SEQUIM — “A Childhood Remembered” is the theme for the Sequim City Band’s first indoor concert of the year at 3 p.m. Sunday.
The concert will be in the Sequim High School auditorium, 610 N. Sequim Ave. The band’s concerts are free but donations to support it are accepted.
The theme was prompted by the approach of spring and the traditional association of rebirth, new growth and youth, according to a band news release.
Under the direction of Tyler Benedict, the band will perform a variety of tunes that conjure up memories and celebrations of youth. Musician and author Cynthia Webster will be the guest announcer.
The arrangement for Sergei Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” will include Webster telling the story of a brave and resourceful boy who challenges his grandfather’s authority.
Forest animals are brought to life by members of the band. The flute trills a pretty bird song, the slinky cat is portrayed by clarinets, the oboe squawks out a waddling and unfortunate duck, and a wolf is heard in the growling of trombones. Grumpy grandfather is played by the bassoon while the entire band gives life to Peter.
This symphonic fairy tale for children is Prokofiev’s most performed work.
“Fantasy on Childhood Songs” by David Moore is a humorous arrangement of well-known nursery rhymes and tunes including “Pop Goes the Weasel,” “I’m a Little Teapot” and “Ten Little Indians.”
These bits and pieces are interwoven in a medley.
“A Childhood Remembered” by Rossano Galante is a light and lyrical composition that evokes a simpler but joyous time
Similarly, “Children’s March” (“Over the Hills and Far Away”) by Percy Grainger is a jaunty tune with a hearty, infectious melody and lively rhythms. Grainger often based his works on well-known folk tunes. This jolly melody is entirely original, according to the band’s release.
He dedicated it to “my playmate beyond the hills.”
The band will perform “The Seal Lullaby” by Eric Whitacre. The band composer was approached by a movie studio to put music to the opening poem of Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Seal.”
It evokes the calm undulating rhythm of the waves rocking a seal pup to sleep, the release said.
Brian Balmages’ work entitled “… Not Afraid to Dream” is a memorial to a former high school band member that was commissioned by a school in Rochester, Minn. While the opening is subdued and full of grief, the piece moves into a celebration of life and the soaring spirit of youth.
What is a childhood remembered without a nod to Walt Disney?
“Disney at the Movies” will include many classics from “The Jungle Book,” “Peter Pan,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Pocahontas,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin” and “The Lion King,” to name a few.
March composers will be represented by John Philip Sousa’s “Easter Monday on the White House Lawn” and “Barnum and Bailey’s Favorite” by K.L. King.
A clarinet quartet, Toot Sweet, will be a featured guest of the Sequim City Band.
Toot Sweet will highlight two movements from Georges Bizet’s “Jeux d’enfants” (“Children’s Games”), composed as a 12-movement piano duet piece.
Several movements have been arranged for other ensembles, including a clarinet quartet. “Trumpet and Drum,” is a perky march Bizet wrote to invoke music that might accompany children playing with toy soldiers. “The Wooden Horses” is an effervescent gallop that recalls children dashing about “riding” those horses.
Toot Sweet has been performing for the past five years and plays a range of music from classical to contemporary.
The group has regularly performed at the Port Townsend Victorian Festival, where they play wearing Victorian Era costumes, Sequim’s George Washington Inn during Lavender Festival, where they feature American composers, Olympic Theatre Arts Off-Stage First Friday in Sequim, various farmers markets and private parties, and the Candlelight Concert series at the Trinity United Methodist church in Port Townsend.
The quartet is comprised of clarinetists Nancy Peterson of Port Ludlow, Mark Holman of Poulsbo and Janet Proebstel of Sequim plus bass clarinetist Vicky Blakesley, also of Sequim.
