Tennessee Valley Ensemble

The Tennessee Valley Ensemble (TVE) began as a school class at Pellissippi State Community College, Knoxville, TN,  in 1994.  The band grew quickly and began playing free concerts for nursing homes, assisted living centers, senior centers, church socials, store openings, Pellissippi college events and other special events.  When one of the co-founders retired, the band was re-established as the Farragut Pops Ensemble.  The Town of Farragut, TN, sponsored its efforts, so  it also performed at various Town of Farragut events such as the RiverFest Concerts, Farragut Days, and A Taste of Farragut, as well as Kroger-sponsored events in stores and miscellaneous area community events.  The support of the ensemble by the Town of Farragut was cut due to budget concerns and so it changed the name yet again, and settled on “Tennessee Valley Ensemble” to reflect the size, musical style and the larger area community it serves.

The TVE's focus is to provide free performances to those isolated populations who cannot reach musical events such as residents of nursing homes, assisted living centers, and senior centers.  Even though there are several other concert bands performing in Knoxville,  TN, TVE is the only concert band that brings its music to these venues with an on-going schedule.

The band currently charges its members to keep up with the expenses it incurs.  These include: paying the conductor a stipend, storage charges for the percussion instruments and music library, adding new music to the library, producing the shirts that are used by the members in performance, and paying for any soloist to play with the group. There are incidental expenses as well, which currently are absorbed by the members, such as paying for the website (http://tnvalleyensemble.org/).  Obviously, the money we raise from this campaign will be used for these expenses, hopefully for a number of years.