Friday, May 16, 2008

Concert Season is Here!

The Stonewall Brigade Band's Summer season starts this weekend with
two of our annual events.

Saturday we will be playing at the New Market Battlefield Park as a
part of the annual reenactment of The Battle Of New Market. The
concert is at noon in a tent just outside the Hall of Valor at the
park. There is an admission charge to the park (but of course band
members get in free.)

Sunday will be the 31st year that the band will play for the
Baccalaureate and Commencement at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton.
We play a 30-minute "prelude" concert at 9:30 am, then the
processional, a hymn, and after the conferring of degrees we play the
Mary Baldwin Hymn and the recessional. I arranged "God of Grace and
God of Glory" for this event 31 years ago, and our librarian, Cindy
Hosaflook, updated it by putting it in to Finale and undoing a
modulation to the last verse about 5 years ago. I also arranged the
MBC hymn which is sung to the tune of "Children of the Heavenly
Father" at the same time. Our processional is the typical "Pomp and
Circumstance" main melody, as arranged by James Ployhar, and our
recessional is Alfred Reed's arrangement of R. Vaughan Williams' "Sine
Nomine". The event is held on the terrace on the "uphill side" of the
library, and moves to Augusta Expo half an hour later in the event of
rain.

Our Brass Ensemble will be playing for two annual Memorial Day events
over Memorial Day weekend. All band events can be found on the
"schedule" link on the band web page.

The 120th annual season of Summer Concerts in the Park will begin on
June 2 and will continue every Monday at 8 pm at the Stonewall Brigade
Bandstand in beautiful Gypsy Hill Park in Staunton VA. Concerts are
held "rain or shine," and the programs are shown on our web site.  

This is Bob's 33rd year of conducting the Summer Concert Series.  It is the 120th-annual season of concerts in Gypsy Hill Park, going back to the year the park was established and the trees were planted.  This is the 154th continuous year of service for the band. 

We have added over 20 new members to the band since last Summer, and
expect this season to be one of the best ever. As always, band
members begin setup about 7 pm, with tune-up at 7:40 and downbeat at 8
pm. Concertgoers should bring lawn chairs or blankets, as there is
limited permanent seating at the bandstand. In addition there are now
several "pull in" parking spaces available on the "horseshoe" section
of the park drive so that handicapped persons can listen from their
cars. Come early for best parking.