Manchester Civic Band : North Manchester, Indiana

Here Comes Summer…ready or not!!

linda — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 15:58:23 +0000

Summer fun is here and it starts with our summer concerts. You may have listened to us this spring at the Peabody Tulip Festival or at the Akron United Methodist Church.

We continue the fun into summer with three concerts in June. Peabody’s on June 16th, Silver Lake Days on the 19th and Timbercrest on the 23rd.

We will celebrate the 4th of July in style with music and fireworks at Manchester College. Then join us for Fun Fest in August where the theme is Pirates on the Eel.

As always, new members are always welcomed to join us on Wednesday nights at 7:30 pm.

Practices Start January 13th

eric — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:24:31 +0000

Don’t let cabin fever wear you down, band practices resume January 13^th at the Manchester High School band room. Reg has brought back several recently played pieces to focus on accuracy, intonation, and endurance for an upcoming concert at the end of February. Check out the setlist page for details. Practice starts earlier than usual, at 7:00 PM, so come early and keep warm with the band.

See you Wednesday!

Dog Days + Hurricane Season = Band Practice

eric — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 13:29:39 +0000

It’s August, the time of Dog Days and Hurricane Season. For some band members these events occur on Wednesdays after practice all year long. For Reg our director, it’s time to get out a whole new set of tunes for the late summer and fall concerts, which feature a selection of swing band tunes and traditional marches. While many bands are closing up for summer or just starting for the fall, the civic band is in full action. Watch for the band’s flatbed trailer on August 8^th at the annual Funfest Parade in North Manchester, followed by a concert in Akron August 28^th. Come September the band will be back at Peabody and Timbercrest, then performing their last outdoor concert September 27^th at Doud’s Apple Orchard’s annual fall festival. The days may be cooler, but the music will remain hot. Find your way to a concert, or get out your horn and join the fun next Wednesday. See you then!

Summer at Last!

eric — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:10:54 +0000

The band has survived yet another cold winter and rainy spring, and is ready with a great set of music and five free concerts in a three week span. June is the one of the best times for live outdoor concerts, when the weather is just right or ever so slightly chilly. You’ll like the large batch of new music put together in what director Reg Smith calls a “1940′s pop concert.” The first concert is June 17th at Peabody, followed by the annual downtown concert at Silver Lake days June 20th, Timbercrest June 24th, Akron Arts Fest June 26th, and Manchester College Fourth of July concert on… the Fourth of July. Check out our concert schedule page for details. You can’t get this much free music anywhere else in the area.

See you at the concert!

Full Band Practices Start February 18

eric — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 16:37:07 +0000

Many in the band have been braving many cold and snowy Wednesday nights these past few weeks working on swing band tunes. During these long dark nights it’s hard to believe that the sun is actually shining after band practices some parts of the year. Although it is hard to believe, those ninety-five degree summer concert days are right around the corner. Reg has been working hard on putting together and spring and summer concert set, including swing tunes from the winter, several new tunes, and many summer time classics. The first full band practice is coming up too, on February 18th at the Manchester High School band room. (For directions click here, or plug Latitude 41.009236, Longitude -85.772259 into your GPS…)

Also, a tentative 2009 Season concert schedule has been posted. You know the trumpet section has already marked their calendars, check out the dates for yourself.

See you Wednesday!

What a Year!

eric — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 21:33:19 +0000

The Civic Band just finished its 36th Annual Concert Season with a packed house at Timbercrest Retirement Home on Wednesday, December 10th. For the Christmas series this year the band paid tribute to Leroy Anderson, whose centennial celebration of his birth has been going on all year. He wrote Sleigh Ride, The Syncopated Clock and Blue Tango among other countless familiar tunes. It was a emotional time for all, as the band takes its annual break for several weeks over the holidays and early January. Imagine, Wednesday night without the warmth of your ol’ brass instrument, the sights of vintage music, the sounds of sight reading new tunes, and the tastes of “Uptown” favorites. In fact, it was just too much to miss, so the band will be pulling out new music starting NEXT WEDNESDAY December 17th, and then take two weeks off before starting again in the new year.

See you Wednesday!

A Quality Band playing Quality Christmas Music

eric — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:39:19 +0000

Believe me; I know it’s early to be talking up Christmas. Speaking editorially, I avoid all retail stores from mid-October until the week before December 25th so that I don’t have to see all the overdone marketing schemes, screaming kids, and scary Santas. On top of that there is a LOT of TERRIBLE Christmas music covers out there. But the Civic Band isn’t a bad cover group or a pop flavor of the week, and Reg does an excellent job selecting rich musical arrangements each holiday season.

