MONDAY, JULY 4 HOLIDAY CONCERTS @ 3:30 and 7:30 PM

The St. Joseph Municipal Band continues the 2005 season summer concerts with its normal set of double concerts on Monday July 4 at the regular 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. times at the newly renovated John E. N. Howard Band Shell in downtown St. Joseph overlooked Lake Michigan. The July 4 concerts are traditional in that they will feature all patriotic music and will again honor the veterans of all our services that have helped keep our freedom for the United States of America. Featured vocal soloists in the concert will include Gary Cooper, principal trombonist of the band, as well as Brinden Brown, guest vocal soloist.

The band begins its patriotic concert with Morton Gould’s "American Salute,." a brilliant fantasy for band using only the theme of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again."

This is followed by "The Liberty Bell," by John Philip Sousa, perhaps one of the first marches to bring substantial financial rewards to Sousa.

Next the band offers a Patriotic Sing-A-Long for its audience, lead by guest vocalist Brinden Brown and will include "Yankee Doodle Boy," "My Country Tis of Thee," "America the Beautiful," "Dixie," and "You’re a Grand Old Flag,."

One of the most patriotic composers is Irving Berlin whose songs will be hear next in "Irving Berlin’s Songs for America." The collection includes "This is the Army, Mister Jones," "Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor," "This Is A Great Country," and "God Bless America."

An artistic arrangement of "America the Beautiful," by Carmen Dragon, comes next followed by the next part of the program which features all veterans who served in all our wars and conflicts over the years who stand and receive the appreciation of the audience, during the time when their service branch song is sung by the two vocalists for the concert, Gary Cooper and Brinden Brown.

The band then introduces it’s band member vocalist for the concert, Gary Cooper, the principal trombonist of the Municipal Band, who attended Lake Michigan College, Indiana University at South Bend, and the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. Cooper has played with the Michigan Opera Orchestra, the South Bend and Kalamazoo Symphonies, and the Chicago Civic Symphony. He has performed as a soloist with Southwestern Michigan Symphony, Elkhart Symphony, St Joseph Municipal Band, Chicago Civic Symphony and sang in the Chicago Symphony Chorus. Cooper performs in a chamber vocal group called Opus Nine. He is Artist in Residence in the St. Joseph and Lakeshore Public Schools. Cooper also teaches at the CARE Arts Center for the Salvation Army and provides private lessons. He is an active clinician and soloist throughout the Midwest. Gary Cooper, who will sing Lee Greenwoods popular song "God Bless the U.S. A.

The "Battle Hymn of the Republic" follows by Peter Willhousky, and the concert concludes with John Philip Sousa’s most famous march "The Stars and Stripes Forever."

Dr. Moely indicated that before the encore for the concert is played (which is the last strain of "The Stars and Stripes Forever"), all the veterans are asked to come up on the stage to receive a final recognition for their service to our country, while two trumpets of the band play taps and its echo. When the front of the stage is all filled with the veterans who served our country so valiantly, the band concludes with its encore.

The hour long Municipal Band concerts at the newly renovated John E. N. Howard band shell are held each Sunday at 3:30 & 7:30 p.m. through out the rest of the summer to Sunday, September 4 and then conclude with the final set of concerts Monday, September 5, Labor Day.

Last updated on 06/28/2007