Happy New Year!

Well, almost!

The Milwaukee Community Music Blog takes a week off between the Holidays.

Next week will be the Concert Calendar for the second half of the 2014 - 2015 concert season.

The roots of community music

The Holidays always are more festive with music.  Whatever your choice is for celebration at this time, there is a good chance that your friends and neighbors will be volunteering their musical talents to make those celebrations more wonderful.  Be sure to thank them for their music making.  The musicians playing church services or Holiday concerts at senior centers are the roots from which the community bands and orchestras grow.

And whichever Holiday you keep, may it be a wonderful one for you!

Horns A Plenty Christmas

This event is a special Holiday treat for performers and listeners alike.  The Horns A Plenty Christmas event is part rehearsal, part concert, part master class, and all fun.

The event is open to all French Horn players regardless of ability.  You can show up and register, get a Horns A Plenty T-Shirt to wear during the concert, and the book of music to play.  All of the proceeds go to horn scholarships.  This year, Horns A Plenty Christmas events have happened in South Milwaukee and Kansas City, and will happen in Appleton on Saturday December 20.  This year the event returns to the Fox Valley Lutheran High School on Appleton's north side.

This year's special guest is Sarah Schmalenberger.  She teaches Horn at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis.  She will lead the master class at 11:30.  All performers are invited to attend the master class.  The concert rehearsal for performers is set for 1 PM.

For non-players, the concert is free and enjoyable, will take about an hour (no intermission), and will begin at 2PM.  If you enjoy the music and want to contribute to the scholarship fund, there will be an opportunity to do so.  And all contributions go directly to the fund.

For more information, you can see the Horns A Plenty web site or the Facebook page.

Take some time out of your schedule to enjoy this performance.  It is well worth the effort.  And I love the Cherry Tree Carol!

Milwaukee Festival Brass and Waukesha Area Symphonic Band concerts

The Milwaukee Festival Brass will present Holiday In Brass on Saturday evening December 13th at their new home:  the Performing Arts Center at Pius XI High School on North 76th Street in Milwaukee.  Music Director Mark A. Taylor was kind enough to summarize the program for us.

“Holidays rituals are richly interwoven with music,” said Music Director Mark A. Taylor.  “Everyone has treasured songs and traditions that unleash a flood of memories.  But the season also provides us with an opportunity to hear new melodies – or sometimes even familiar ones in a new way – that teach us to appreciate our loved ones and our communities with a fresh perspective.”  The concert will feature no fewer than thirty unique Christmas and Hanukkah songs in a program compiled from master composers and arrangers for the brass band. 

The band is honored to devote the second half of its program to the brass band works of local musician, Andrew Wainwright.  Currently based in Milwaukee, Mr. Wainwright is a noted arranger and composer with a lengthy list of accolades gained from performances with some of the finest brass bands in the United States and United Kingdom.  The Milwaukee Festival Brass is especially pleased to be presenting many of Mr. Wainwright’s works in their regional premieres.  These works are sure to surprise and delight brass band enthusiasts and merrymakers.

More information, including group rates, are available from the MFB web site.  The MFB Holiday concerts are always wonderful.  I hope to see you there.

On the evening before you can join the Waukesha Area Symphonic Band on Friday December 12 at 7:30 PM in Shattuck Auditorium on the campus of Carroll University for some festive music of the season.  Not only will the full band perform, but many chamber ensembles from within the band will share their music.  It is definitely worth taking some time out of the busy schedule to enjoy this music. 

And the best part is that the admission is free!  The folks at WASB ask that you bring non-perishable food items to help stock the local food pantry. 

For more information, or to see their concert poster, just check their web site.