Morgan Aprill

Indiana Public Radio will be sponsoring its 10^th annual “Hometown Family Christmas” on December 8. The show is set to take place in Emens Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. The show will feature America’s Hometown Band as well as the internationally acclaimed Ball State University Singers and a special performance by the nationally recognized Royerton Elementary Children’s Choir, directed by Janice Morris. The concert will also include an opening by AHB’s jazz band directed by Dr. Phillip Cooley.

America’s Hometown Band’s jazz band plans on performing what Cooley described as “some real up-tempo, toe-tapping version of Christmas music.” These include a rendition of “Jingle Bells” featuring bass trombonist Will Frazier, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “The Christmas Song,” more commonly known as “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire.”

The concert band plans on playing a festive medley of pieces as well. Some selections include “Sleigh Ride” by Leroy Anderson and “O Holy Night” which will feature vocal soloist Diana Guinn. Other selections include "A Most Wonderful Christmas" by Robert Sheldon, "A Showstoppin' Christmas" by Chris Sharp, and "Gloria" by Randol Bass.

The Christmas show will also feature special Christmas greetings from Ball State athletes, President Jo Ann Gora, and Muncie Mayor Dennis Tyler. 

Contact: Roger McConnell                                                       Tel. 765-289-2041

Email: businessoffice@amhometownband.org

With a new year comes a new concert season and America’s Hometown Band will be kicking off their season at 4:30 p.m. on February 24 at Ball State University’s Pruis Hall. Their concert will be the first in the band’s 2013 concert season.

The show, aptly named “Band Stars,” will highlight some of the band’s most talented members in several featured pieces. Pianist Dr. Philip Cooley will perform George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and Will Frazier will play solo trombone to Arthur Pryor’s “Thoughts of Love.” Piccolo player Rachael Eldridge will also be highlighted in a rendition of Vivaldi’s “Concerto I n C Major.”

 Other feature pieces will include oboist Dr. Aryn Sweeney and saxophonist Dr. George Wolfe.

 A professor of saxophone at Ball State, Dr. Wolfe is a well-known performer who has played across North America and Europe. He has performed with such groups such as the United States Navy Band, The Indianapolis Children’s Choir, and the Royal Band of the Belgian Air Force, among others. He will be playing soprano saxophone on AHB’s performance of “Los Andes” by Adriana Isabel Figueroa Manas which he premiered with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra last year.

 Rounding out the night of star performances will be Dr. Aryn Sweeney’s presentation of “Concertante” by Emilie Paladilhe. Also a Ball State professor, Sweeney is the principal oboist for Muncie’s Symphony Orchestra as well as the Lexington Philharmonic. Sweeney has taught and performed with many artists around the world and in 2005 was prizewinner at the Barbirolli International Oboe Competition.

Other pieces AHB plans to perform include such favorites as “Amazing Grace,” “Star Wars,” and “Stars and Stripes Forever.”

The show is free and open to the public, in keeping with AHB’s stated mission of performing for “town and gown.” Upcoming performances include a St. Patrick’s Day performance, a first Thursday performance on May 2 at Vera Mae’s Bistro, as well as a Memorial Day service at Beech Grove Cemetery on May 27.

For questions regarding the upcoming performance or performances contact Roger McConnell. For more information regarding the band, visit their website at amhometownband.org or call 765-289-2041. 

Kathie Onieal, along with the help of several other community members and an Honors class at Ball State, will be hosting a “Reality Store.” This event will give participants an opportunity to understand how the world works in regards to money, planning, choices, and priorities by moving them through a series of booths.

Eleven booths representing such things as entertainment, child care, and medical will be set up in two separate “Reality Stores,” one for children and the other for adults. Those participating in the event will first pick a job and then be assigned their salary. Throughout the experience, they will try to budget their lives based on these careers and salaries. This includes real-life concerns such as considering insurance, buying a home, and paying for other essential expenses. Our career fair will allow for children to learn how best to budget their money so that they can understand the importance of values and money management at a young age. It will also help adults considering a change in their lives a lesson in just what it takes to make it through those monthly expenses.

