|
Winter Concert
Soloists from Air Force Band of Liberty Featured
McManus Retires from Belmont Public Schools
Slide! Meet the Concord Band Trombone Section
Calendar of Upcoming Events
Saturday, March 2
The Concord Band's annual Winter Concert will take place at 51 Walden
Street in Concord on Saturday, March 2nd, at 8:00 PM. The concert will open
with a brilliant new march by Belgian composer Jan Van der Roost entitled
Minerva. This is not a street march, but a concert march in the
style of William Walton's Crown Imperial and Van der Roost's own
Mercury and Arsenal.
The Concord Band has a long tradition of performing many of the classic
works of the concert band repertoire by such great British conmposers as
Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst. The Second Suite in F was
composed by Holst in 1911. Unlike his First Suite in E♭, Holst's
Second Suite in F uses English folk songs and folk dance tunes
throughout. The Suite has four movements, each with its own
distinctive character.
In addition to performing well-known marches, the Concord Band enjoys
introducing its audiences to lesser known and seldom heard marches. Karl
L. King wrote nearly 300 compositions for band, including 188
marches. While marches such as Barnum and Bailey's Favorite,
Trombone King and Purple Pageant are among King's most
popular, the Concord Band is proud to offer one of King's less familiar
marches, Kentucky Sunrise. It is a delightful piece, full of
syncopated rhyths characteristic if the ragtime music that was so popular
early in the 20th century.
For the first time ever, the Concord Band will feature a soloist from
the United States Air Force Band of Liberty. We are pleased to welcome
Airman First Class John Garcia (see related story) to the 51 Walden stage
to perform Jim Curnow's Rhapsody for Euphonium. Originally written
by the composer as a teaching piece for his own euphonium students, Curnow
dedicated this piece to the memory of his teacher, Leonard Falcone,
Director Emeritus of Bands at Michigan State University. Since its release
in 1978, Rhapsody for Euphonium has become a very important part of
the euphonium literature.
The first half of the concert will close with David R. Holsinger's On
an American Spiritual. Holsinger has composed several other works for
band based upon hymnsongs, including On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss
and On a Hymnsong of Lowell Mason. On an American Spiritual,
with its chaotic and brutal center section, is a surprising departure from
these other compositions.
To open the second half of the concert, the Concord Band's Assistant
Conductor, Christopher Morehouse, will take the podium to lead the band
through a performance of the Spanish march, Sol y Sombra, by George
Glass. Sol y Sombra is a wonderful paso doble style march
which deserves to be performed more widely. It was recently recorded by
Frederick Fennell on his CD, Marches I've Missed.
In the past several years, the Concord Band has performed a number of
compositions by contemporary American composer Frank Ticheli, including
Cajun Folk Songs, Amazing Grace and most recently,
Shenandoah. For this concert, Christopher Morehouse has selected one
of Ticheli's newest works for concert band, Cajun Folk Songs
II. Concord Band Music Director Emeritus William Toland conducted
Cajun Folk Songs (I) at the Band's Winter Concert in 1993.
Music Director McManus will return to the podium for a performance of an
arrangement for two euphoniums and band of the melody to the song
Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms, an early 19th
century poem by Irish barrister Thomas Moore. Airman First Class John
Garcia will be joined by Airman First Class Eric Spinelli, who also plays
euphonium in the Air Force Band of Liberty (see related story).
Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great American
composer Richard Rodgers, the Concord Band will close the concert with a
performance of a suite from Rodgers' Victory at Seamusic from
the NBC television production of the same name. This work was transcribed
for band by Robert Russell Bennett.
[Contents]
 |
Airman First Class John Garcia
|
The Concord Band is pleased to welcome to its stage at 51 Walden Street
in Concord two musicians from the Air Force Band of Liberty, based at
Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, Massachusetts. Airman First Class John
Garcia II will be featured in a performance of Jim Curnow's Rhapsody for
Euphonium. Airman Garcia hails from Roanoke, Virginia, and is a
euphonium player with the Air Force Band of Liberty's Concert Band and
Ceremonial Brass. He attended Athens High School in Athens, West Virginia,
from which he was graduated in 1994. While there, he performed Clarke's
Carnival of Venice with his high school band and received the John
Philip Sousa Band Award. He continued his studies at Alderson-Broaddus
College in Philippi, WV, attending on a full scholarship. In 1998 he
received a Bachelor of Arts degree with an emphasis on Euphonium and
Trombone Performance. During his undergraduate years, Airman Garcia
performed James Curnow's Symphonic Variations for Euphonium and
Orchestra with the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra and was named a Yamaha
Young Performing Artist. In the fall of 1998, he entered the University of
Cincinnati Conservatory of Music as an Albert C. Yates Scholarship
recipient, covering full tuition. Two years later he graduated with a
Master of Music degree in Euphonium Performance.
