It’s Prime Time to Dust Off That Trumpet and Join Santa Barbara’s Prime Time Band
By Tyler Hayden | August 24, 2023
It had been 40 years since Barb Nagle Statler touched a trombone. She started playing in 5th grade — it was the only instrument her orthodontist would approve — and nurtured a budding love of music through high school.
After successfully auditioning by audio tape, Statler was all set to join a university marching band, but when the Midwest college discovered she was female, it rescinded the invitation. That took the wind out of her sails. She quit soon after.
Fast-forward to 2015 and a friend rented Statler a trombone for her birthday. With a little encouragement, she sat for a rehearsal of Santa Barbara’s Prime Time Band, a lively group of five dozen older musicians who put on free shows around town. Many of its members had also not played since high school, or they had picked up an instrument for the first time in their golden years.