Navy Band Concert - November 30

Musicians' Corner - A New Place To Track Our Folder

Dear Band Members,

We will use a page on our website to keep you informed as to the musical pieces that should be in your folder. Simply click: “Musicians’ Corner” to view the current list. Additionally, this news will be conveyed on our blog as a reminder. Please turn in all extraneous music beyond this list as soon as possible. These are the only pieces that should still be in your folder as of the date listed below. This list will be updated as necessary. Please send all updates to Allison, the webmaster, at admin@montgomeryvillagecommunityband.org.
Thanks, Lisa, Jocelyn and Betsy

List Update: November 9th, 2012
These Pieces Should Be IN Your Folder
Angels We Have Heard on High
Benny Goodman: the King of Swing
Bugler's Holiday
Bugler's Rebuttal
Das Pensionat
A Fireside Christmas
God Bless America
A Hanukkah Festival
Marche des Parachutistes Belges
Pageant
Pas Redouble
Radetzky March
The Rakes of Mallow
Rhapsody for Hanukkah
Santa Claus Comes to Dixieland
The Star-Spangled Banner
The Stars and Stripes Forever
Strathcarron
Variations on a Korean Folk Song
White Christmas

The following pieces should have been recently REMOVED From The Folder.

Aviators

Chimes of Liberty

Falcon’s Landing March

Ignition

Lerner and Lowe in Concert

March to the Scaffold

My Fair Lady

October

 

Free Concert in Frederick This Weekend

The U.S. Army Concert Band presents a free patriotic concert at the Weinberg Center for the Arts in Frederick, Maryland, on Saturday, November 10, 2012 at 7:00 PM (EST). Come join us as we Celebrate Our Veterans! For Free Tickets: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/4293367578/eorg# The Weinberg Center is located at 20 West Patrick Street, in the heart of historic downtown Frederick, Maryland (a map is included on above link).

Manchester String Quartet Performance, Monday, November 5, 2012

Please join us on Monday, November 5, 2012 for the Manchester String Quartet Concert Series at the National Institutes of Health. The concert is free and begins at 12:30 p.m. in the Masur Auditorium, Building 10. The Quartet will perform "Subtitled by the composer." Beethoven Quartet in F Minor, Opus 95 "Serioso". The Quartet will also perform the cancelled: "If Mozart wrote it, he must have meant it!" Mozart Quartet in C Major, K 465 "Dissonant". Future concert dates: Monday, November 19, 2012 Monday, February 25, 2013 Monday, March 11, 2013 Monday, April 1, 2013 Monday, May 6, 2013 This series is made possible by The Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences (FAES).For reasonable accommodation needs, please contact Sharon Greenwell at (301)496-4713 or email sg115f@nih.gov National Institutes of Health Office of the Director Office of Communications and Public Liaison Special Projects Branch

Aviators March Recording

Enjoy a recording (2min 48sec) of John Philip Sousa's "Aviators March" at  listen >.  The march is on MVCB's program for the Falcons Landing concert on Sunday, Nov 4, 2012.  

Virginia Grand Military Band - Silver Spring - Sept 23

The Virginia Grand Military Band’s

CONCERT IN MARYLAND

SUNDAY, September 23^rd at 2 PM

Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center – map attached

7995 Georgia Avenue

Silver Spring, MD 20910

Admission:  ONLY $15 – tickets are sold at the door

Band Directors and Students Admitted FREE

Navy Commodores at Black Rock Sat 7/28

U.S. NAVY COMMODORES

Saturday, July 28, 2012 7:00 PM 
FREE

A fantastic opportunity to hear the Navy's premiere jazz ensemble! No tickets or reservations necessary; feel free to bring lawn chairs and non-alcoholic refreshment.  Information >

Steve Wampler Debuts as Music Director

Steven Wampler debuted Sunday June 3, 2012 as the new Music Director of the Montgomery Village Community Band by conducting the band's performance at Maryland Community Band Day 2012.

A Brief History and Reflections on KLEZMER Music

contributed by Bill Brasile* 

Klezmer is “music of uncontrollable joy fused with irrevocable pathos. Echoing the sounds of its long-lost homeland of Eastern Europe, it mirrors and interweaves with the musical kaleidoscope of its new home in America.” (Inna Barmash, Why Klezmer? - http://www.princeton.edu/~klez/klezmer.shtml).

Virginia Grand Military Band - Concert dedicated to the memory of Gordon Bowie

contributed by Marlin Strand

I went to the February 18 concert of the very excellent Virginia Grand Military Band thanks to the courtesy tickets they provided to members of MVCB. I was very impressed with their mistake-free performance and intonation that was so precise that overtones swirled through the auditorium at Hayfield High School in Alexandria. Gordon had been a member of the band for several years and they presented his composition “Current Events” as part of their program.

Airmen of Note Free Concert March 22

Free concert by the US Air Force Airmen of Note jazz ensemble.  March 22 7pm - Damascus High School, 25921 Ridge Road, Damascus, MD

Factors Influencing Membership and Stability in Adult Amateur Bands - GW Bowie

Extracts from the Gordon Bowie Paper” (1990)

AN OVERVIEW OF FACTORS INFLUENCING MEMBERSHIP RECRUITMENT AND STABILITY IN AMERICAN ADULT AMATEUR BANDS

Edited By Marlin Strand

with a special emphasis on Band Leadership and its impact on

Success, Growth and Sustainment of the Community Band

There are numerous success stories in the band movement, but many community bands flourish briefly, and then decline in the face of personnel pressures.  Traditional bands that have survived through the years and maintained the valuable and artistic repertoire of the adult band (distinct from the educational repertoire) need to adapt and grow as times change if they are not to dwindle and perish.  Because society as a whole no longer places a premium on adult band membership, the key issue is attracting and retaining enough of the right players to allow a band to perpetuate its special activities.