Airman Garcia entered the United States Air Force in October, 2000, and
received his first assignment with the United States Air Force Band of
Liberty. His wife Jennifer joined the first trumpet section of Concord Band
last fall.
 |
Airman First Class Eric Spinelli
|
Airman First Class Eric Spinelli, who also plays euphonium in the Air
Force Band of Liberty, will join Airman Garcia onstage for a performance of
Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms. Airman Spinelli, a
graduate of Greece Athena High School, furthered his education at Ithaca
College in Ithaca, NY, where he received a Bachelor's degree in Music
Performance and Education in 1998. While there he performed with the Ithaca
College Wind Ensemble during their one week tour of England and
Ireland. Airman Spinelli then attended the University of Cincinnati
Conservatory of Music where he was the recipient of the University Graduate
Scholarship. He graduated with a Master's degree in Music Performance in
2001. His professional experience includes performing with Mr. Jack
Daniel's Silver Cornet Band, the Harvey Phillips Tuba Company and the
Cincinnati Wind Symphony. He joined the United States Air Force in May,
2001, and received his first assignment with the Air Force Band of
Liberty.
[Contents]
Concord Band Music Director, Dr. William McManus, has retired from his
position as Director of Fine and Performing Arts in the Belmont Public
Schools. After thirty-seven years as music director and then fine arts
administrator, McManus has decided to devote his professional time
exclusively to conducting and composing music. During his career in music
education, Dr. McManus taught in North Syracuse, NY; Leicester, MA;
Westborough, MA and Belmont, MA. His public school work also included many
years of service to the Massachusetts Music Educators Association and MENC:
The National Association for Music Education. He recently completed a term
of office as President of the Eastern Division of the MENC. Dr. McManus has
won many awards in recognition of his work in music education, including
the Distinguished Service Award presented by the Massachusetts Music
Educators Association and the Conductor of the Year Award presented by the
Massachusetts Instrumental Conductors Association.
McManus plans to devote more time to composing and arranging music,
especially for the Concord Band. He is currently working on an arrangement
of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, which wil be premiered by the
Concord Band at its Spring Pops Concerts in April (see schedule below).
[Contents]
 |
In rehearsal at 51 Walden for March 2 concert.
Left to right: Glenn Garvey, Mark Vincenzes, Peter Norton, David Tweed,
Sam Reynolds and Andy Nichols.
|
When it comes to proficiency, many would agree that among all instrument
sections of the Concord Band, our Trombone section ranks very
highright at the top, in your editor's opinion. What makes this so
impressive is that, while players of all wind instruments must form a
proper embouchure (position of the mouthlips, tongue and teeth)
to play each note, instrumentalists other than trombonists need
merely depress the proper key or keys on his or her instrument to do
so. Trombonists, on the other hand, must position their slides (which can
travel almost two feet) to an accuracy of 1/8 of an inch! Perhaps you're
not as impressed with this as is your editor (who plays only non-melodic
percussion instruments, which need merely to be strucksome would say
bangedat the right moment), but if you've managed to get this
far, please read on.
The Concord Band's six trombonists have been with the Band an average of
more than 16 years. Four have been with the Band for fifteen years or mor;
a fifth, nine years. All but one were born in the Northeast (Massachusetts,
New Jersey and Pennsylvania); the sixth hails from Arkansas. All began
their trombone studies as children and played in school ensembles at every
stage of their education. Today, four play in more than one musical
group. A few play more than one instrument; one even admitted to having
played the accordion!
All of the Band's trombonists are employed in greater Boston's high
technology community in one way or another: four directly, one as a
consultant and one as an attorney. Most of them also help, or have helped,
the Band with extra-musical activities. Our trombonist/attorney has helped
review the Band's bylaws and our Music Director's employment
contract. Another edits our printed concert programs. Four participate
regularly in the mundane tasks of getting this newsletter in the mail twice
a year. One, who took over the task of managing the Band's website
(www.concordband.org) within the past year, joined our Board of Trustees in
October.
When asked to express the importance of the Concord Band in their lives,
most of our trombonists mentioned the opportunity to remain active and
motivated musically throughout the year and to play a wide variety of
musicin an environment, as one put it, "that is friendly and relaxed,
yet challenging." Anothe wrote, "there are lots of orchestras and small
ensembles, but not many concert bands. For most wind players, playing in a
good concert band is like coming home."
So why is the trombone section such an asset to the Concord Band? It's
really quite simple: They have all played their trombones for a long time,
and they love doing it. They're not only good musicians, but they also
willingly help with non-musical (but quite necessary) Band tasks. The
bottom line is that the Concord Band has a bunch of dedicated trombonists
who can really cut the mustard!
THat dedication is exemplified by our trombonist/lawyer who wrote, "I
have defended Monday evenings [rehearsal night] at all costs, including
walking out of meetings to get to Concord. Once I had a closing in
Philadelphia that was scheduled on the same day as a concert. I was flown
back by the client in a private jet in time to play that evening."
While none of the Concord Band's instrumentalists (trombonist or
otherwise) is paid, it still costs about $40,000 a year to run the Band. If
you'd like to help out financially, just write a check for as much as you
can afford and slide it into the enclosed envelope. If you have no
return envelope, simply send your check to the address at the top of this
newsletter.
[Contents]
Concerts will be held at 51 Walden, Concord, at 8:00pm.
Winter Concert
Saturday, March 2,
For tickets call (978) 897-9969
Spring Pops
Friday, April 5,
sponsored by the Concord Rotary Club.
For tickets call Beth Sheldon: (978) 369-6100
Saturday, April 6,
sponsored by the Emerson Hospital Auxiliary.
For tickets call (978) 287-3019
[Contents]
|