After 20 years, it’s difficult to imagine the SeaNotes Big Band without director Bruce Seltveit at the helm.

It’s even more difficult to imagine the respected Oak Harbor musician and leader of four community music groups almost never learned to play at all.

Seltveit, who will be celebrating his 20th anniversary as SeaNotes director on Saturday, hadn’t planned to take up band. But after taking a pitch test at the request of his music teacher, it became clear that 12-year-old Seltveit had a calling — to play the trombone.

“He created a monster,” Seltveit joked of his junior high music teacher, George Konopik, who now plays under Seltveit’s direction in the Island Community Band.

Since music entered Seltveit’s life, his devotion to the art has never waned.

Since March 1996, he has applied that same devotion to one band in particular — the SeaNotes.

The band, which has approximately 200 songs in its repertoire, consists of a five-sax front line, three trombones and three trumpets, as well as a piano, bass and drums keeping rhythm. Songs hail back to the 30s, 40s and 50s swing era, as well as some contemporary swing arrangements, tangos and waltzes.

From 7:30-10 p.m. Saturday, March 19, the band will perform in honor of Seltveit with a dance and performance at the Oak Harbor Elks Lodge. The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will also be provided free of charge.

Seltveit and members of his former dixieland group, themselves current SeaNotes members, will also be playing a song or two during the break.

Seltveit’s wife Kathy Seltveit hinted that the band members have a few surprises for him as well.

It was Kathy Seltveit who initially encouraged her husband — who had no prior directorial experience — to take the position of SeaNotes director, when the former director departed to take a job in California. Since then, she has been the band’s number one fan and avid supporter.

“Bruce is an easy person to like. We were also very glad to see him because our leader had departed, and if the band was going to continue we needed a director,” said original and current band member Dave Williams. “We were very happy to see him walk into the job. It was made all the better because he is such a nice guy and such a good musician.”

Williams added that Bruce’s dedication and love of music is contagious, and that, combined with his strong leadership and skill as a musician, has contributed to the band becoming notably stronger year after year.

Williams also credited Kathy Seltveit for her support of her husband and the band, as well as her excellent cooking skills — she often brings goodies to gigs and rehearsals.

“We very much appreciate the team of Bruce and Kathy and their leadership of the SeaNotes,” Williams said.

Since his onboarding, Seltveit hasn’t missed a single rehearsal, except in the rare case he was too ill to perform.

“It’s my stress-reliever,” Seltveit said.

“Bruce has an admiration for music, it’s a great art,” Kathy Seltveit said. She added that, particularly when working with teens in the Oak Harbor High School brass quintet, her husband is passionate about imparting that love of music to others.

Karen Johnson, who plays trumpet and French horn with the SeaNotes, was a student of Seltveit’s for two years. Other young people, including Seltveit’s nephew, have also taken interest and joined the troupe.

Seltveit’s affinity with the big band and swing style for which the SeaNotes is known took root early on in his musical career.

“I was one of the few kids in school who liked Lawrence Welk,” he said with a chuckle.

He recalled that in high school, the band played two swing dances a year in order to raise money for out-of-town performances.

Though he joked, “I don’t dance, I’m in the band,” Seltveit said he takes great enjoyment from seeing others moving to the music. Some of his favorite gigs, he said, are those played at assisted living facilities, where residents often reminisce fondly about that bygone era.

For Saturday’s performance, former members of the band are encouraged to bring their instruments and join in.

“It’s all about fun that night,” Seltveit said.

As for retirement, Seltveit said he doesn’t plan to stop any time soon.

“I’m going to keep going like I am until my chops wear out,” he said.