Gordon Bowie and Band Leaders: Excerpts from RB Hall Dissertation

Gordon Bowie and Band Leaders: Snippets from his Dissertation on RB Hall – 1993

(The editor’s comments are in italics; M. Strand, Feb.2012)

RB Hall lived during the heyday of town bands. Every town had a band of some kind, and larger towns and cities often had several competing bands. These bands needed instructors, as well as fresh music to play. Before the advent of instrumental music education in the schools, participation in a community band was the primary means of learning to play a band instrument. Oftentimes Itinerant music teacher were professional bandsman who offered private lessons on all instruments and rehearsed the town band and other musical groups. The role is an honored one:

Big Band Bash - Ellington & Basie

Paul Nisson provided links to these videos as inspiration for 'Big Band Bash'

Bye Bye Birdie - Feb 25, 26

Amanda McCurry, Tom Nixon, Ric Okin, and Kelly Wagner will be in the pit band for Congregation Har Shalom's production of Bye Bye Birdie, Feb, 25 and 26.  Information >   Tickets >

Browningsville Band Needs You!

from Amanda McCurry

The Browningsville Cornet Band is currently in rehearsals for its 128th consecutive year.  We are a small community band performing at functions throughout the summer, mainly in the Mount Airy - Damascus - Monrovia area.  While we're small, we need more musicians!  Our music may not be as challenging as Poet and Peasant or Rolling Thunder, but we have a lot of fun.  A great way to keep your chops up over the summer, or bring yourself up to speed on a second (or third, or fourth) instrument.  Have a high school student in the family?  Students can earn service hours for performances!  We especially need horns and low brass, but all instruments are welcome.

We rehearse on Friday nights, 7:30 - 9:30, through the end of May at the Providence (Kemptown) United Methodist Church, Monrovia, MD.  Come on out and play with us - you'll see a familiar face or two!  For more information, see Amanda McCurry (mccurry.amanda@gmail.com) https://sites.google.com/site/browningsville/

Saxophones and tubas and euphoniums, oh my!

Contributed by R. Kelly Wagner

The annual Navy Band Saxophone Symposium was held this year on January 20 and 21st at George Mason University in Fairfax; I have tried to attend this every year since we moved to Maryland, although in January 2011 I missed it. So it was good to get back to atttending this year. The Symposium follows a similar format each year, with the events starting on Friday afternoon, a big concert by the full Navy Band on Friday night, more events all day Saturday including master classes and lectures, and a big concert by the Navy Commodores (jazz band) on Saturday night. The big evening concerts have lots of guest soloists, who usually are also presenters of master classes and/or solo recitals during the daytime events.

Franz von Suppé - Poet and Peasant - Overture

Excellent example of Poet and Peasant Overture suggested by Paul Nissan.

John King's Eulogy for Gordon - Jan. 14, 2012

Tribute to Dr. Gordon W. Bowie

Memorial Service

Robert A. Pumphrey Funeral Home

Bethesda, Maryland

January 14, 2012

By John King

President, Montgomery Village Community Band

It’s wonderful to see so many people here to celebrate Gordon’s life.  I’m John King, president of the Montgomery Village Community Band, a 70-member all-volunteer ensemble that rehearses Wednesday nights in Montgomery Village and performs concerts throughout the area.  Gordon directed the band for the last 13 years.

BSO Academy for Amateur Musicians - June 23-30, 2012

Dear Rusty Musicians and Friends,

This is a special invitation to all musicians who have applied to become a BSO Rusty Musician. Many of you have performed in our Rusty Musicians program multiple times, and know the thrill of performing onstage with Music Director Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra! I want to take this opportunity to invite you to apply to our upcoming week long BSO Academy, which will be held June 23-30, 2012 at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

Gordon Bowie Memorial Service - Program and Comments

Montgomery Village News Obituary for Gordon Bowie

Gordon Bowie Memorial Service, Donations

The memorial service (celebration) for Gordon Bowie will be at 10am on Saturday, January 14, 2012 at the Robert A. Pumphrey Funeral Home, 7557 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda, MD 20814.  Phone 301-652-2200.  Directions >

In lieu of flowers we would ask those who wish to make a donation to contribute to the Montgomery Village Community Band in Gordon's memory.  Please make checks out to Montgomery Village Foundation with a notation or instructions that they are for the MVCB/Gordon Bowie Memorial Fund.  This notation will allow them to restrict use to the band.  Send contributions to The Montgomery Village Foundation, 10120 Apple Ridge Road, Montgomery Village, MD  20886.

The Always Amazing Gordon Bowie and the Incredible Montgomery Village Community Band

It’s All About the Music: Everything in the life of Gordon Bowie revolved about the music that he performed, conducted, composed, taught or examined for copyright.  From the podium at the head of the 70-piece Montgomery Village Community Band, Gordon reminded his players weekly that it was the music that mattered.  He taught them to love and appreciate how they could come together to make music that was greater than the efforts of any one of them.  He taught his audiences to appreciate what they were hearing.  It was all about the music.

Gordon W. Bowie, Ph.D, conductor, composer and musician, died January 5, 2012 at the age of 67 after a long fight against prostate cancer.  For the last twelve years, he was conductor of the Montgomery Village Community Band in Montgomery Village, MD; before that he was conductor of the Bangor (Maine) Band, a semi-professional band in the old New England Town Band tradition.  His own instrument was the Bass Trombone, which he played in the Bangor (Maine) Symphony Orchestra for 32 years before moving to Washington, DC in 1997, where he continued to play with Virginia Grand Military Band, National Concert Band of America, and Legacy Brass Quintet.