It’s not for the faint of heart, this business of directing the Corvallis Community Band during one of its summertime performances.

Imagine it: You get an hour of rehearsal with the band – one hour before showtime, Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m., even as the crowds gather near the gazebo in Corvallis’ Central Park. And you’re never exactly sure which musicians, or how many, will show up for each performance.

In fact, said Jim Martinez, the artistic director of the band, “Other band directors say, ‘You’re doing an hour-long concert with one hour of rehearsal, with people you’re not sure are going to be there?’ I’d say, ‘It’s not recommended, but somehow it still works.’”

After a couple of years with no summertime concert series or an abbreviated series thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, the band swings into action this Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. – fittingly, the first day of summer – for a full-fledged 11 weeks of concerts. Martinez will direct the band in a concert of favorite tunes from Broadway. The concert features vocals from two recent Corvallis High School graduates, Janessa Minta and Sydney Hoffman. And two other performers, Cailin McKenzie and Ashleigh Barbeau, will not only sing selections from “West Side Story,” they’ll perform a scene from the classic musical.

Martinez said conducting these summer concerts isn’t quite as daunting as it might initially appear. For one thing, he said, even though the makeup of the band does change from week to week, a conductor usually can count on a core group of musicians showing up for each concert.

In addition, it’s not entirely true that each conductor gets just one hour of rehearsal before a concert. In fact, this season’s conductors (in addition to Martinez, the season features eight guest conductors) each get to spend a full rehearsal session with the band in its weekly rehearsals preceding the summer season. At those rehearsals, which begin in March, conductors go through their programs, and band members get a chance to start working on the music.

There is one other factor that works in the band’s favor when the summer season begins, Martinez said: “I would also say the audience is very forgiving. It’s amazing.”

Martinez is well-known in mid-valley theater circles, so it’s not surprising that he’s landed on “The Best of Broadway” as the theme for the season’s opening concert. But jazz was his first musical love: He learned to play the trombone in high school in Arizona so that he could play in the school’s jazz band. After signing up for the Coast Guard, he played in Coast Guard bands – tackling some conducting duties along the way – and notched time sitting in with one of the Navy’s crackerjack jazz bands in San Francisco.

After leaving the service, Martinez earned a degree in engineering at the University of Arizona, and his college experience included an internship for Hewlett-Packard “in some place I had no idea where it was, in Corvallis, Oregon, as they started up their fledgling ink-jet business.” A full-time job offer brought him back to Corvallis after graduation, and he notched a 25-year career at H-P. The career kept him busy, but eventually friends lured him back to music as a performer in orchestras for musicals and, eventually, gigs as a musical director. As Steve Matthes, the band’s longtime director, started laying out his plans to retire, he invited guest conductors like Martinez to take the baton for a concert or two. When the band’s artistic director position opened, Martinez stepped into that role.

One of his goals with the band is to reach out to younger musicians for the summer concerts. “I’ve been trying to promote it and encourage the local band directors to say, ‘Hey, here’s a fun thing to do, just show up and play, keep your chops up.’ … I just think we’re missing an opportunity to try to be more welcoming and encouraging for younger musicians to join in.”

Martinez spent some time during the pandemic cataloging the band’s library of music, which he said now numbers about 1,400 works. But there’s a catch, he said: “A lot of it, I’d say a third of it, is pretty ancient. Just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s bad, but some of it is dated. ‘You Light Up My Life’ probably wouldn’t be a big hit right now.”

If You Go

WHAT: Corvallis Community Band’s summer concert season.

WHEN: Concerts are at 7:30 p.m. each Tuesday, beginning on June 21 and ending on Tuesday, Aug. 30. The band rehearses at 6:30 p.m., an hour before the concert, and the rehearsals also are open to the public.

WHERE: Central Park, 650 NW Monroe Ave., in Corvallis.

HOW MUCH: Concerts are free. But, if you can, bring a few bucks along to donate to the band.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Check out the band’s website, http://c-cband.org/

THIS YEAR’S SCHEDULE:

• Tuesday, June 21, “The Best of Broadway,” directed by Jim Martinez.
• Tuesday, June 28, “Music from Movies and TV,” directed by Cheryl Martinez.
• Tuesday, July 5: “Celebrate America,” directed by Jim Martinez.
• Tuesday, July 12, “Songs of Love and War,” directed by Isaac Andrew.
• Tuesday, July 19: “Rodgers and Hart,” directed by Steve Matthes.
• Tuesday, July 26, “Sousa,” directed by Kathleen Smith.
• Tuesday, Aug. 2, “The Music of John Williams,” directed by Erik Leung.
• Tuesday, Aug. 9, “Game Day,” directed by Olin Hannum.
• Tuesday, Aug. 16, “’B’ Tunes,” directed by Sarah Perkins.
• Tuesday, Aug. 23, “Celebration of Oregon,” directed by Mark Tarasawa.
• Tuesday, Aug. 30, performances by the band’s small ensembles.