And the band plays on...

By: Dustin Looney
Features Editor

Did you know that more than 150 Monmouth College students participate in band at Monmouth College? That means that approximately 10 percent of MC students are band members. Membership has increased substantially since the college began increasing its overall enrollment, and this is a good indicator of the broad liberal arts education MC offers.

The music department is not only expanding in quantity, though, they are also increasing their level of performance, according to MC’s director of instrumental activities, Steve Richter.

“I think this year, like last year, is just a continuation; we’re getting to an extremely, extremely high level,” Richter said.

Director of choral activities, Sarah J. Graham, said in addition to the experienced upperclassmen, the band has an impressive group of talented freshmen.

“We’re really excited about the freshman class coming in this year. They have great attitudes, and they have high skill levels,” Graham said. “The program is not only growing in quantity, but in quality, too.”

Among the many talented new faces in the band is freshman trumpet player Andrew Shelly from Galesburg. Shelly, who has been playing the trumpet for eight years, said he is enjoying playing for Monmouth.

“I’ve had a fairly good time in the band here so far,” Shelly said. “It seems a lot more relaxed than my high school band, but I guess that’s because of the small size of the school.”

Shelly plays his trumpet for the marching band, which consists of approximately 100 members, including the musicians, the dance team and flags.

The marching band will perform on 16 occasions this fall, including all six of Monmouth College’s football home games.

Other components of the MC band program include the Monmouth Winds, two jazz bands, a percussion ensemble and a chamber orchestra.

Sophomore Raleigh Moon plays the bass guitar for the jazz band, and he says the band is looking really good.

“We’ve got a full jazz band this year and we’re sounding pretty tight,” Moon pointed out emphatically. “We’ve got some great soloists and I’m going to play some pretty wicked bass solos myself.”

Moon is from Galena and he has been playing the bass guitar for six years.

Although making ‘tight’ music for people to enjoy is the jazz band’s obvious priority, Richter, who specializes in the clarinet, also plans on helping the community.

“This year we’re also going to be focused on community service,” Richter said. “We want to take what we do here at the college and give back to the community, and just try to make the whole area more aware about the art of music.”

This is another example of how Monmouth College encourages and furthers the arts among its students and its community.