Reg once again pulled out a recent favorite of the band, John Tatgenhorst’s arrangement of “We Three Kings.” Tatgenhorst is a music composer and arranger for film and television, including Batman: The Animated Series. He’s also done two large scale Christmas projects, notably one in 1984 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London and the Chicago Synthesizer-Rhythm Ensemble, recording the album Turned on Christmas. Talk about a combination! The blog Keeper of Records ranks this album as one of “The Best of the 12 Discs of Christmas” and has this to say:

“It’s not exactly Switched-On. But it’s not quite Mannheim Steamroller either. What it is is an interesting collaboration between the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London and the Chicago Synthesizer-Rhythm Ensemble. There’s a heavy emphasis on the orchestral here. Synthesizers take a lead voice here and there, but are never overpowering. The main players seem to be percussion, brass and strings. You’ll hear Ann Mortifee singing on O Come, O Come Emmanuel; Carol Of The Birds; God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen; and Silent Night. This album appears to never have been reissued on CD. Although it does have a very ’80s sound (some may mistake it for production music), it has held up well.”

Yes, it does have a very ‘80s sound, but that’s alright. “We Three Kings” features the Alto Saxes and French Horns and really shows what both instruments can do. One would wonder if it was wishfully intended for Stan Kenton’s “Mellophnium Band” of the early nineteen sixties, which recorded A Merry Christmas filled with several wailing mellophonium parts. I think if any band members just happen to own a quality Conn 16E mellophonium they should bring it in and wail on this tune…

The band is quickly working up this tune among other holiday works. Trust me, even if you are a scrooge you are going to like this stuff. We still have open practices every Wednesday night up to the concerts and would love to have you join in.

See you Wednesday!

Tis the Season is Coming

eric — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:57:14 +0000

The civic band just finished a wonderful fall concert series, with one last 2008 outdoor concert at the Akron town park for Pike Lumber Company fall’s picnic. While some band members wore their jackets, it was still by far not the coldest outdoor concert the band played (ask Reg some Wednesday after band for details). After the performance, the band enjoyed stew and cobbler courtesy of the local boy scouts. Talk about being spoiled with these paid gigs!

Although the leaves are still fully changing colors and slowly falling as are the temperatures, the band is already preparing for their Christmas/Holiday Concert Series. The band will be sight reading tunes for one or two weeks and then working up a great set of holiday standards and new classics. On top of it all, this year marks the 100th birthday of Leroy Anderson, composer of Sleigh Ride and other Christmas favorites, and the band will be making sure to take notice. Reg is working up a concert set that will even make your average Scrooge grin a little bit.

The videos from the Fall Concert Series can now be seen at the Video Gallery page, located underneath News & Events on the left link bar. Also check out new pictures from our recent concerts at the Photo Gallery. A special thanks to all who take pictures and videos of our concerts!

See you Wednesday.

Fall Concert Series in Full Swing

eric — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 23:54:52 +0000

Sunday, September 28th was a perfect weather day at Doud’s Apple Orchard near Denver, Indiana as the civic band performed a double set of tunes. Visitors to Doud’s heard the band as they enjoyed corn mazes, hay rides, and free samples of preserves and apple cider. The band of course had a lot of fun too, playing tunes and receiving a free bag of apples and gallon of apple cider. Who said community band musicians didn’t get paid?

Just several days before, the band performed their fall concert set at Timbercrest Retirement Home. You can watch four videos of the band from this concert now on YouTube. Check out
Wayfaring Stranger, Nettleton, Tijuana Brass in Concert, and Carnaval In Sao Paulo! Why do you need to watch “reality TV” programs when you can watch real reality music here?

If your still looking for live music of the band, don’t worry, the civic band will be in Akron on October 4th at 5 PM to finish off the Fall Concert Series. Enjoy these fine autumn days in your favorite lawn chair listening to some great tunes. This series has been a real hit, and will end wonderfully as the band is definitely not ready to give up on warm weather and warm weather music quite yet.

Lookin’ for a Fox

eric — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 00:37:32 +0000

The civic band is beginning it’s fall concert series on September 17th with four concerts in two weeks. This includes two outdoor concerts: our annual event at Doud’s Apple Orchard near Denver (Indiana, of course) on September 28th, and a new concert to the series at the South Whitley Fall Festival on Saturday, September 20th. Several members of the band are alumni of Whitko High School located in South Whitley (all but one of Whitko High School’s marching band Regional Division I rankings were earned by current Manchester Civic Band members), and other band members live or work in South Whitley.

While South Whitley is a small and quiet town off the beaten path, it is home to Fox Products. No, it’s not a hunting ground nor salvage yard, it’s a manufacturer of double reed instruments. In fact, some of the best bassoons in the world are made at the Fox plant in South Whitley. So, with a major double reed production plant within 15 miles of our Wednesday night practices, the civic band is packed with bassoon and oboe players, right? Well… let’s just say the band is looking forward to more double reeds joining us.

The fall concert series always brings together a great combination of tunes for the shorter and cooler days. Bring out your lawn chairs (maybe a jacket, just in case), pour yourself a cup of apple cider, and enjoy the tunes.

See you Wednesday, at Peabody!