Steve Shanley spreads musical artistry at home and abroad

CEDAR RAPIDS — Steve Shanley is the one with all the degrees, awards and more than 2,000 musical compositions or arrangements to his name. But his father, who has none of that, is the best musician he knows.

“A few years ago, I would have said I did not necessarily grow up in a musical family, because neither of my parents had a lot of what people would consider the normal type of musical training. But I have come to realize that everybody is a musician, and being a musician just looks different for everybody,” said Shanley, 47, a lifelong Cedar Rapidian.

“And in the instance of my father, he never took music lessons and does not play an instrument. But he loves music and loves listening to it, and loves attending concerts. My earliest memories are hanging out with him and listening to classic rock when I was a really little kid. If I have to point to something that made me love music and be involved with music, it would be that — listening to classic rock with my dad. ”

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When Shanley wanted to take piano lessons as a child, his parents obliged. Trombone followed in fifth grade at Linn-Mar in Marion, then from grades 7 to 12, he played piano in the district’s middle- and high school jazz bands.

While his reputation today largely revolves around jazz music, jazz instruction and jazz bands, his heart beats for the Beatles and the Beach Boys, “probably my two biggest influences,” he said. Lucky for him, the Beach Boys are slated to perform July 12 at the McGrath Amphitheatre in Cedar Rapids, and he and his wife, Valerie, plan to soak up some good vibrations there.

C.R. Municipal Band

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These days, Shanley listens to “anything.” And audiences of all ages are listening to him lead the Cedar Rapids Municipal Band in its 74th season of summer concerts, primarily held in metro-area parks.

People across the state have been doing the same with their local bands since the passage of the Iowa Band Law in 1922, which allowed communities to levy a small tax to help support a municipal band.

Karl King, dubbed “Iowa’s March King,” was said to be instrumental in getting the band tax legislation passed. The Fort Dodge native even wrote “The Iowa Band Law” march in 1923. The Cedar Rapids Municipal Band used to play that song, but not anymore.

The municipal band tax was one of many purpose-specific levies eliminated under the state’s property tax reform bill passed in the 2023 session of the Iowa Legislature. However, the city of Cedar Rapids is making up for that loss, funding the municipal band’s $125,000 budget for its summer series of 18 free concerts.

“That is a done deal,” Shanley said, adding that the band’s fiscal year concludes at the end of June, “and this is the last year where that band law plays any sort of role. And so, from our standpoint, it’s done.”

“We effectively cost every person in Cedar Rapids $1 per year,” said Scott Haney, the band’s business manager.

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To help put that in perspective, the band’s yearly budget is less than the cost of bringing the musical “Waitress” to the Theatre Cedar Rapids stage this summer. Unlike the municipal band, the nonprofit theater does not receive property tax money.

In a recent interview with director Angie Toomsen, who also is TCR’s producing artistic director, she noted that “Waitress” will cost between $160,000 and $180,000, while a large-scale musical like “The Wizard of Oz” runs closer to $250,000.

Shanley’s municipal band duties include choosing repertoire that not only entertains its audiences, but challenges and nurtures the musicians, all of whom play at a professional level. Many perform with Orchestra Iowa, are music educators or band directors in schools. A typical concert includes 55 musicians, one conductor and about six staff members overseeing the stage and sound aspects.

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When asked about the role municipal bands play in their communities, Shanley said: “I can only attest to what role I think it plays here in Cedar Rapids.”

Citing statistics from the latest issue of the city’s Our CR magazine, “I think if I were looking at a city, and they brag about being a Top 20 city in the country for retirement, to raise a family, happiest city, one of the best places to live in the United States — all of these things that Cedar Rapids can rightfully brag about … I just want to assume that they have a really good community band, where I can go listen to free outstanding concerts in the summers. It just it makes sense. It is a part of all of those things.

“And I would like to think that music might be one of the last things that is not overtly polarizing or political. … I just feel like this is one of those things where everybody can agree that going to Bever Park or Ellis Park with a picnic, hearing a band play the main titles from ‘Star Wars’ — everyone loves that. It puts you in a good mood, it makes you happy, it makes you proud to live in the town.

“It helps you escape from your concerns for a bit. Your dogs and your kids can run around and no one gives you the stink eye for it. So my answer would be, ‘Why not? Why would we not be doing this? Why are more towns and cities not doing this?’ Because I have witnessed firsthand how much joy and unity it brings to our citizens.”

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Family ties

Music continues to bloom through Shanley’s family tree. He is on the music faculty at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, where he serves as director of jazz studies and coordinator of music education. Wife Valerie plays French horn in the municipal band and teaches instrumental music at Taft Middle School in Cedar Rapids, and their two children — both award-winning musicians — are studying to be music educators. Vivian plays bass and Evan plays saxophone and clarinet.

Even though they don’t sit down and play music together at home, they will indulge Shanley’s love for making a goofy — and sometimes serious — Facebook video post around the holidays.

“With the exception of during the pandemic, it usually has kind of a comedic edge to it,” Shanley said, “and so that combines three of my loves: comedy, my family and music. … I do not take those for granted.”

He has conducted son Evan in honor bands, and counts as his favorite composition “La Reina,” a piece he wrote for daughter Vivian’s jazz band her senior year at Washington High School.

Noting that a lot of his work involves arranging music for bands and show choirs, he said he loved writing an original piece for Vivian to play with the school jazz band before she graduated in 2022.

The Cuban-inspired piece, whose title means “The Queen,” was “a straight-up composition and original,” Shanley said, “and it’s probably the first thing I got to write that was pretty challenging. (It) wasn’t for school band or for mass publication where it needed to be accessible. I got to write whatever I wanted, and it was for someone obviously who was very special for me. It might only get played another one or two times the rest of my life, but that was a really meaningful experience.”

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Calling C.R. his home

With his stellar reputation as a sought-after performer, educator, clinician, composer and arranger, Shanley could live anywhere to purse his musical passions.

But his philosophy reflects the final lines of “The Song of Dedication,” played and sung at the end of each Municipal Band concert: “Through all the world and years I roam, I still will call Cedar Rapids my home.”

“It’s a great place to work, to raise a family and be creative,” he said. “Anymore, with air travel and the internet, it’s pretty easy for me to go and be about anywhere I would need to be. It’s not hindering me, professionally. And in fact, I would say it’s an asset. …

“If I was living in the Twin Cities or Chicago, I would not be working that much, because there are so many people who play a lot better than I. Around here, I get to work a lot. I feel lucky.”

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