Marshall Municipal Band preview: Band plans Arrow Rock, Marshall concerts this week

The Marshall Municipal Band has two concerts scheduled for this week. The first concert will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 28, on the green next to the J. Huston Tavern in Arrow Rock.

The band will return to the east side of the Saline County Courthouse for its regular concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 29.

The concert will open with the John Philip Sousa march, "The Diplomat." Throughout his life and distinguished career, Sousa met and interacted with many of the world's great statesmen, politicians and even royalty. "This march was composed in 1904 and dedicated to the Secretary of State John Milton Hay, whose diplomatic prowess had impressed Sousa," said Director Kevin Lines.

Ralph Vaughn Williams' "English Folk Song Suite" is next on the program. Vaughn Williams was credited with establishing a new nationalist style based on English folk traditions.

This 1923 composition is in three movements with the titles "Seventeen Come Sunday," "My Bonny Boy" and "Folk Songs from Somerset."

The band will perform a new addition to their repertoire with Felix Mendelssohn's "Concertpiece No. 2."

"This is a wonderful clarinet duet with band accompaniment that will feature Cheryl Lines and Brandon Pace," Lines said.

Cheryl Lines is a long-time member of the band and is the middle school choir and general music director at Bueker Middle School. Pace is a senior at Marshall High School and a member of the Missouri all-state band.

Another new addition to the band's repertoire is Warren Barker's "Swing's The Thing."

This work includes three well-known jazz standards, "Night Train," "I've Heard That Song Before" and "Don't Get Around Much Anymore."

The work was dedicated to the Coastal Communities Concert Band in San Diego, Calif., according to Lines.

The fiery "March of the Spanish Soldiery" by Jean de Smetsky of Belgium is next on the program, Lines said.

de Smetsky attained success with this composition that he composed for the soldiers in World War I. Many notable bands, including the Sousa Band, the Frank Simon Band and the Cities Service Band of America, performed early editions of this march.

The band turns to the music of the ever-popular composer Leroy Anderson with his composition, "Horse and Buggy."

Written in 1951, this work musically depicts the slower-paced world of traveling by a horse-drawn buggy, Lines said. Former MMB director Charles Ferguson will step to the podium to direct this number.

The band turns to the music of Broadway with music from "My Fair Lady" by Lerner and Loewe. This medley includes "With a Little Bit of Luck," "On the Street Where You Live," "Wouldn't it be Loverly," "Get Me to the Church on Time," "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" and "I Could Have Danced All Night."

Composer Fred Jewell is featured in the next work, "High and Mighty." Jewell dedicated this march to Perry George Lowery, who was a brilliant cornetist and bandleader.

Lowery is best remembered as the leader of the sideshow band for the Ringling Brothers-Barnum and Bailey Circus from 1919 to 1931.

The closing trilogy will include another new work to the band's library, "Lead On, O King Eternal," by James Swearingen.

This work was commissioned by and dedicated to the Village Presbyterian Church of Prairie, Kan., on the occasion of its 50th anniversary.

Pam Smith Kelly, who is the daughter of the late Missouri composer Claude T. Smith, directed the premiere performance.

"At Dawn They Slept (December 7, 1941)" by Jay Bocook is the band's patriotic work.

This 2002 composition begins softly and depicts the U. S. military presence at Pearl Harbor in the days preceding Dec. 7, 1941.

The sounds of approaching planes and seven notes on the chimes represent the 7 a.m. attack, breaking the tranquility and beauty of that Sunday morning.

"The work concludes with the main theme proudly returning as it depicts the strength and resolve of our nation," Lines said.

The concert will conclude with the band's signature march, "Uncle Sammy."