Montgomery Community Band’s Patriotic Concert Caps Freedom Fest Weekend

Montgomery had several Patriotic events this past weekend with Freedom Fest on Saturday in Historic Montgomery, while the Montgomery Community Band followed on Sunday, with their annual Patriotic concert at Lake Creek High School. The MCB was in full ‘hurricane’ force with its 80 plus members taking the stage of the auditorium located on the campus. Concertmaster Luc Butler tuned up the band to perfection, setting a good omen for the concert. And shortly after, the band self-started with Rick Kirby’s ‘An American FanFare;’ which uses ‘My Country ‘Tis of Thee,’ as a base, and kicks it up a notch increasing its speed and energy. Conductor Adam Haskett took the podium shortly after, and the MCB mirrored the energy of the piece following Kirby’s lead in taking melodic and harmonic liberties from the original score, resulting in a stunning presentation that was simply breathtaking.
MISD’s Marine Corps Junior ROTC cadets, led by retired First Sergeant William Miller IV, then presented Our Nation’s Colors, as ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ was played. The Montgomery Community Band is a great representation of west Montgomery County, allowing area musicians, who played in high school and college, an outlet with their instrument that they may not have played in many years. The band itself was founded several years ago by Joe Fioretti, and with practice as a band for several hours a week. It has grown into a beautiful group of musicians that present a quality and professional sounding product.
Many a concert-goer were awestruck by the crispness of the notes, and the overall presentation of the music, yielding to a product you would think comes from a major orchestra. In ‘Shenandoah,’ the Frank Tichelli composition, the MCB showed the gentle notes ever escalating to the grandeur of the piece, perfectly describing the beauty that the Shenandoah River Valley entails. While with John Phillip Sousa’s ‘The Washington Post March,’ our MCB did Sousa’s MCB, or Marine Corps Band, proud. And if one daydreamed they could find themselves somewhere in their past on a special 4th of July. The Post March is a powerful piece of music that Sousa first presented in 1889, and it showed the caliber of the Montgomery Community Band in playing it to perfection.
July 4th favorites ‘America, the Beautiful,’ and the ‘Armed Forces Salute,’ were memorable, with Veterans standing when they heard their service anthem from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard. Hackett announced that next year, the Space Force Anthem would be part of the rotation. Prior to the Armed Forces Salute, Haskett announced to the audience that 96 year-old WWII Veteran Paul Blackmon was in attendance. Blackmon, who was an 18-year old in 1946, served as a Military Policeman guard at the Hanford Site in Washington state, where nuclear fuel was produced for the Army’s Nuclear Weapons program. He was mustered out of service in late 1947 when World War II was officially declared over.
The playing of the service anthems was special for The Veterans in attendance, and there was no doubt that those Veterans who were in the thick of the action during their conflicts, had a few goosebumps and perhaps a tear hanging over their eyelids for the things they had to endure during their time in service. The MCB and the audience showed their true appreciation to the Veterans and their service to Our Great Nation.
The MCB concluded this years Patriotic concert with Tchaikovsky’s ‘1812 Overture,’ and ‘The Stars and Stripes Forever,’ each having special places in the hearts of concert-goers.
Patriotic concerts are so important to a society that is being torn apart by entities that are hellbent on reducing the amount of American Patriots. By foregoing civics, history, patriotism in schools and community events, and reverence for the U.S. Military and Veterans, young Americans and newly arrived legal immigrants are NOT being encouraged to become ‘American’ and fail to exhibit the attitudes of legal immigrants of yesteryear who were Proud to be labeled as ‘American.’ Thankfully, Montgomery County has made some inroads to the idea of patriotism, but there is still a long way to go, for promoting patriotism is a never ending process, for Freedom must always be defended.
Following the concert, Conductor Adam Hackett, promptly dismissed the crowd telling them, “Go home and get ready for the hurricane.”