Concert Band in Maine

We arrived in Bangor, Maine, yesterday evening. This is definitely as far north I have been in the United States. Maine has an evergreen kind of rustic beauty that appeals to me.

This morning five members of the Navy Band went to Bangor High School (Go, Rams!) to give a music clinic for the band students there. They performed some solos, talked to the students and played some pieces with the students in their band.

Other Navy Band members took in the sights (such as Stephen King’s house) and cuisine (short trip to Bar Harbor for sea food).

Finally the whole band arrived at Bangor High School for our concert. While I was laying out programs for the audience, I met a really sharp-looking gentleman who proudly wore his Navy chief’s uniform. He had many medals including a combat action ribbon for serving at Pearl Harbor.

The Bangor High School Army Junior ROTC detail helped us start the program tonight by presenting the flag for our national anthem. Soloists Chief Musician Luellyn Dollard and Chief Musician Emily Dickson thrilled the audience as they have done many times before. Also we shared the stage with members of local high school bands on John Philip Sousa’s “Washington Post” march. We left the concert with enough good memories to carry us through the snow that will fall all night here in Bangor, Maine, on the second day of spring.

Chief Musician Stan Curtis plays trumpet in the Concert Band