The sky’s the limit: Band prepares for the new year

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BY FOREST LASSMAN

band
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE COLLEGE

As another new semester has started, the college’s bands aim high.

The college’s bands have many new members this year, and Ron Stinson, professor and chair of the department of music and theater, is excited.

“It’s always fun and a challenge,” Stinson said about teaching new stu­dents. “The chal­lenge is because most of them come from high school, and the schedule for music is a little dif­ferent in high school … Here at the col­lege level we practice 50 minutes three times a week, so it’s far less time for rehearsals than they’re used to in high school. The challenge is to get them to understand that and to make sure we get the effort needed to prepare the music in those short time spans.”

Even though it’s a challenge in band, Stinson loves seeing the joy music can cause.

“Learning music is a fun task, but there is also a lot of work involved, and you gotta be willing and ready to put forth a lot of effort when you come into the music program, but the result is you get to play some great music,” said Stinson.

It’s about celebrating new be­ginnings. Since this particular semester I have a whole lot of new students to the music pro­gram, it’s just kind of a way of getting started in the program and the music we preform.
-Ron Stinson

The band’s first performance is Tuesday, Oct. 7. The concert name, “Celebrating Our New Horizons”, was chosen not only because of the song selections, but also because of the new school year.

“It’s about cel­ebrating new beginnings. Since this particular semester, I have a whole lot of new students to the music pro­gram. It’s just kind of a way of get­ting started in the program and the music we perform,” said Stinson.

The next concerts happen Dec. 2, when the bands join forces with New Horizons Band, and Wednesday, Dec. 3, when the department holds a Jazz Night.

The New Horizons Band is a com­munity band led by UMKC profes­sor Lindsey Williams aimed at older musicians, and this is the second year the college has performed with the band.

“We [performed with the New Horizons Band] last December. It’s just kind of fun. His band and my band, we each do a couple of sepa­rate numbers and this year we’re go­ing to put both the bands together and make one big band for the finale of the concert,” said Stinson.

To prevent the concert from being too long, the department’s jazz bands will perform the following day.
According to Stinson, music is a way of life, and he has been follow­ing it for as long as he can remember. As a new day begins in the music de­partment, Stinson is excited to reach for the sky, and go beyond the hori­zons.

 

Contact Forest Lassman, copy editor, flassman@jccc.edu

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