Contact: Van Nelson                                                          

Tel. 765-748-1851

Email: vnelson38@att.net

Join the Orchestra for their First Concert of the Season

On November 15, the East Central Indiana Chamber Orchestra will be performing in the Colonnade Room at the Cornerstone Center for the Arts. The concert will begin at 7:30 that evening. 

Teaming up with the Youth Symphony Orchestra of East Central Indiana, the ECICO will perform songs that Van Nelson, the president of the group, said he hopes will take the audience on a fantastic adventure. Starting with Verdi’s “Hymn and Triumph March from Aida,” the listeners will be taken to Egypt where the Egyptian prince has fallen in love with an Ethiopian princess enslaved there—the triumphal music reflecting the prince’s love for the princess.

Following this, Nelson explained, the journey will then head to Scotland as the group performs Mendelssohn’s “Hebride’s Overture,” also known as “Fingal’s Cave.” The music will paint the scenery of the Scottish countryside in the minds of the listeners as they are then transported to an eerie graveyard in the middle of the night. In will come “Danse Macabre” by Saint-Saëns whose piece will evoke the image of skeletons dancing on their own graves, Nelson said.

Finally, the audience will be taken on a voyage into space as the Youth Orchestra plays a selection form Holst’s “The Planets.” Ending the journey, Nelson concluded, will be a performance of the theme from the popular television series Star Trek whose motto was “To boldly go where no man has gone before.”

The ECICO is composed of around 30 musicians—both young and old—from around the area. The orchestra provides an opportunity for musicians who may not have majored in music in college to play in a small symphonic orchestra setting. The group receives support from the Community Foundation of Muncie and Delaware County, the Indiana Arts Commission, and Indiana Public Radio. Nelson said there is even a small number of Ball State students—music majors and non-music majors—who participate in the group.

The Youth Symphony Orchestra of East Central Indiana was founded in 1964 to provide an outlet for middle school and high school orchestral musicians.

The night’s performance is free and open to the public. All are welcome to join the orchestras on this musical journey. For more information about the performance or the orchestras, contact Van Nelson.

EAST CENTRAL INDIANA CHAMBER ORCHESTRA TO PLAY MEMORIAL CONCERT

Group to Perform in Honor of Late Doris Faulkner Stewart, Muncie Music Educator

Come see the East Central Indiana Chamber Orchestra as they perform in honor of well-known Muncie music educator Doris Faulkner Stewart.  The concert will be held on Sunday, March 29th at the St. Lawrence Catholic Church. The event begins at 7:00 p.m. and is free and open to the public, with parking being provided in the lot across from the church.

Doris Faulkner Stewart was one of the first black instructors in Muncie Community Schools and worked for the school corporation for nearly four decades. Faulkner Stewart was the longtime coordinator of the annual Community Christmas Sing. She also was a longtime member and Minister of Music at the Bethel A.M.E. church and helped purchase the church’s first organ. Van Nelson, the director of the ECICO, added that Faulkner Stewart ended her 40-year tenure with Muncie Community Schools as Director of Fine Arts and is known for beginning the annual Thank Sing to raise money for the needy within in the Muncie community.

The ECICO plans to honor the memory and work of this Muncie woman by joining the Planet Earth Singers in a performance of the evening’s featured piece, Theodore Dubois’ “Seven Last Works of Christ.” The orchestra will also perform two other short works: “Cavalleria rustica” by Pietro Mascagni and the first movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony Number 1.

The ECICO is composed of around 30 musicians—both young and old—from around the area. The orchestra provides an opportunity for musicians who may not have majored in music in college to play in a small symphonic orchestra setting. The group receives support from the Community Foundation of Muncie and Delaware County, the Indiana Arts Commission, and Indiana Public Radio. Nelson said there is even a small number of Ball State students—music majors and non-music majors—who participate in the group.

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