BAND TOUR

The first thing that comes to Professor William Hall’s mind when he thinks of the Dana Concert Band’s most recent tour is the Fox Theater in McCook.

Built in 1927 to house both Vaudeville acts and motion pictures, the building had a feel that’s hard to find these days.

“It was just a wonderful place to play,” Hall, the band’s conductor, said. “The band sounded really nice in there.”

It’s one of the experiences Dana College Concert Band members enjoyed on their recent tour through western Nebraska and into Colorado.

Among the other highlights were being part of an artist’s series in Golden, Colo., playing in picturesque Estes Park, Colo., to a large holiday-weekend crowd, and performing as the first concert in Summer Arts Program at a leading YMCA camp. And students also took time to sightsee at the Garden of the Gods, the Air Force Academy, Six Flags and Coors Field.

“The students were just abuzz,” Hall said of one particularly well-attended concert. “The students were wearing their red band shirts, and people would stop the students and ask about the concert and talk to them so enthusiastically.”

The band tours in even-numbered years as both a reward to the student-performers and as a way of showing off Dana’s talent. Only about one-quarter of the band are music majors, meaning the experience could be a last chance to play with a large group for many. For 2004, Hall said he’s leaning toward touring to Chicago, with stops in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Of course, the tours are musical gravy. The main meat of Dana’s concert schedule occurs on campus and in surrounding communities. The band plays four annual events each year, a fall concert (held Oct. 20), a winter concert (March 9), a spring concert (May 8) and at Sights and Sounds of Christmas (Dec. 7 and 8). This year, the band will also give a special concert April 13 at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha. The program will include the debut performance of Prof. Hall’s new American band arrangement of “Parthia for Band” by Franz Krommer.

The piece, originally written in 1825 and never before published, was done as part of Hall’s doctoral dissertation. It is a three-movement concert work written by one of the most important composers of the time. Krommer was the last court chamber music composer for the Austrian Empire and held great influence over his peers.
The continuing excellence of the band reflects Dana’s mission of teaching students actively and broadly, said Dr. Myrvin Christopherson, Dana College president.

“We are proud of our student musicians,” he said. “At Dana, we encourage the development of the whole person, and the Concert Band reflects this. The majority of the members major in a variety of academic areas such as business, education, social work and science. What they all share is a love of music that we hope will be with them for a lifetime.”