Music from the movies, Broadway qand television will be featured at two Golden Eagle Community Band concerts this weekend.

“Lights! Camera! Action!,” tomorrow at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Burlington County Institute of Technology auditorium in Westampton, will include a blend of familiar favorites and melodies not as well known.

From the rousing “Hogan’s Heroes March” to the romantic “I Dreamed a Dream,” the program will showcase the 50-member band and, no doubt, have its legions of loyal fans cheering for more.

Members of the band, who have been making music together since 1972, formed the group for one reason — the love of playing — and continue for the same reason.

Some have been with the band almost from the beginning. At least one couple met there, married and continue to play.

The mayor of Oaklyn joined last year. An auctioneer and a civil engineer are among its members.

Then, there is the mother-daughter duo of Anne Fatum and Melissa Masi, who enjoy the rehearsals and the concerts for the time it gives them to be together in the midst of their busy lives.

Masi, a Tabernacle resident, learned to play the flute as an adult; her teacher was her mother, who plays the piccolo. The two instruments are closely related.

“She bought me my first flute as a Christmas present,” Masi, who has been with the band for three years, said during a recent rehearsal.

Her mother still is teaching her, she said. “During the summer, we practice together, and she teaches me new things. I still can learn from her.”

Fatum, who lives in Browns Mills, is the band's only piccolo player. Whenever John Pillips Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever is on the program, it is Fatum the audience hears during the famous piccolo solo.

In this weekend's concerts, her piccolo will be part of “Go West!,” the opening medley of songs from westerns.

The instrument is small but mighty she said. “It will pierce the sounds of the entire band. Even the brass section can't cover it.”

According to the group's music director/conductor Daryl Bear, a Columbus resident, the selection of music the band plays is diverse.

“We don't have just one area," he said. "We do Broadway tunes, marches, jazz and some that is classically oriented.”

Bear, a former music teacher, said he likes to challenge the players. “That's how we improve, grow, get better,” he said.

Many members are professional musicians and professional music teachers. Ages range from high school students to seniors in their late 70s.

Teresa Rogan, a clarinet player from Delanco, is a civil engineer with the New Jersey Department of Transportation. She has been in the band almost 20 years and said it gives a sense of balance to her life.

Besides its regular schedule of indoor concerts, the Golden Eagle Band is a marching band and participates in local events, such as July Fourth celebrations. The band also appears regularly in outdoor summer concerts throughout Burlington County.

Rogan, who also is the band's vice president, recalled some of the highights of the years she has been a band member.

Among them are playing the “Star Bangled Banner” before the start of a baseball game at Camden Yards in Baltimore; an appearance at Disney World, where the band led the night parade to Cinderella's Castle; and a cruise to Nova Scotia, during which the band performed at various ports along the way.

There is no formal audition process to join, she said. However, applicants must be able to read music.

© 2007 Burlington County Times