BETHEL — The Mahoosuc Community Band will hold its annual holiday concert at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8, at the West Parish Congregational Church.
Jane Chandler, who has been a member of the Mahoosuc Community Band for 17 years, said the band will add several new selections to their holiday concert, including “The Ludlows” from the movie “Legends of the Fall,” and “Music of the Beatles,” arranged by Michael Sweeney.
Chandler said the band finds the songs they perform at each concert by using the Buy-A-Song program.
“The Buy-A-Song program allows us to browse songs or arrangements by different musicians and purchase it from them so we can perform it ourselves,” Chandler said.
Other songs the band will perform, Chandler said, include “Go Tell It On the Mountain,” arranged by Jay Dawson and “March of the Toys,” arranged by Otto Langey and Herbert Clarke.
Chandler said when the time comes for the band to choose new songs, they take recommendations from a music committee that consists of band members.
“Someone from the committee may say, ‘Hey, I’m interested in such-and-such type of music,’ and we’ll look into the Buy-A-Song program and see what we can find,” Chandler said.
In a recent news release, Chandler said the band originally formed 20 years ago after the “SAD 44 music program was eliminated for a few years as a cost-saving effort.
“Since then, both the SAD 44 music program and the Mahoosuc Community Band have grown,” she said. The community band now includes people from Hanover, Rumford, Dixfield, Waterford, Woodstock, Greenwood, Bethel, Albany Township, South Paris and Berlin, N.H.
Chandler said the band also performs at Memorial Day and Veterans Day events.
“Our group has been very supported over the years by the veterans,” she said.
Anyone who wishes to join the band to begin preparing for next year’s holiday concert can visit the group rehearsals from 7 to 8:45 p.m. on Mondays at the West Parish Congregational Church in Bethel. Rehearsals for the 2014 concert will begin on Jan. 6, 2014.
For more information, call Chandler at 357-3524, band director Patricia Boyle-Wight at 824-8453 or President Kathleen DeVore at 875-2364.
mdaigle@sunjournal.com
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