Our New Horizons Band began in about 2002 by Eric Ernst (Roy’s brother) at Imperial Wilderness RV Resort in East Naples.  In 2003, Eric’s wife met Ken Carper, a music teacher working in a school next door to Imperial Wilderness and they talked about Eric’s new band.  Ken, who knew Roy Ernst through his graduate work at Eastman, was pleased to become the band’s music director and has remained with the band through twenty seasons!

  Early sessions were, basically, group lessons with a dozen, or so, participants playing pages from the Essential Elements music books.  Soon, performances of three or four songs were taking place at nearby churches and clubhouses.  Within a few years the band more than quadrupled in size and was performing with a very musical sound!  They’ve been featured in the Naples Daily News, as well as a short feature on WGCU television.

   With the pandemic came the need to practice outdoors and spread out to safe distances.  Since 2022 the band (now nearly 60 pieces) has made the amphitheater at the Golden Gate Community Center it’s home.  Two-hour rehearsals take place each Thursday morning from mid-October through early April.  And smaller ensembles (swing band, quintets, etc.) have been organized, too.  The band’s repertoire includes easy pieces (Level 1 ½ ) through Level 4 difficulty and performs about eight times through the season.