First Annual Community Band Festival a Success

The Quakertown Band, Merion Band and Montgomery County Band got together!

Where were you on Sunday, Feb 22nd? If you weren'€™t with us, you missed a great time. The Famous Quakertown Band participated in a Community Band Festival that was the first of it'€™s kind in this area. The Quakertown Band, the Merion Band and the Montgomery County Band got together at Souderton High School and put on a wonderful concert for those in attendance.

Each band performed for approximately 35 minutes, showcasing the kinds of music they like to present. And in between each community band performance, the Souderton High School Jazz Band entertained the crowd while chairs on stage were being re-arranged for the next ensemble.

The Quakertown Band decided to program songs that were representative of our diverse musical stylings. We played a movie-score piece called Resplendent Glory, which we'€™ll also be featuring in our upcoming March concert (Sunday, March 22nd at Strayer Middle School, 2:30 pm). The piece is fun and exciting, with gorgeous soring French horn melodies and triumphant trumpet themes.

We then played a Richard Karschner arrangement of Leroy Anderson'€™s The Typewriter, featuring Bruce Walters and Theresa Scarlatella out from on marimba and xylophone. It was not at all hard to appreciate their talent, and the audience erupted in applause when they were done.

Then we performed a Duke Ellington medley that was composed specifically for the Quakertown Band by famed arranger Kenny Moyer called Sophisticated Ellington. The medley includes Don'€™t Get Around Much Anymore, Take The A Train, Sophisticated Lady, It Don'€™t Mean a Thing, and Do Nothin'€™ Till You Hear From Me. Keith Spencer was featured as the vocalist, and the performance was amazing! Judging by audience reaction, it was easily the crowd-favorite of the entire day!

Then Keith sang his famous rendition of Ol'€™ Man River, accompanied by Pat Hallman at the grand piano. It'€™s not the kind of song you'€™d normally hear from a concert band, but it'€™s just so good, we decided as a band that we'€™d allow the audience to enjoy it while Keith was with us.

And we ended our set with a performance of Sousa'€™s March of the Mitten Men. We'€™d normally end with Stars and Stripes Forever, but there were two bands coming on after us, so we thought this a better choice. The members of the Quakertown Band were excited to perform for the other bands'€™ talented musicians, and that excitement helped us to produce one of our strongest performances of musical quality in recent history.

The day contained lots of great band music, and a pretty wonderful spread of food for everyone to enjoy afterwards. It provided an interesting opportunity for the three band'€™s members to fellowship together, and it was an equally interesting opportunity for the audience to meet and greet all the band members and talk about music together. It was truly a wonderful day, and we look forward to next year'€™s '€œSecond Annual Community Band Festival'€�.