High School Band Concert Held on April 30th

The Mercer Band program will host their spring concert on Thursday, April 30th. The concert will begin at 7:00 p.m. in the high school auditorium.

This will be the final concert of the year with the theme of "Faces of Courage". Joining the Mercer Bands program for this event will be Patrick Burns, Adjunct Professor of Music at Monclair State University in New Jersey and founder of Bandworks Publications.

Here is a description of the evening as told by Mercer Bands Director, Dr. Travis Weller:

In addition to a number of moving works, we are please to welcome Patrick Burns, Adjunct Professor of Music at Montclair State University in New Jersey and founder of Bandworks Publications. Patrick will be conducting Harford Rhapsody with the Sr. High Wind Ensemble, and will conduct the combined bands in grades 7-12 on Electric City Celebration. In addition to performances by our three academic concert bands, our jazz ensemble will perform works by Brubeck, Monk, and Miles Davis on the program.

 

Our Senior High Concert Band will perform a work by Stephen Melillo entitled Those Who Serve, a homage to armed service personnel past and present. They will also present Ask Not, which chronicles the life and time of our 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy. The Wind Ensemble will perform a powerful and moving tone poem honoring Civil Rights activist Rosa Parks. Mark Camphouse’s Movement for Rosa is a moving tribute to her life represented by noble and uplifting themes that are contrasted by dark and at times haunting material representing the racial tension that she faced and still underpins parts of our society. The Middle School Concert Band will perform a fantastic setting of three American Revolutionary War-era folk tunes by Larry Neeck. Sons of Liberty includes “Chester” by William Billings, “Paul Jones Victory” which details the battle between the USS Bon Homme and the HMS Serapis in 1779, and the well known and celebrated “Yankee Doodle” that was originally used by the British to mock the Continental Soldiers and later turned into a rallying cry for young American Army. They will also debut Hammer and Rail, which pays tribute to the legend surrounding John Henry through use of the folk song “This Old Hammer”. The combined groups that make up the Symphonic Concert Band close the concert with music from the motion picture The Hunger Games. Prior to the emergence of the Katniss Everdeen in those novels, few female heroines have risen to such popularity in American popular culture and at the same open a door for young people to engage in dialogue about larger social and human issues like war, power, sacrifice, personal ethics, and social inequality. On behalf of the student musicians in the Mercer Bands, we hope that you can join us!