Cottonwood Community Band to perform ‘Pops’ program

The Cottonwood Community Band, under the direction of Dr. Sy Brandon and assistant conductor Neil Manzenberger, will present its annual “Pops” concert for audiences in both Cottonwood and Camp Verde.

The Pops program is lighter, more familiar and tuneful than some of the more formal programs the band presents on other occasions. You will know some of the melodies and quite possibly be tempted to dance a little bit.

The program will include a couple of marches, a Beguine, a Tango, and two medleys of melodies that will be familiar to most. Our trumpet trio will try their hand at Leroy Anderson’s “Bugler’s Holiday,” quite possibly the most famous trumpet trio ever written, and one that virtually every student of the trumpet aspires to perform. There will be a song about a very special rock located in Iowa that you might enjoy knowing about. We’ll also include a Broadway tune or two. It’ll be a program that’s almost as much fun to listen to as it is for the band to perform.

The band will first perform the program Saturday, Sept. 28, in the Cottonwood Grove at Dead Horse Ranch State Park in conjunction with Verde River Day. Admission to the park is free all day and the band program begins at 10 a.m. Come early for a good parking spot and a pancake breakfast and stick around after the band concert and hear the Verde Valley Voices and the Jerome Ukelele Orchestra.

The band will then repeat the program at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 6, at the Phillip England Center for the Performing Arts in Camp Verde. The Phillip England theater is quite possibly the best performance venue in the Verde Valley and the band really enjoys performing there. It’s a free concert and the seats are comfortable.

For more information visit the band website at www.cottonwoodcommunityband.org.