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The Concord Band Box 302, Concord, MA 01742 Tel: 978-897-9969 |
Notes from the Concord Band |
Contents
Fall ConcertSaturday, October 30, 8:00 pmThe Concord Band, under the batons of Music Director Dr. William McManus and Guest Conductor Malcolm W. Rowell, will kick off its 2004-2005 season with a concert featuring both classic and contemporary works for concert band. Also featured in this concert will be Concord Band clarinetist Gina DePaoli. The concert will open with Dmitri Shostakovich's composition, Festive Overture, a work written to commemorate the 37th anniversary of the October Revolution in Russia. This work, beautifully transcribed for band by Donald Hunsberger, has become a staple of the concert band repertory. Leroy Anderson composed and arranged many works for the Boston Pops Orchestra. Among these is the ever popular Irish Suite, a six movement suite based on well known Irish tunes. The Concord Band will be performing three selections from the suite including "The Irish Washerwoman," "The Minstrel Boy," and "The Rakes of Mallow." Anderson was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1909 and conducted the Harvard Band from 1932 to 1935. The Concord Band performs many of his works on a regular basis, including Sleigh Ride and A Christmas Festival, at Holiday Pops.
Gina DePaoli has been a member of the Concord Band since 1997 and has served on the Band's Board as Secretary since then. Gina graduated cum Laude from the Boston Conservatory and received her master's degree from Lesley College. She is an elementary general music teacher in Waltham, Massachusetts, and is very active in the Massachusetts Music Educators Association, recently completing a four-year commitment as Coordinator for the Northeastern Senior District Music Festival. Gina is also President of the New England Orff Schulwerk Chapter. Ms. DePaoli will be performing Anne McGinty's Rhapsody for Solo Clarinet and Band, last performed by the Concord Band in 1994, with then Music Director (and now Music Director Emeritus) William M. Toland conducting, and clarinet section leader David Purinton as soloist. Over the years, the Concord Band has performed many works by composer Alfred Reed, most recently presenting his Russian Christmas Music and Armenian Dances, Part 1. In this concert, the Band will perform a classic work by Reed—The Hounds of Spring, composed in 1980. This exciting overture was inspired by a poem which is a re-creation in modern English verse of an ancient Greek tragedy. The musical setting attempts to capture the twin elements of the poem, exuberant youthful gaiety and the sweetness of tender love. This will be the first time the Band has performed Reed's brilliant overture.
The Concord Band is privileged to welcome Professor Malcolm W. Rowell, Jr., to the podium to conduct the English band classic First Suite in E♭ by Gustav Holst. Professor Rowell recently retired as Director of Bands and Professor of Music Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. In recognition of his professional work, Professor Rowell has received the National Band Association's Citation of Excellence and the A. Frederick Martin Award, presented by Kappa Kappa Psi for his contributions to college bands. In March 1997, Professor Rowell was elected to the American Bandmasters Association, the most prestigious organization of its kind in the world. He frequently serves as guest conductor/clinician/lecturer at state and regional festivals throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. In addition to the Holst, Professor Rowell will also conduct Frank Ticheli's Shenandoah and the great Black Horse Troop march by John Philip Sousa. Also included on the program will be the beautiful concert march, The Sinfonians, by Clifton Williams. This magnificent march was commissioned by Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America and first performed in 1960. During his relatively short lifetime, Clifton Williams contributed many great works to the concert band repertoire. Mark your calendars now so that you won't miss this exciting evening of great concert band music.
