Community Bands unite at VGCC for second annual Festival
Musicians from all over the region converged at the Vance-Granville Community College Civic Center on March 12, when the college hosted the second annual North Carolina Community Band Festival. During the day, members of four bands — the Vance-Granville Community Band, the Raleigh Concert Band, the Durham Community Concert Band, and the Tri-County Honors Band — practiced with professional musicians and guest clinician Evan Feldman. Dr. Feldman is the Conductor of the Wind Ensemble and Assistant Professor of Music at UNC-Chapel Hill. To round out the day, each band performed at an evening concert and then came together to form one “mass band” of around 200 members under Feldman’s direction.
The combined band performed the March from “Second Suite in F” by Gustav Holst, “Irish Tune” (popularly known as the melody from “Danny Boy”) and “Lost Lady Found” from Lincolnshire Posy, both by Percy Grainger, and finally “Stars and Stripes Forever” by John Philip Sousa. Feldman lauded the band members and thanked VGCC music instructor Michael Stephenson for “masterminding” the festival.
Earlier in the evening, the Tri-County Honors Band kicked off the concert with two pieces, “Joy” by Ticheli and “Cumberland Cross” by Strommen. Conducted by J.F. Webb High School band director Clint McCaskill, the band consisted of outstanding high school students from Vance, Granville and Person counties. To substitute for students who could not attend, several adults joined the band for the concert, truly making the ensemble a “Tri-County Community Band,” in the words of McCaskill. Next, the Vance-Granville Community Band, a combination of students and interested citizens from throughout the community college’s service area under Stephenson’s direction, performed the Mexican march “Zacatecas” by Codina, a medley of classic Beatles songs called “The Beatles: Love” by Lennon and McCartney, and “Slavonic Dances” by Dvorak. The Durham Community Concert Band, under the direction of Tom Shaffer, presented “American Overture for Band” by Jenkins, “Russian Christmas Music” by Reed and “Folk Dances” by Shostakovich. The Raleigh Concert Band, directed by Lem Hardy, took the audience “around the world” with music representing various countries. The Japanese folk song “Yagi Bushi” by Iwai was dedicated to the victims of the recent earthquake in Japan. That was followed by “Donegal Moors” (Ireland) by O’Loughlin, “Waltz No. 2” (Russia) by Shostakovich, “Procession of the Sardar” (based on Georgian folk songs) by Ippolitov-Ivanov and the Italian classic “Funiculì-Funiculà Rhapsody” by Denza.
Michael Stephenson expressed appreciation to J.F. Webb High School, Southern Vance High School and Louisburg High School for supporting the festival and loaning equipment.
Above: In the VGCC Civic Center, Dr. Evan Feldman conducts a mass band, including around 200 members of the Vance-Granville Community Band, the Raleigh Concert Band, the Durham Community Concert Band and the Tri-County Honors Band, at the conclusion of the North Carolina Community Band Festival on March 12, 2011. (VGCC photo)
