 This material covers the 3rd concert – Friday, June 15th, 2012, 8:30p – 9:30p Site: Medina’s Uptown Park Square (intersections of Rtes. 18, 42, Broadway and Liberty Street) Cancellation of concerts due to the weather will be posted on the website! MEDINA: Medina Community Band will continue the 2012 summer season, a celebration of 153 years of presenting community concerts in Medina, on Friday, June 15th, 2012, at 8:30p, in Medina’s Uptown Park Square Gazebo. Featured soloists and conductor on this hour-long concert will be: John Connors, trombone; Amy Dragga and Vicki Smith, clarinet duet; LuAnn Gresh, Marcia Nelson-Kline, and Mary Phillips, trumpet trio; and Joe Stuart and Women Sing; as well as associate conductor Curtis Amrein. The Medina Community Band is under the baton of conductor Marcus Neiman, starting his 39th summer concert series, and associate conductor Curtis Amrein beginning his second summer season. The 60 minute concert will feature works by Rossini, Mendelssohn, Clarke, Goldman, Fillmore, and Sousa. Medina Community Band is sponsored by the Medina Community Band Association, a standing committee of the Medina Breakfast Kiwanis Club. Featured Soloists  After honing their skills for a year, Women Sing! is striking out and performing in a wide array of venues. Some of these venues include opening the Cleveland Indians game with the National Anthem on July 21, 2012, singing with the Medina Community Band under the direction of Marcus Neiman during two Friday evening concerts in the Medina Square gazebo this summer, and offering their arrangement of “God Bless America” to the National Day of Prayer event this past May. During the past year, Women Sing! has also shared their music with several churches in the area and the Medina County Home. Future events are scheduling quickly and include performances for the Medina County Arts Council in the fall of 2012. Director of Women Sing!, Joe Stuart, has a bachelor of arts in music from Charter Oak State College in New Britain, Connecticut and a performance diploma from the America Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. He has studied voice extensively under instructors from Julliard, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Chicago Conservatory of Music. During his professional career, Mr. Stuart has performed with many symphonies, opera companies, and show companies, including the Miami Opera Company, the Miami Symphony Chorus, the Atlantic Civic Opera, the Kenley Players, and the Dallas Symphony Chamber Orchestra. He has 35 years of choral conducting experience and vocal coaching to professional actors, singers, and musicians. If you would like more information on Women Sing, please contact Mr. Stuart at womensing@zoominternet.net.  John, who attended Highland High School and graduated in 2007, is a recent graduate of Ohio University, where he received a BM in trombone performance and a minor in jazz studies. His principal teachers have been Ray Harcar, Chris Hayes, and Andy Millat, and while in Athens he performed with the Symphonic Band, Wind Symphony, Orchestra, two big bands, and the Ohio University Marching 110, as well as numerous chamber ensembles. In May of 2009, he performed on the stage of Carnegie Hall with the National Collegiate Wind Ensemble, under the direction of famed conductor H. Robert Reynolds, former director of bands at the University of Michigan and current conductor of the wind ensemble at the University of Southern California. May of 2011 saw John inducted into the Beta Phi chapter of Pi Kappa Lambda, the national music honor society, and most recently, in February 2012, he was a finalist in the Student Soloists’ Competition at Ohio University, playing the trombone concerto by Launy Grøndahl. Outside of school, John is a Specialist in the U.S. Army, playing with the Ohio Army National Guard’s 122nd Army Band in Columbus. He has been with that ensemble for four-and-a-half years, and currently performs in the brass quintet and the concert band. Since returning home in March, John has also been playing with the Brass Band of the Western Reserve. In the fall, John will attend Duquesne University in Pittsburgh to pursue additional studies on trombone at the graduate level. He currently resides with his family in Granger Township. An avid portrayer of trombonist Arthur Pryor, John will be performing his little-known solo The Supervisor in period uniform, with an instrument of the same model as Mr. Pryor’s, built in 1922.  Mrs. Smith earned the bachelor of music, magna cum laude, and the master of music degrees from Bowling Green State University where she studied conducting with Mark Kelly, James Neilson, Harry Begian, and E. Richard Strange. Additional coursework has been completed at the University of Akron, Ashland University, and the University of LaVerne, CA. Mrs. Smith maintains professional memberships in the National Association for Music Education, Ohio Music Education Association, American School Band Directors’ Association, and Kappa Delta Pi (education honorary) and serves as an OMEA adjudicator and OMEA District 6 large group adjudicated event chair. She performs in the Medina Community Band as a clarinetist and has served as clarinet clinician at the North Central Ohio Adult Music Camp at Ashland University. She is married to Michael Smith and they are the parents of three adult children. The Smiths reside in Sharon Township.
