@ 3:30 and 7:30 p.m.

Joseph Municipal Band continues the 2010 season summer concerts with its normal set of double concerts on Sunday, July 4th, at the regular 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. times at the 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 Jessica Lovely, and Shawn Edwards, both of South Bend.

The concert begins with "Liberty Fanfare," by John Williams. This is followed by Irving Berlin’s "Songs for American" arranged by James Swearingen, which includes "This is the Army, Mister Jones," "Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor," "This Is A Great Country," and "God Bless America." Next comes a special march written by the comedian Red Skelton appropriately titled "Red’s White and Blue March." 

The band then does a "Patriotic Sing Along" in with Dennis Bowen, a former director of Choirs at St. Joseph High School, who lead the audience in singing "I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy," "America," "America, the Beautiful", and "You’re a Grand Old Flag." Next the band does an unusual duet with Jody Godish playing "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipe accompanied by Bump Enders, trumpet player of the band from Eau Claire. 

The band then honors the veterans attending the concert by playing each of their service songs while they stand up to receive recognition by the audience for their service to our country. The musical salute includes the songs of the Merchant Marines, Marine Corp, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and the Army.

The band then features it’s vocal soloists who will perform a duet in the popular Lee Greenwood song of "God Bless the U.S.A., featuring the guest vocal soloists Jessica Lovely and Shawn Edwards.

JESSICA LOVELY has been very active in choirs in elementary and middle school. She passed the audition for the Adams High School Show Choir as a freshman, and made it into that choir for all four years of high school. At the end of her senior year, she was awarded the National School Choral Award for outstanding music performance. Jessica has completed her first year at Bethel College majoring in music education. As a freshman last year, she auditioned for Bethel's concert choir and was 1 out of 30 new members accepted. In the future she hopes to audition for Bethel's accapella groups included the esteemed ‘Voices of Triumph’. She has also been invited to be a part of the praise and worship team at New Life Christian Fellowship in Mishawaka.

SHAWN EDWARDS from South Bend, IN, attended Catholic school at Holy Family until 4th grade year, then transferred to Greene DEPTH Program for the gifted and intelligent students! He started playing the violin and grew to love and cherish it. Shawn later transferred to LaSalle Intermediate Academy, a magnate middle school for gifted students. He chose to go to Adams High School where he was accepted into the global studies magnate program and was active as a swimmer, football player and regular member of orchestra and show choir. Shawn received the National School Choral Award for outstanding music performance, and begins his sophomore year at Indiana University South Bend majoring in music education and performance.

The band then concludes its July 4 concert with John Philip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever."

Director 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 the principal trumpet of the band play taps. When the front of the stage is all filled with the veterans who served our country so valiantly, the band concludes with its encore.

Concerts continue every Sunday at 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. through Sunday, September 5, and including a set of concerts on Labor Day, September 6