The Salem Community Band and Choir will present their Christmas Concert this Friday and Saturday nights at the Salem Theatre.
Debbie Woodward, who heads the program, says the story this year is the growth of the group that now totals 66 in the band and 48 in the chorus.
“The theme this year is White Christmas. We are playing a couple of numbers that were featured in that movie. They should bring back some happy memories for those of us in that age group. We’ve added some contemporary music alongside that and some traditional numbers. Once again, we’ll do the sing-along with the audience, and we’ll have a special number that features kids’ music so that the kids will get engaged.”
The choir is led by Franklin Park music teacher Andrew Steininger.
“Lots of good choir-specific numbers where the choir’s singing and there’s no instruments playing, only voices,” Steininger said. “We’re looking forward to some pretty numbers that hopefully will be pretty moving to the audience. Half of our concert features the sing-along. I think they’re doing three numbers that the audience will definitely be singing along to, and there are probably other opportunities for the sing-along to happen.”
The band is led by Iuka Band Director Matt Webster.
“The community band here, we start at the end of the summer and rehearse every other week,” Webster said. “As we get to the last couple of months, we rehearse every week. We’re coming along and putting things together, and it should be a good performance.”
Those in the community band and choir range in age from over 80 to high school and junior high musicians.
The shows are at seven both Friday and Saturday nights. Tickets are $5 and are available at Salem City Hall, the Salem Theatre Office, and Sam Phillips CPA.
Matt Webster leads the Salem Community Band in a Sunday practice before this weekend’s performances. Photo by Bruce Kropp.
