Chicago Staff Band performs with the Boone High School Concert Band
by Lt. James M. Beardsley
For the Boone, Iowa, community, especially the 72 members of the Boone High School Concert Band, the visit of the Chicago Staff Band (CSB) in late Februarywill long be remembered.
The CSB’s visit included performing a miniconcert for 65 band students from the Boone Middle School and leading worship at the Grace Community Church to their full congregation, but the highlight of the visit was a Saturday evening concert, An Evening of Music, which featured the CSB and the Boone High School Concert Band.
A year and a half in the making, the concert was well attended by more than 400 members of the community, giving students and their parents a new appreciation of The Salvation Army and strengthening its relationship in Boone.
The concert band, directed by Mr. Chris Truckenmiller, began the concert with Frank Ticheli’s Simple Gifts, Movement 4 and Randall Standridge’s composition “Whiplash,” which showed off their versatility and skill.
Following the concert band’s offerings, the CSB took center stage and performed an awe-inspiring one-hour set with a wide variety of pieces from Marcus Venables’ “In Awesome Wonder” to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, arranged by CSB member Joshua Turner, to Dr. Harold Burgmayer’s arrangement “Can You Dig It?” featuring four popular tunes of the rock band Chicago. Their numbers featured soloists Marc Smith, Major John Aren, Brett Tolcher and A/Captain Paul Bower.
Then the two bands combined to perform Andrew Mackereth’s “Dance Like David” and Ray Steadman-Allan’s march “Southdown.” The finale featured Richard Wagner’s Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral.
According to Harold, the CSB was glad to travel to the great state of Iowa, home of the “Music Man” and “Seventy-Six Trombones,” where banding is highly valued. “It was special to hear Salvation Army pieces, like ‘Southdown’ and ‘Dance Like David,’ played by a high school band,” he said.
“The Boone High School Band is so grateful that we got the opportunity to play with the CSB,” said Chris. “They were inspiring and so fun and easy to work with. Our students enjoyed getting to know the members over dinner and had a truly special concert that night. We will remember this for a long time and hope we can do another one soon.”
