UMaine News

UMaine Symphonic Band Begins State Schools Concert Tour March 28

Contact: Curvin Farnham, 581-1254; George Manlove, 581-3756

ORONO — The University of Maine’s 65-member Symphonic Band will take to the road March 28 as it begins its annual Maine public schools spring tour and concert series.

The band will make seven appearances and will share the stage with young public school musicians in some of the performances. For Curvin Farnham, director of bands, the tour is an opportunity to renew old acquaintances with former students.

UMaine student musicians under the guidance of Farnham, who also is coordinator of the School of Performing Arts, and Chris White, director of sports bands, will begin a four-day tour March 28 with a visit and concert at the Hancock Grammar School in Hancock. It will end at with a concert March 30 at the University of Maine at Farmington, whose Concert Band will share the stage with the UMaine Symphonic Band.

The annual tour usually includes schools where former UMaine music majors now are music teachers. Introducing elementary, middle and high school musicians to college-level musicians is inspiring for students, says Farnham, and also is an excellent recruiting method for UMaine.

Members of the symphonic band at UMaine must audition to join. Not all are music majors, but Farnham says all are committed instrumentalists. Some perform with several bands at UMaine — the pep band, concert band, marching band, or one or more of the university’s jazz ensembles or choruses.

In addition to Hancock and Farmington stops, the Symphonic Band tour itinerary also will take members to Searsport, Belfast and Camden on March 29, and Acton and Saco on March 30.

Hancock Grammar School music teacher Dean Paquette’s sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students, plus members of the Hancock community, are looking forward to the UMaine band’s visit, says Paquette, a UMaine alum and former band member. They’ll have a chance to see the UMaine band play a concert at 7 p.m., and the grammar school musicians will be invited to join UMaine band members for one of the final works of the evening.

“They’re a little nervous,” Paquette says of his 27-member band. But they also are looking forward to working with the college musicians in small groups prior to playing together.

Paquette, a saxophonist, recalls his days in the UMaine music program fondly, he says. He and his wife Cathleen Paquette, a flute player, played in bands here, and they continue to renew old friendships with music department faculty, as adjunct instructors at the annual Maine Summer Youth Music Camp at UMaine. Farnham was Paquette’s mentor, with whom he student taught at Hampden Academy when Paquette was a student in 1980, he says.

Paquette says he looks forward to the band’s visit, and remembers previous UMaine band visits to his school.

“I think it’s absolutely good PR for them, but the hard fact to get across to the public is that they sound so good,” Paquette says. “The kids are awesome. They’re really good kids, too.”

Music for the tour includes the piece, “The Passing of the Torch,” written by UMaine band member and music arranger Seth Morton of Lewiston.

The schedule is:

March 28,

Concert at 7 p.m., Hancock Grammar School;

March 29

Morning assembly and concert at Searsport High School, afternoon assembly performance at Belfast Area High School and an evening concert at 7 p.m. at Camden Hills Regional High School, during which high school musicians will join the UMaine band on stage;

March 30

A morning concert at Acton Elementary School in Acton and an afternoon concert at the C.H. Burns Elementary School in Saco; music teachers at those schools also are UMaine alumni; and a 7:30 p.m. concert at First Parish Congregational Church in Saco, at the invitation of the Southern Maine Chapter of the UMaine Alumni Association.

March 31

Concert at 7:30 p.m. with UMF Concert Band members and UMaine Symphonic Band members combined in the gymnasium at UMF.

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