Maybe you should also give some thought to what you might find intolerable in a band (though this may change as you play more). There are primarily three things that will drive me away (and have driven me away) from a community band:
- A bad conductor. I don't think I have excessively high standards here, but I find that I just can't tolerate a conductor who is poor at conducting (constantly difficult to follow, can't read the score, seems to lack a reasonable sense of musicality, etc.), or who is willing to tolerate what is obviously sloppy and inadequate performance -- and especially when this includes a willingness to perform a piece in public that is still being poorly played by the band. Lack of perfection is a way of life in (certainly most) community bands, but tolerating absolutely embarrassing crap should not, in itself, be tolerated. I also quickly lose patience with a conductor who does not prepare for rehearsal himself/herself, but expects the band to have spent the time preparing. Or a conductor who can never seem to tell the band what pieces are likely to be rehearsed at a given practice session. To me, these are just basic requirements for a conductor, and I haven't often seen them violated. But when they are, I don't stick around.
- Lack of concern for intonation. There's not much more to say about this. If the band doesn't care about being in tune, and the conductor won't work at ensuring that the band plays in tune, then I'm out. Again, I'm not talking perfection here. But there's a point beyond what you're doing isn't music.
- (Back to the conductor -- but also somewhat membership dependent ...) I find that I can't tolerate an approach to "rehearsal" the consists simply of "run throughs" of pieces, one after another. I mean, no stopping to correct a problem, no focus on getting a section to play a passage correctly or in tune, no attempt at clear instructions on how a section is to be played, no concern about dynamics, etc. The result is sound, but not music. I've had the experience of bands in which a number of the members voice the complaint that they get bored with and "don't see the sense of" stopping and spending five minutes on getting the horns to do an entrance correctly, or getting the trumpet section to play a fanfare with the proper rhythm and in tune, or getting the percussion section to get a difficult passage correct. Sure, people should practice at home. But you can't expect a collection of amateurs who practice a few times a week (at most), who have one group rehearsal per week, and who don't have sectional rehearsals, to come to the band rehearsal with all their technical challenges satisfied and prepared just to focus on the performance of the entire ensemble. It's not realistic. And I really love those people who object to spending time on ensuring that some other section gets attention for a few minutes in order for the performance not to sound like a train wreck.
Anyhow ... those are the major things that can make me sorry I decided to join a community band (and I've had it happen only a couple of times), but if you have similar things, it's best to figure it out before you really join the band. I guess a big part of my point is that there's a lot of variation in community bands, and there are things that may need to be tolerated in order to participate in any given band. But there are limits to this, and it's good to think of what your limits are when evaluating an organization to join. This is where a "sit in on one or two rehearsals and then both the band and you will make up your minds" approach can be valuable. Also, a lot of organizations have web sites (or social media pages) where they post audio or video recordings of their concerts -- and sometimes a lot can be gleaned from these, as a kind of "pre-filter" to looking more closely at the group.
Gary Merrill
Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)