Lifetime Service Awards to Parish and PhelanIn 2002, the Concord Band Board of Directors introduced the Lifetime Service Award, intended to honor individuals whose participation, over a significant span of time, has made a fundamental difference to the Concord Band. Each Award is expressed in the form of a brief paragraph summing up that individual's contribution. An Honor Roll has been created and is displayed prominently in the 51 Walden lobby to keep these individuals in our collective long-term memory. Past Award recipients have been Bill Burdine and William Toland (2002) and Carl Getz and Robert Turkington (2003). On October 30th, Concord Band Lifetime Service Awards will be given to Gene Parish and William R. Phelan. Gene Parish played tuba with the Concord Band from its first appearance at the 1959 Patriots’ Day Parade until the end of 2003. In addition to his contributions as Band president, FOPAC board representative, Band historian, and musician, Gene has provided hands-on support for every Band endeavor, often accompanied by his wife Harriet, who regularly assisted with Pops and concert receptions. An active ambassador for the Band, Gene appeared in numerous publicity photos thanks to his ready smile and the huge Sousaphone wrapped around his shoulders. The Concord Band salutes Gene Parish for his many years of enthusiastic service. The Concord Band has long been blessed with many extraordinarily dedicated members. An exemplar among them is trumpeter Bill Phelan. Bill, who joined the band in 1964, was not only a valued musician (he once studied with the cornet soloist from John Philip Sousa's band); he was also one of the few individuals to serve more than three terms on the Concord Band's Board of Directors. A gifted carpenter, Bill built stage risers for the trumpet section and helped with several other construction projects that will benefit the Band for years to come. Retiring after nearly forty years of service to the Concord Band, his quiet dedication and generosity will continue to inspire members for generations. Enjoy the Fall Concert? Can't Attend the Fall Concert? Order the CD!Tucked into their printed programs, audience members on October 30th will find an order form for a CD of that evening's concert. For most of its 45 year history, Concord Band concerts have been professionally recorded. Band members have been able to buy recordings (originally on tape cassettes, more recently, CDs) of their concerts. Recognizing that the quality of the Band's performances has risen over the years, the Band Board has decided as an experiment to offer the live recording of the upcoming Fall Concert to the audience that has just heard it. Those who would like a CD of the October 30th concert will be asked to complete the order form and leave it where indicated in the 51 Walden lobby. The prepaid price of $15 per CD includes shipping and handling. Payments must be received by November 8th. It is anticipated that the CDs will be shipped via the USPS around December 1st. The October 30th concert CD will also be of interest to regular Concord Band audience members who are unable to attend the upcoming Fall Concert. Simply send your $15 check with your mailing address to the masthead address, attn: Oct. 30th CD. Favorite Holiday Traditions—It's Time to Make Your Concord Band Holiday Pops ReservationsBe sure to use the reservation card enclosed with this mailing to make your reservations early for the Concord Band's annual Holiday Pops concerts, to be held at 51 Walden on December 10th and 11th. There's no better way to celebrate the holiday season than to enjoy an evening of great music and fun in the festive 51 Walden holiday atmosphere! Holiday Pops with the Concord Band has become a tradition with many area families and sells out early. Plan a great evening out with your family, friends and neighbors ... and the Concord Band. Table seating is priced at $15 per person ($60 for a table of four) and includes beverages and snacks. Return your reservation card today! Reservations can also be phoned in to (978) 897-9969. Susan, the Librarian
On the second floor of 51 Walden, just to the right of the top of the staircase and just to the left of the Dance Studio, is the Concord Band Music Library, the purview of Band Librarian Susan Console. While most Band members rarely visit this room, and audience members never do, it is crucial to the operation of the Concord Band. Each year, in more than a dozen distinct concert programs (Fall, Holiday Pops, Winter, Spring Pops, Independence Day, Boston Festival of Bands, Fruitlands Museums Series, Belmont and Hudson), the Concord Band plays approximately 80 to 100 different pieces of music. In a typical year, 60 to 80 of these are taken from the Band's Library of 1,200 selections. The Library was established with the formation of the Band in 1959. In recent years, 21 new pieces of music have been purchased, on average, for performance that year and for subsequent addition to the Library. The cost of a new piece of music (conductor's score and set of players' parts), excluding commissioned works, typically ranges these days from $40 to $125, with a recent average of just over $74. Thus, in recent years the Concord Band has been spending $1,560 on new music. A quick calculation reveals that the replacement cost of the music in the Concord Band Music Library is now more than $89,000! The contents of the Concord Band Music Library were originally stacked on shelves. The sets of parts had to be shelved horizontally, because their "packaging" consists only of a file folder. Removing and returning pieces from and to the Library was cumbersome, as was keeping the collection in any kind of reasonable order. Around the turn of the Millennium, Sue Console first suggested that storing the Band's music in filing cabinets with hanging files would make much more sense from just about every point of view. While the Board agreed, preliminary estimates of the cost of purchasing the requisite number of legal size filing cabinets seemed prohibitive, and the subject was temporarily shelved. In a Board meeting somewhat later, the idea of trying to find used filing cabinets came up. Ultimately, Dave Tweed, who also happens to be the Band's webmaster, found a source of used legal sized filing cabinets in New Hampshire. The Board decided that the price was right and authorized Dave to begin purchasing them. (Dave owns a pickup truck.)
By mid-November, 2002, the reorganization of the Music Library was well underway. Sue had devised a numbering and indexing system that decoupled the physical location of a piece of music from one's ability to find it based on its title or composer's name. New pieces could simply be added to the next available drawer slot, and the index, maintained on a PC, updated. The transition, as wonderful as it has been, has not been entirely without incident. In very late 2002, the floor beneath six music-filled filing cabinets gave way, dropping far enough to damage extensively the 51 Walden lobby ceiling below. It turned out that the Music Library floor joists had not been adequately fastened to their supporting structure. A reinforcement of the floor solved the problem after Dave hastily removed everything from the Library that he had so recently moved in. The $1,560 the Concord Band must spend each year on new music is but a small fraction of the $40,000, more or less, it costs to run the Band. If you'd like to help out financially, please write a check to The Concord Band and mail it in the enclosed envelope. If you have no return envelope, simply send your check to the address at the top of this newsletter. Upcoming EventsAt 51 Walden Street, Concord, 8:00 pm.
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