Campus Band and Choir to Present Dec. 7 Concert

The Kalamazoo Valley Community College concert band and choir will perform together in concert on December 7, 2012. The event, which begins at 7 p.m. in Dale B. Lake Auditorium, is free and open to the public.

The band will play a mix of standard music that has been rehearsed during the semester, plus a few selections of Christmas music. Band director Christopher Garrett said the concert is a culminating concert for the choir and band classes.

Garrett said the band is likely to play Bramsteder March, a 'polka-like' selection that features two band members, Dawn Garrett on clarinet, and Christine Griffith on piccolo. The band is also working on an arrangement of folk songs collected in the Appalachian Mountains around the turn of the century. These mountain singers were descendants of immigrants from the British Isles. Several other arrangements will also be performed.

The band includes 60 members from Kalamazoo and surrounding communities. The members are flute players: Jamay Bourner , Kim Britton, Christine Griffith, Camille Huss, Ashley Keeler, Amanda Mulholland, John Nigg, Jan Kruse-McCoy, Jamie O’Grady, Theresa Rodriguez, and Karen Smeltzer; clarinetists: Christine Baker, Bob Brush, Julie Carpenter, Dawn Garrett, Kala Hall, Steve Heimann, Jessica Magyar, and Russell Stahr; bass clarinet players: Nick Tompkins and Danielle Daugherty; alto sax: Jeffery Brewster, Michael Burns, and Hugh Lynch; tenor saxophonists Jorge Cortez, Andy Covell, and Ward Vanderberg; baritone sax player: Laroy Bell; oboist: Traci Glasscock; bassoon players: Hans Engelke and Ruth Birman; trumpet players: Matthew Brandt, Betty Brown, Katherine Davidson, James Eckler, Korey Hovious, Merle McCoy, Martin Wright, and Thelma York; horn players: Joanne Decker and Frank Jess; trombonists: John Dickey, Quentin Dorsey, Benjamin Hastings, Doug Lynes, Philip Myers, Zachary Pelfresne, and Bill Short; euphonium players: John Griffith, George Sylvester, and Jim Woodhams; tuba: David Budner, Ryan Ewing, George Forrester, and Fritz MacDonald; percussionists: Jocelyn Bamberger, Ashley Barry, David Ginebaugh, Jamar McCaskey, and Elizabeth Minor.

Choir director Michelle Bauman said the choir enjoys exploring many genres and will be presenting some sacred pieces, spirituals and seasonal pieces, as well as some folk music. One selection, an Appalachian song, will feature music instructor, soprano Ann Marie Boyle, as soloist with David Fischer on Soprano Recorder.

Several of the choir’s songs feature interesting accompaniment additions including a concert opener “O Come Together and Let Us Sing” with a trumpet trio. A Lyrical prayer set to the text of Psalm 121 featuring a Bb Clarinet and Cello, “Earthsong” a beautiful cry for peace featuring ghostly harmonies and vivid dynamic contrasts with the choir accompanying with hand chimes.

The choir’s members include sopranos: Kara Grodecki, Sarah Lord, Autumn Malquist-Hubert, Amanda Mulholland, and Abigail Snow; altos: Miranda Borka, Alexandra Fall, Macy Nielson, Sarah Pawlik, Alyssa Reyes, and Mikaela Wyatt; tenors: Leroy Bell, David Fischer and Sean Hughes; bar/bass: Nathan Boyt, Gabriel Guzman, Joseph Mack, and Juan Carlos Sanchez; accompanist: Linsey Furry.