 Trumpet Trio (left to right: Mary Phillips, Marcia Nelson-Kline, and
LuAnn Gresh)
Conductors  He received his bachelor of science in music education degree from The University of Akron; master of music in music education degree from The University of Michigan; and, post-degree doctorial work at The Kent State University. He is a member of the 1993-94 class of Leadership Medina County. Neiman remains active with Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA), having served as state president of that organization from 1998-2000, and currently serves as a woodwind adjudicator and state historian. He is the recipient OMEAs highest honor, the “Distinguished Service Award,” presented to him on January 29th, 2010. Neiman is the artistic director and founding conductor of the professional concert band – The Sounds of Sousa Band and appears throughout the nation as a guest clinician and conductor. Marcus and his wife Mary Ann, who is a professional clarinetist and program administrator - preparatory and continuing education department for the Cleveland Institute of Music, reside in Medina with their two cats Sasha and Dmitri. Marcus has two daughters (Nancy and Jennifer) from a previous marriage, three granddaughters, one grandson, and a godson.  Curtis Amrein (associate conductor, at
right) is a band director at Barberton Middle School in Barberton (Ohio). His responsibilities include
teaching sixth-ninth grade bands in addition to fifth and eighth grade general
music. Under his direction, students in
Barberton have received superior ratings at Ohio Music Education Association
large group and solo and ensemble adjudicated events.Curtis received his bachelor's degree in music education from The Ohio State University in 2004, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude. While there, Mr. Amrein performed with the Symphonic Band, Wind Symphony, and Symphony Orchestra. He is a trumpet student of Timothy Leasure and was the 2004 recipient of the Richard Burkart Trumpet Award. Curtis' conducting teachers include Dr. Richard Blatti and Marcus Neiman. Mr. Amrein serves as both an associate conductor and trumpet player with the Medina Community Band. He also performs with the Sounds of Sousa Band, under the direction of Marcus Neiman. Curtis is an active member of the Ohio Music Educators Association, National Association for Music Education (MENC), and Ohio Education Association. The 2012 season is Curtis’ second as associate conductor of Medina Community Band.
Program Notes
Star Spangled Banner (John Stafford Smith arranged by John Philip Sousa) uses lyrics from a poem written in 1914 by Francis Scott Key, a then 35-year-old amateur poet after seeing the bombardment of Fort McHenry at Baltimore, Maryland, by Royal Navy ships in Chesapeake Bay during the War of 1812. The poem was set to the tune of a popular British drinking song, written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a London social club. Set to Key’s poem and renamed “The Star-Spangled Banner,” it would soon become a well-known American patriotic song. It was recognized for official use by the United States Navy in 1889 and the President in 1916, and was made the national anthem by a congressional resolution on March 3, 1931 (46 Stat. 1508, codified at 36 U.S.C. § 301), which was signed by President Herbert Hoover. Before 1931, other songs served as the hymns of American officialdom. Most prominent among them was “Hail, Columbia” which served as the de facto national anthem from Washington’s time and through the 18th and 19th centuries. Following the War of 1812 and subsequent American wars, other songs would emerge to complete for popularity at public events, among them “The Star Spangled Banner.”  He composed at a terrific speed, completing 38 operas in 23 years. He suddenly and mysteriously quit writing operas at the age of 37 and spent 10 years completing his Stabat Mater. He ultimately settled in Paris and was the witty leader of the artistic world until his death. He was highly regarded as a cook and his dinner parties were renowned. He invented a number of recipes including Tournedos Rossini, a perennial favorite. La Gazza Ladra is an opera in two acts with libretto by Giovanni Gherardini. Its first performance was on May 31, 1817 at La Scala. The story is that of a maid servant who is sentenced to death for the theft of a silver spoon that, just in the nick of time, is found to be the work of a magpie. John Philip Sousa – George Washington Bridge March was written to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of George Washington, a Bicentennial Commission in Washington, D.C., was formed. A gala celebration was held, the climax being an impressive ceremony, at the Capital Plaza on February 22, 1932. The commission had asked Sousa to take part in the final ceremony, and he composed this march for the occasion. In this affair, one of two final appearances before his death, Sousa conducted the combined bands of the U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps in the new march. Loyal Legion. This march was written to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, an organization composed primarily of American Civil War officers and their descendants. The anniversary celebration was held in Philadelphia on April 15 and 16, 1890, and the U.S. Marine Band was ordered by the secretary of the navy to participate. A new arrangement of the march by Donald Hunsberger has increased the playing of the march. Much of the march appeared in Sousa’s Operetta “The Queen of Hearts” (1885).  The Supervisor . Very little is known about the trombone solo other than it was probably written either during Pryor’s time with the Sousa Band or shortly thereafter. The bandstration has been realized by North Carolina band director David Seiberling.  