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2023 marks the 155th season of the Michigan City Municipal Band.  The 2023 concert series will consist of ten free Thursday concerts, beginning June 8, and ending August 10.  All concerts begin at 7:30p and last about an hour. The band plays a wide variety of music, with concerts designed to entertain audience members of all ages. The MCMB also plays for the annual Memorial Day ceremony at Greenwood Cemetery, and in the Michigan City Patriotic Parade.

Highlights of the summer concert series include special guest soloists and two commissions by award-winning composers. Soloists will be GySgt. Hiram Diaz, euphonium, from the US Marine Band (August 3); and Anne Marie Bice, soprano (June 22 and 29, and July 13). Other soloists and special events will be announced during the season.

The world premiere of Blue Water, Blue Sky by Catherine McMichael will take place on August 3. Also on August 3, the Concerto for Euphonium and Band by Tom Davoren will showcase the band with world-class euphonium soloist GySgt. Hiram Diaz, in three beautiful and dazzling movements.

In addition to being outstanding performers, many of the band members are also successful conductors. Some of those conductors will be featured on individual compositions throughout the summer.

Jeffrey Scott Doebler is the conductor for the MCMB, and Quincy Ford is the assistant conductor. Dr. Doebler serves as director of music education and bands at Valparaiso University. He is a past president of the Indiana Bandmasters Association and the Indiana Music Education Association. He is founder and conductor of Windiana: Professional Concert Band of Northwest Indiana. Mr. Ford, principal saxophone in the MCMB, is retired director of bands from Michigan City High School.

Thursday, June 29, 2023 Concert

The fourth concert of the 155th season of the Michigan City Municipal Band (MCMB) will be held Thursday, June 29, 7:30p, at the Guy F. Foreman Bicentennial Amphitheater in Washington Park. With lots of patriotic music, the concert will celebrate Independence Day.

The June 29 concert repertoire will be:

Golden Jubilee March by John Philip Sousa
Old American Songs by Aaron Copland
God Bless America by Irving Berlin
Bugle Call Rag by Eubie Blake and Carey Morgan
Indian Story Time by Brent Michael Davids
The Hoosier Slide by Hale A. VanderCook
The Flying Wedge by Kate Dolby
Peace Like a River arr. Robert W. Smith
Sing-along: A Patriotic Festival arr. Mark Williams
The Stars and Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa

Virginia HernandezIn addition to being outstanding performers, many of the Michigan City Municipal Band members are successful conductors. On five concerts this season, conductors from within the band are being featured, each leading one composition. On June 29, Virginia Hernandez will conduct Bugle Call Rag by Eubie Blake and Carey Morgan. Mrs. Hernandez serves as director of bands at Griffith High School. She earned degrees from Bowling Green State University and DePaul University. Mrs. Hernandez plays trumpet in the Michigan City Municipal Band and Windiana Concert Band. African American composer and pianist Eubie Blake lived from 1887-1983, and was an important creator of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. In 1981, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Born in Indiana, Carey Morgan was an important Vaudeville composer and producer who served in the US Navy during World War I.

John Philip Sousa composed Golden Jubilee March in 1928 to celebrate his fifty years as a conductor. His conducting career began in the theaters of Philadelphia, then he led the US Marine Band for twelve years before leading his own band for 40 years. While on tour in 1914 and 1924, the Sousa Band played concerts in Michigan City.

Anne Marie BiceAaron Copland was considered by many to be the “dean” of American composers, and the harmonies and melodies in his music are recognized as the sound of American classical music. Guest soprano soloist, Anne Marie Bice, will sing a suite of Mr. Copland’s songs, including The Little Horses, Simple Gifts, and Ching-A-Ring Chaw. Ms. Bice will also sing Irving Berlin’s classic patriotic anthem God Bless America. Ms. Bice is a voice professor from Valparaiso University. She has extensive performance experience, sings in a wide variety of styles, and has been soloing with the Michigan City Municipal Band since 2015.

Indian Story Time was commissioned by the Minnesota Band Directors Association. The music uses melodies reminiscent of Dakota and Ojibwe songs, recounting stories from these Native American nations. Composer Brent Michael Davids is the famous Native American composer who has written for ensembles and films, and has been commissioned by the Joffrey Ballet and the National Symphony Orchestra.

Hale VanderCook was probably the second most famous conductor of the Michigan City Municipal Band—second only to Dr. Guy Foreman, who led the band for an astonishing 60 years. Mr. VanderCook conducted the Michigan City Municipal Band for several seasons around the turn of the 20th century. He went on to found the VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, which remains well-known for training music teachers. Maestro VanderCook was also a successful composer. Among the works he wrote while leading the Michigan City Municipal Band was The Hoosier Slide. This light number, also known as a “trombone smear”, features the trombone section with lots of glissandos. One of Michigan City’s tourist attractions of long ago, The Hoosier Slide was a giant sand dune that used to sit where the NIPSCO generating station is now located. The Hoosier Slide disappeared after years of mining to make glass jars.

Kate Dolby composed The Flying Wedge in 1917 as a banjoContinue reading

The Star-Spangled Banner

The Star-Spangled Banner

Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

8-10-23 America the Beautiful

America the Beautiful

O Beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain;
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee.
And crown thy good with brotherhood
from sea to shining sea.

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