The Cookeville Community Band presents a series of concerts each summer as well as a holiday concert. All summer concerts are free to the public and take place every other Monday evening at the Performance Pavilion in Dogwood Park. The holiday concert is held in the Cookeville Performing Arts Center (CPAC).

The Cookeville Community Band, “The Sound of the Cumberland,” was formed in 2002 by the late Wayne Pegram. It consists of public school band directors, college professors, college and high school students and local musicians, both active and retired, who love to play the great wind band music. Members of the ensemble come from the entire Upper Cumberland area.

Professor Joseph Hermann, Director of Bands at Tennessee Tech University, was appointed Music Director and Conductor of the Community Band in the fall of 2011, following Pegram's passing earlier in the year. Hermann is a nationally known and highly regarded conductor of contemporary and standard wind literature. He has been guest conductor as well as clarinetist for the Community Band.

At Tennessee Tech, Hermann is responsible for a dynamic and varied program consisting of the University Marching Band, Symphony Band, Concert Band, Pep Band and the Golden Eagle Brass. Before his appointment at TTU in 1989, Hermann was Associate Director of Bands and Director of the Pride of Arizona Marching Band at the University of Arizona, an Assistant Director of Bands and a Director of the Marching Hundred at Indiana University, Director of Bands at East Tennessee State University and Associate Conductor of the Johnson City (Tenn.) Symphony Orchestra. Read more.

Anyone interested in joining the band should contact Cookeville Community Band President Carroll Gotcher at cookevillecommunityband@gmail.com or any member of the group.

Visit the calendar page on the band’s website at www.cookevillecommunityband.org to find out more about the band or to view a schedule of upcoming concerts.

The Cookeville Community Band is grateful for the support of Cookeville Leisure Services and the help of Chad McDonald, Rick Woods and our excellent announcer, Bob Luna.

About Band Founder Wayne Pegram

The late Wayne Pegram was founder and director of the Cookeville Community Band and the Big Band Sound. He was a retired Tennessee Tech University music professor and director of the TTU Golden Eagle Marching Band.

Pegram's many years as TTU Marching Band Director, his passion for teaching and his expectations of nothing less than excellence from his students, led him to become inducted into the Tennessee Music Educators Association's and the Tennessee Bandmasters Association's Halls of Fame.

His students have become some of the most respected band directors in the region and country. He is remembered for his contributions to the community in the realm of the arts, his legacy as a band director and especially in the hearts of each and every student who he inspired over the years.