APRIL 5, 1968
Concert Band To Go Downstate for Clinic
At this clinic, to be held at the Normal-Bloomington campus of Illinois State University, the bands will give a 30-minute concert and then be rehearsed by a prominent conductor.
Although the primary concern of the clinic is to help perfect Maine West's band by exposing it to different bands and conductors, "You can be sure that when 10 bands get together, there is going to be some sort of comparison," said Mr. Robert Kuite, Music Department chairman.
To provide for a pleasant concert and to win the approval of the judges, the band has been rehearsing three concert pieces since January.
The "Toccata," a sixteenth century piece for organ which has been orchestrated for the full concert band, is more or less a study of sound and its color. To achieve this effect, the band is called upon to pro-, duce a great variety of moods with changes of tempo and intensity.
On the premise that a band is not a band if it cannot march, the Concert Band will also perform an Italian march, "Inglisma," or, in English, "The Little English Girl."
Band Director Mr. Michael Cuthbert, who helped plan this excursion and is to accompany the band tomorrow, remarked about the worth of the clinic by saying, "It will give our students a chance to hear other bands and to be conducted by other directors."
Mr. Kuite will not be accompanying the band on this trip because of a Saturday rehearsal for Bye Bye, Birdie for which he is the conductor.
Of the 10 schools from the state, four, including Maine West, are from this area. These bands from Morton (in Cicero), Grayslake, and Lombard will offer the band good competition. The bands from Pontiac, Morton, and Danville are especially polished.
This will not be the first away-from-home appearance for the band. They have gone to the State Fair every year for the last six years, never being rated below the first division.