2026-03-15 Maine Pops Small Ensembles Reach Out to School and Senior Center to Entertain and Encourage Music in Our Communities

Over the past few years, the Maine Pops Concert Band has promoted their continuing mission of “Building Community Through Music.” Part of that “building” has including creating small ensembles from the full concert band and performing in small ensemble activities that expand the reach of the band to educate, inform, perform, and entertain a wide variety of audiences.

This week, two small ensembles continued that push by performing in separate and meaningful engagements with both middle school musicians and with residents of a senior residential community.

On March 12, members of the Maine Pops Concert Band’s Beach Street Big Band performed with music students from the Saco Middle School Jazz Band in a “Music in Our Schools” at Saco Middle School in Saco, ME. In this event, Beach Street band members conducted sectional clinics with middle school trumpeters, trombonists, saxophonists, and percussionists to provide guidance, encouragement, and promote their continued participation in music.

The clinics led to a combined concert first featuring the Saco Middle School Jazz Band under the direction of school band director Nicole Wise, followed by a performance by the Beach Street Big Band, under the direction of Tom Lizotte. The two bands concluded the evening with a joint performance of “I Found a New Baby.”

About 50 people – mostly parents of the middle school musicians – attended the 75-minute concert. Under the direction of Wise, the middle school jazz band performed four pieces of music:

“Smack Dab in the Middle”
“Maybe Someday” (featuring guest performer Matthew Lagarde on flugelhorn. Lagarde is the band director of Thornton Academy in Saco)
“Chili Pepper 101”
“Crank It Up.”

The Beach Street Big Band performed the following:
“What’s Ya Got” (featuring saxophonist Sean O’Brien and trumpeter Scott Simundza)
“Ballad for Bennie” (featuring clarinetist Bob Swerdlow)
“Feeling Good” (featuring vocalist Jen Saunders)
“In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning” (featuring vocalist Marissa Brown)
“Indiana”

Harbor Brass Impresses Piper Shores Attendees

Two days later, Harbor Brass – the Maine Pops Concert Band’s brass quintet – performed a 75-minute concert on March 14 for residents of the Piper Shores retirement community in Scarborough. It was the first time a Maine Pops small ensemble had entertained at Piper Shores, but it follows a new trend of small ensemble performances are senior centers, churches, and community events.

Playing in front of about 50 residents from the Founders Room stage, the quintet performed 15 compositions. Musical selections were:

When the Saints Go Marching In
Simple Gifts
Kanon
Songs from the American West
Danny Boy
Yesterday
Hallelujah
Jesu
What a Wonderful World
Emperor Hymn
Largo
Bethena
Can’t Help Falling in Love
Summertime
House of the Rising Sun

The use of small ensembles expands the Maine Pops Concert Band’s footprint in the Southern Maine area. Because the Maine Pops now includes over 100 active musicians, it’s become difficult to perform in small, confined areas. The small ensembles – now numbering 11 groups ranging from quintets and combos to larger groups such as the Maine Pops Flute Choir and the Polished Brass – provides greater flexibility for the band to fulfill its mission of music in our communities. Organizations looking to schedule a small group can contact Kyle Neugebauer – the band’s small ensembles coordinator – at kyleneugebauer@gmail.com.

Patrons wishing to see many of the band’s small ensembles can attend their band’s second annual Small Ensembles Concert on Sunday, April 12 at 7 p.m. at the First Parish Congregational Church in Saco, ME. Suggested donation to attend is $15, with students granted free admission.