Concert Band
Concert Band members are selected from qualified CMU
musicians. Members do not have to be music majors or minors. The group performs in various venues, both on and off campus.
Performance repertoire includes traditional band music and the most
recent wind literature.
Each spring, the Concert Band embarks on a five-six day performance
tour. It has also traditionally performed at many state and regional
conventions. The group also sponsors CMU's annual Alumni Band Day.
History of the CMU Band
The Central Methodist University Band was organized in January 1910.
Twenty-one students under the leadership of fellow students, R.W. Carrol
and N.W. Brickey prepared selections for a concert tour through Missouri
in March of 1912. The band continued under student leadership until
World War I.
In the fall of 1925, with the establishment of the Swinney Conservatory
of Music, Keith King Anderson, a student completing his music degree,
became the band's director. He revived the concert tour, making it an
annual affair beginning with a tour of Southern Missouri is 1926.
Following his graduation in 1927, he joined the faculty and established
a tradition of
excellence in bands for the next twenty-five years. Under Anderson's
innovative leadership and fine musicianship and that of his successors:
Dr. Thomas E. Birch, 1952-64; R. Kenneth Seward and Nancy Heitmann
Seward, 1964-66; Dr. Joseph A. Labuta, 1966-67; Paul A. Montemurro,
1967-72; Keith E. House, 1972-95; Central's name has become well known
for its outstanding bands and its contribution of well trained band
directors and music educators. Today, more than seventy alumni of CMU
serve as high school band directors throughout Missouri.
The CMU Band has received many distinguished honors. The Marching Eagles
Band has performed on nationally televised St. Louis Cardinals and
Kansas City Chiefs football games. The Concert Band and Jazz Ensembles
have performed often for state and regional meetings of band directors
and music educators. The band has been acclaimed on an international
level through the release of eight record albums in the "Heritage of the
March" series distributed to band enthusiasts throughout the free world.
Two commercial recordings with Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey's
Circus Bandmaster Merle Evans were released by Fidelity Sound Recording
Co. in January 1985.
Guest conductors and soloists that have appeared with the CMU Band
include Clark Terry, Don Menza, Engene Rousseau, John Woody, Mike Vax,
Paul Bierly, Merle Evans, Kenneth Slater, Claude Smith, Robert Hornyak,
Warren Covington, Vaclav Nelhybel, Urbie Green, Joseph Phillips, James
Murphy, Rich Matteson, Gary Foster, Charles Erwin, Jack Peterson, Bill
Watrous, Byron Autrey, Jeff Tyzik, Dave Mancini, Bill Sears, James
Slutz, Don Panhorst, Mike Metheny, and Lynn Zimmer.
There are numerous chamber music ensemble opportunities at Central
Methodist University. Brass Choir, Woodwind and Brass Quintets, Trumpet
Ensemble, and Woodwind Ensemble are but a few. There are also
opportunities for students to solo with the Concert Band on numerous
occasions.
