, in jazz band and in movie scores. It’s just like the thing that’s always there, but no one really notices. It’s probably the most important instrument there is.”

Twenty-two local musicians make up the Muncie branch of Blue Sky Carnival Band, and it’s not just music majors. Music lovers from the architecture and communications departments spend their Wednesday evenings jamming with the band.

Fred Gunn, a junior music education major, primarily plays the sousaphone for the band. Gunn and other members of the band can pick up a variety of different instruments ranging from tubas to drums and switch mid gig.

Gunn and other members Stuart Cotton, Devin Fanslow, Chaz Rhodes and Carrington Clinton were recently featured in a commercial promoting the NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans.

Brad Bardwell, a former Ball State student, called Gunn up the day before the commercial shoot with the opportunity.

That Friday, Gunn and the other musicians went to Bankers Life Fieldhouse where they got the opportunity to meet and star alongside Paul George, a basketball player for the Indiana Pacers.

“At the very end of the commercial, we’re the punch line,” Gunn said. “You see us and I’m the droopy sousaphone. It’s pretty funny. We had a good time doing that.”

Blue Sky Carnival Band does much more than play alongside famous athletes, though.

As a second-line musical group, the band is at its best when parading along Muncie’s streets, enticing people to join in with their revelry. They also perform at Be Here Now on Wednesday nights, as snowy conditions confine them indoors during the winter months.

Blue Sky Carnival Band’s shows begin after a brief period of slapdash preparation. One member plays a few inspired notes, and each instrument quickly finds a place in the melodic chaos.

The group plays covers, originals and improvises.

Gunn composes unrehearsed lyrics to suit his surroundings, sometimes lamenting the weather or calling attention to a birthday girl or boy.

The players not confined to a cable or drum set dance around the stage and into the audience. Their energy prompts others to join in.

“If you cover a Stevie Wonder song, like ‘Superstition,’ and somebody doesn’t start dancing or the kids in the back stay sitting like if you’re playing at a family party or something, the band’s dead,” Breckon said. “Just restart; just find a different way.”

Breckon said he hopes to put on a Mardi Gras-themed dinner later this year to celebrate the culture that inspired the music he plays. Until then, Blue Sky Carnival Band plans on continuing to fill Be Here Now with its New Orleans standards and energy driven show.

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