Hard-shelled and soft-sided instrument cases lie scattered on the gymnatorium floor and near chairs seating their owners as men and women earnestly study the sheet music on stands in front of them.

“Do not play stronger than mezzo forte, and we’ll have a nice blend of sound. We keep creeping up to forte.”

Conductor Jim Moody waves a hand and the notes of a classical chorale work sound strong and clear. But unity and pacing is a bit off, and Moody stops the music.

“We’re still not letting me be the leader,” he announces. “All of us have an opinion on how we want to play it, but it can’t work until one person is decided as the leader. Please give me that option.”

The musicians in the nascent Southern Winds Concert Band, all over the age of 50, buckle down. As the hour progresses, it’s clear they are finding their zone.

Perhaps the rustiness is to be expected. “This is just the third rehearsal,” Moody says during a break as he wipes his brow from his exertions.

Formed two months ago, the band is made up of men and women who have played with other senior concert bands and boasts four members who were band directors in high schools or colleges. At least one, Roswell resident and trumpeter Arden Moser, was a professional musician and still plays gigs with area big bands, jazz and Dixieland groups.

But most, like Southern Winds board president Roger Engebretson, are enthusiastic amateurs who came back to their instruments after a long hiatus. A retired Air Force colonel and jet fighter pilot, Engebretson bought a used tuba more than 10 years ago and rekindled his musical spark,

“I played in college, put it down for a long time and then picked it back up because I wanted to play again,” the Roswell resident said.

Luring Moody out of retirement to be the band’s conductor is a coup for the fledgling group. In his 23 years as band and orchestra conductor at Roswell High School, his musicians earned consistently superior ratings at district festivals. Moody was selected as Georgia Music Educator of the Year in 1998.

At 68, the Mountain Park resident is as passionate as he ever was about music. And he expects the members of the new concert band to feel the same.

“I’ll be choosing music that is within their capabilities and some that maybe will push them a little,” Moody said.

Performance Director Sandra Novotny-Powell said the band should be ready for its first concerts in about six months.

Southern Winds Concert Band rehearses Thursday afternoons at Roswell’s First Baptist Church on Mimosa Boulevard. The band has more than 40 members and Engebretson said the board will probably set a cap at 50.

The only requirement for prospective members is they must be 50 years of age or older.

For information, contact Membership Director Manny Espinoza at mespinsosa30115@yahoo.com or (770) 479-0913.