The origin of Shenandoah is not known. Some believe it originated among the early American river men or Canadian voyageurs. Others believe it was a land song before it went to sea. Most agree that it incorporates both Irish and African-American elements. Shenandoah was tremendously popular both on land and sea and was known by countless names, including: Shennydore, The Wide Missouri, The Wild Mizzourye, The World Of Misery-Solid Fas (a West Indian rowing shanty that may be older than other versions), The Oceanida and Rolling River. Ticheli has developed one of America's most beloved folk songs into a gorgeous concert band setting. A shimmering beauty prevails throughout the transparent sonorities that mark the overall design of the piece, yet the mood easily shifts into moments of power and grandeur- intense and uplifting moments that capture the noble American spirit inherent in the song.  His Concertpiece, No 2 for Two Clarinets, was composed in 1832, and was originally for clarinet and Basset Horn. Written as bravura pieces, each one is a self-contained mini concerto with three movements. Heinrich Baermann and his son Carl were two of the great clarinet virtuosos of the 19th century, their artistry celebrated the length and breadth of Europe. To their friendship with Felix Mendelssohn we owe this composition. An interesting aside, retold by Carl Baermann, who reports that the alternative title of the first piece, ‘grand duet for sweet yeast dumpling and cream puff, clarinet and basset-horn’, stems from a culinary duel fought between him and Mendelssohn in Berlin at the end of 1832. By preparing yeast dumplings and cream puffs, Baermann apparently persuaded Mendelssohn to respond to a commission that his father had given him some time earlier, encouraging him to slave away at his ‘piano stove’, while he himself busied himself in the kitchen.  Clarke was probably one of the two best-known players in cornet history. Proud of his Yankee heritage, he was born into a musical family in Woburn, Massachusetts, where his organist father assured all his sons through training in several instruments apiece, but tried to dissuade them from pursuing musical careers. Nevertheless, Herbert and his trombonist brother Ernest were to become famous soloists, first in Patrick Gilmore’s historic ensemble (then conducted by Victor Herbert), later with John Philip Sousa. At one time, Clarke was Sousa’s highest-paid soloist, but despite efforts of the great man to keep him permanently, Clarke’s band leading and composing interests were to take him on long sojourns. Much to Sousa’s frustration, in fact, Clarke insisted on retiring from solo performance on the cornet at age 50 (a cut-off point he had set for himself in his youth – that on one might ever say to him, “he doesn’t play as well as he did in his prime.”) A composer of 240 works, Clarke brought the curiously rigid form of the cornet solo as far as it could reasonably go in harmonic interest and wealth of musical ideas. Clarke recorded most of his 50-odd solo cornet compositions, including Bride of the Waves (recorded five times, the earliest in 1904), Sounds from the Hudson (1904), Caprice Brilliante (1908), Southern Cross (1911), and Stars in a Velvety Sky (1911). His Flirtations (1923) cornet trio, will feature soloists Lu Ann Gresh, Marcia Nelson-Kline, and Mary Phillips.  The Goldman Band became one of the greatest in history and Goldman’s name became synonymous with musical excellence throughout the United States. He was the dean of bandmasters and certainly one of the most celebrated that ever lived. His famous series of live free concerts in New York’s Central Park and Prospect Park in Brooklyn were heard by more people than any other series of concerts in the world. He projected the spirit of old bandstands, the feature of every old-fashioned park and village square. He helped foster through his concerts a wholesome and happy nostalgia to the people of a great metropolis. This march, On the Mall, which encourages the audience to sing along and then whistle along at the trio, was written in 1923 for the dedication of the Elkan Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park (New York City). The title derives from the park’s spacious mall, where the bandstand is located, and where New Yorkers enjoy gathering to listen to music.  According to the lyrics of the song, a renowned Chicago, Illinois street musician is drafted into the U.S. Army during the wartime draft imposed by the Roosevelt administration. In addition to being famous, the bugler was the "top man at his craft," but the Army had little use for his talents and he was reduced to blowing the wakeup call (Reveille) in the morning. This caused the musician to become dejected: "It really brought him down, because he couldn't jam." The Cap (an Army captain—the company commander) took note of the blues man's blues and went out and conscripted more musicians to assemble a band to keep the bugler company. Thereafter, the bugler found his stride, infusing the military marches with his inimitable street flair: "He blows it eight to the bar - in boogie rhythm." Even his morning calls attain some additional flavor: "And now the company jumps when he plays reveille." But, the bugler is not only empowered, he is possibly spoiled, because thereafter, "He can't blow a note if the bass and guitar/Isn't with him."  