The public is invited to Catawba this weekend for a variety of events.
Marching competition
Marching bands from Rowan and surrounding counties will visit the Catawba College campus this Saturday to compete in the third annual Lord Salisbury Marching Band Classic.
Twelve high school marching bands from six counties in North Carolina have registered to participate in the competition which begins at 3 p.m. in Catawba’s Shuford Stadium. Rowan County high school bands will compete, along with bands from Union, Stanly, Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, and Davidson counties.
The event is sponsored by the Catawba College Chapter 1002 of the Collegiate Music Educators National Conference.
Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children ages 6-12 and concessions will be available.
The bands will be categorized according to size division ó smallest to largest (A; AA; AAA; and AAAA), according to the number of wind instruments in each. Bands will perform their marching shows in order to receive critiques, ratings, and trophy awards from a professional judging staff. Each size division will be awarded a first, second or third place trophy for their ratings, and are eligible for the coveted Lord Salisbury Cup, which is presented to the highest overall rating for the day, regardless of class size.
The contest will begin with the National Anthem performed by the College Brass Ensemble. A special exhibition by the Catawba “Pride” Drumline will be presented at 5:30 p.m., preceding the Class 1A-2A award ceremony.
The final award ceremony, to include the presentation of the Lord Salisbury Cup, will take place at 8:45 p.m.
The 2007 Lord Salisbury Classic Cup was awarded to Piedmont High School Marching Panthers from Union County. The 2006 Lord Salisbury Cup recipient was Ledford High School Panther Regiment from Davidson County. Both bands will be present at this year’s event to compete for the coveted 2008 grand champion award.
Concessions, including sandwiches, pizza, soft drinks, bottled water, candies, popcorn and other items, will be on sale throughout the event. Programs containing information about each band and its personnel will also be available for sale.
For more details on the Lord Salisbury Classic, contact Dr. Steve Etters in the Catawba College nands office at 704-637-4408.
Poetry Day
The Poetry Council of North Carolina (PCNC), announces Poetry Day, to be held at Catawba College this Saturday. The program will start promptly at 10:15 a.m. in the Peeler-Crystal Lounge.
Adult and student poets will read the winning poems from the 2008 contests, which appear in the anthology “Bay Leaves.” Winners, their guests, and the general public are invited to attend Poetry Day.
Among the winners is Salisbury’s Janice Moore Fuller who won first place in the prestigious Oscar Arnold Young Book Award competition for her collection Séance.
After a luncheon at 12:30 p.m. for winners and their guests, the public program will resume at 1:30 p.m. with a performance by three finalists from the 2007-2008 Poetry Out Loud competition, who will recite poems from memory.
(For more information about the national Poetry Out Loud program, see www.poetryoutloud.org.)
The day’s events will adjourn by 2:30 p.m.
More information about the Poetry Day program is available at www.oldmp.com/poetrycouncilofnc/2008PoetryDaynews.pdf.
Vernaculars
It’s “Back to Jack” for the Catawba College Vernaculars when they present their first concert of the new school year.
The outdoor event will feature 11 songs made famous by Michael Jackson done up in the Vernaculars’ own way ó heavy on the rock, hold the disco.
Free and open to the public, the concert will be held on the lawn outside the Catawba Student Center Sunday, starting at 3 p.m.
Rare among college and university ensembles, the Vernaculars dedicates its performances to contemporary popular (aka vernacular) music. It’s become a favorite among both Catawba students and area residents over the past several years.
The group’s basic instrumentation includes lead and background vocals, electric guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums. Catawba College associate professor of music Dr. David Lee Fish and adjunct instructor Jimm Mosher direct the band.
The Vernaculars serves as the flagship ensemble of the college’s degree concentration in music business, one of the fastest growing programs of its kind in the country. A recent article by “In Tune Monthly” noted Catawba’s emphasis on popular music in listing the college as one of the “Best Music Schools for 2009” alongside such other institutions as the Eastman School of Music and the Cleveland Institute.
The Back to Jack concert grows out of the Vernaculars’ primary mission, to help its student members gain artistic depth and breadth in poplar music. This comes in part through performance of legacy works that have formed the basis of today’s music and still have an influence upon it.
“Certainly, the songs of Michael Jackson loom large in this regard,” notes Fish.
The Oct. 5 performance will include such well-known Jackson hits as “Thriller,” “Smooth Criminal,” “Billie Jean,” “Beat It,” and “Dirty Diana.”
Emphasizing Jackson’s legacy, the Vernaculars will perform several of his songs as they have been covered by other artists, including David Cook, Alien Ant Farm, and even Weird Al Yankovic.
To open the show, the Vernaculars will feature original songs by several student members of the ensemble. The featured songwriters will include senior music business major Derek Daisey, who placed second out of some 1,300 college students from across the country in the competition for the 2007 BMI John Lennon Songwriting Scholarship.
All Vernaculars performances, including Back to Jack, are open to the public free of charge. “But this time it’s BYOLC,” observes Fish. “Bring your own lawn chair.”
In case of rain, the concert will take place in Catawba’s Florence Busby Corriher Theatre.
For more information about the Back to Jack concert or about how an organization can host its own Vernaculars performance, contact Fish at 704-637-4280 or dlfish@catawba.edu.