The fifth annual Bandtoberfest was held on Sunday, Sept. 21 on the Amherst Town Common, with the University of Massachusetts Amherst Wind Ensemble performing everything from Gustav Holst to movie soundtracks.

The event, held in collaboration with the Amherst Business Improvement District (BID), is held each fall in downtown Amherst. Amherst BID is a nonprofit aimed at helping support the “economic vitality” and small businesses of Amherst, according to their website.

The event was started in 2020 by Matthew Westgate, chair of Music and Dance and director of Wind Studies at UMass Amherst, as a way to play music for the community outside during the pandemic. The event became so popular that Amherst BID started collaborating with the UMass Department of Music and Dance to facilitate future Bandtoberfests, and now the event has become a staple in Amherst’s fall event calendar.

“This is the busiest Bandtoberfest we’ve had since starting,” said John Page, executive director of Amherst BID.

Alex Harvey-Arnold, an alumnus of the UMass Wind Ensemble who played the first year Bandtoberfest was held, said that the event has grown over the years. “The audience was maybe one-fourth the size it is this year,” Harvey-Arnold said.

The audience ranged widely, from the elderly to small children, with many college students sprinkled about. Everyone was very receptive to everything played and seemed to enjoy the performance. Many were laid out on picnic blankets and in chairs, while others simply stood about, watching the performance attentively. The turnout could also be attributed to the weather, which was a sunny, crisp 65-degree day: a perfect climate for outdoor activities.

The performance was diverse in the genres played and did not stick to pieces considered traditionally classical. The ensemble played cornerstone works of concert band such as Gustav Holst’s “First Suite in E-flat,” and Alfred Reed’s “The Hounds of Spring,” both which are performed by thousands of concert bands every year. Songs from the soundtrack of “Star Wars” and “The Sound of Music” were also performed, along with polkas and marches such as Edwin Franko Goldman’s “On the Mall,” a march that includes audience participation through singing and clapping in certain sections.

Paulo Cardozo Martinez, a first-year grad student and oboe player in the Wind Ensemble, noted that the ensemble takes everything they play equally seriously, and that no special emphasis is placed on pieces that are considered traditionally classical. “No style gets more attention than another,” Martinez said.

According to Lindsay Bronnenkant, another conductor and professor at the Department of Music and Dance, the wind ensemble only has five rehearsals to learn about three hours of music for this event, and none of those rehearsals are dress rehearsals. “We weren’t able to meet as a full ensemble once until the performance,” Bronnenkant said. The time period from when the semester starts to when Bandtoberfest is held amounts to only about three weeks.

Martinez said that the learning process can be a “bit strenuous, but the event builds morale among students,” especially for freshman students who must immediately learn a large portion of music very quickly. Nonetheless, most of the students and faculty find this event to be a good team-building exercise.

“It’s the most fun I’ve had since getting to UMass,” Martinez said.

Francisco Aguirre-Ghiso can be reached at [email protected].