According to Herb Block, Henry got into a conflict with his father (who composed and published liturgical music in Cincinnati) over the kind of music that Henry was composing. Henry liked march music and said, “I will huff and puff and I will write my own music.” Hence, the name Will Huff. Fillmore was a true free spirit. He was brought up by a conservative family in a conservative town. When he couldn’t do as he wished, he ran away with a circus and played trombone in the circus band. To top it all off, he married an exotic dancer. The characteristic (or trombone smear) was published in 1923 by The Fillmore Brothers Company (Cincinnati, Ohio). Fillmore, who was considered the “father of trombone smears,” wrote 15 characteristics, over a period of 21 years. All were ragtime pieces reflecting the minstrel show idiom of vaudeville and all were deeply in the ragtime style. The series was advertised with a drawing of a minstrel figure playing the trombone followed by this testimonial: “an attroupement uv unprecedented dithyramb premonstrating dejocosenses uv de perambulatin’ trombone.”  The march was not quite so well received though and actually got only an over-average for a new Sousa march. Yet, its popularity grew as Mr. Sousa used it during the Spanish-American War as a concert closer. Coupled with his Trooping of the Colors , the march quickly gained a vigorous response from audiences and critics alike. In fact, audiences rose from their chairs when the march was played. Mr. Sousa added to the entertainment value of the march by having the piccolo(s) line up in front of the band for the final trio, and then added the trumpets and trombones join them on the final repeat of the strain. The march was performed on almost all of Mr. Sousa’s concerts and always drew tears to the eyes of the audience. The author has noted the same emotional response of audiences to the march today. The march has been named as the national march of The United States. There are two commentaries of how the march was inspired. The first came as the result of an interview on Mr. Sousa’s patriotism. According to Mr. Sousa, the march was written with the inspiration of God. “I was in Europe and I got a cablegram that my manager was dead. I was in Italy and I wished to get home as soon as possible, I rushed to Genoa, then to Paris and to England and sailed for America. On board the steamer as I walked miles up and down the deck, back and forth, a mental band was playing ‘Stars and Stripes Forever.’ Day after day as I walked it persisted in crashing into my very soul. I wrote it on Christmas Day, 1896.” The second, and more probable inspiration for the march, came from Mr. Sousa’s own homesickness. He had been away from his homeland for some time on tour, and told an interviewer: “In a kind of dreamy way, I used to think over old days at Washington when I was leader of the Marine Band ... when we played at all public functions, and I could see the Stars and Stripes flying from the flagstaff in the grounds of the White House just as plainly as if I were back there again.” “Then I began to think of all the countries I had visited, of the foreign people I had met, of the vast differences between America and American people and other countries and other peoples, and that flag our ours became glorified ... and to my imagination it seemed to be the biggest, grandest, flag in the world, and I could not get back under it quick enough.” “It was in this impatient, fretful state of mind that the inspiration to compose ‘The Stars and Stripes Forever’ came to me.”
 Irving Berlin was born Israel Berlin in May 1888. When his father died, Berlin, just turned 13, took to the streets in various jobs, working as a busker, singing for pennies, then as a singer/waiter in a Chinatown café. In 1907 he published his first song, Marie From Sunny Italy and by 1911 he had his first major international hit, Alexander's Ragtime Band. Over the next five decades, Irving Berlin produced an outpouring of ballads, dance numbers, novelty tunes and love songs that defined American popular song for much of the century. In a class by itself is his beloved paean to his beloved country, God Bless America. On Armistice Day, 1939, Kate Smith sang for the first time one of the beloved songs of our people – God Bless America by Irving Berlin.
The Medina Community Band Marcus Neiman, conductor Friday
Evening, June 15th, 2012
Program
National Anthem, The Star Spangled Banner (1931) ............. Francis Scott Key/John Philip Sousa Overture, La Gazza Ladra (1817) ....................................... Gioacchino Rossini/Lucien Cailliet March, George Washington Bicentennial (1930) ................. John Philip Sousa Trombone Solo, Supervisor (1902)........................................ Arthur Pryor/David Seiberling
Folksong, Shenandoah (1880s) ............................................ arr. Frank Ticheli Whistle & Sing-a-Long, On the Mall (1923) ................... Edwin Franko Goldman Clarinet duet, Concertpiece for Two Clarinets (xxxx) .......... Felix Mendelssohn/Harry Gee Vicki Smith & Amy Dragga, soloists Cornet trio, Flirtations (1923) .............................................. Herbert L. Clarke LuAnn Gresh, Marcia Nelson Kline, & Mary Phillips, soloists Vocal solos Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (1941)........................ Don Raye & Hughie Prince/Percy Hall
God Bless America (1918)....................................................... Irving Berlin/Erik Leidzen Women Sing March, Loyal Legion (1890)................................................. John Philip Sousa/Frederick Fennell Trombone Characteristic, Dusty Trombone (1923) ..................... Henry Fillmore National March, The Stars and Stripes Forever (1896).......... John Philip Sousa Patriotic, Till We Meet Again (1918)................................... Richard A. Whiting/William Teague Medina Community Band Personnel
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