Category: News

The summer season has arrived, and the Maine Pops Concert Band officially begins its 2022-2023 performance schedule with a series of concerts during June, July, and August.

Like other state community bands which saw their past two summer seasons cancelled due to Coronavirus pandemic, the Maine Pops is returning to a summer performance schedule for the first time since 2019. The band, which serves the greater Portland metropolitan area, will perform selections used during their 2021-2022 fall and spring concerts, plus add traditional march favorites for the outdoor season.

“Our summer season is the time we reach the most people,” said Maine Pops President Bob Swerdlow. “It’s the part of the year where we share the joy of music during one of Maine’s most beautiful seasons.”

The Maine Pops Concert Band encourages musicians of all ages – from school-age to senior citizens, and of all abilities to foster a life-long love of music, music history, performance, and our shared heritage. The band provides opportunities for musicians to enhance their musical skills and knowledge and serve the social welfare of our communities through the study, performance, and presentation of concert band music.

Members of the band will be joining with Biddeford’s Alumni Band to host a massed band performance in observance R.B. Hall Day on June 25, beginning at noon at the La Kermesse festival in Biddeford. R.B. Hall was a Maine-born march composer who is honored annually on the last Saturday in June. Participation in the band is open to all Maine community band musicians wishing to perform. If interested in performing, please complete and submit the linked form at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfLXU1pEdo5QiTB3oddYtCTjUqu46XZlxqSi9XxhlCnPL7dFQ/viewform.

The band is working to perform summer concerts at retirement communities throughout the Portland region. Concerts venues include for Portland’s State Street, Park Danforth, and The Woods at Canco, plus an engagement at OceanView in Falmouth. For more information about dates and time for these performances, please contact the listed community retirement centers directly.

The band is collaborating with other local communities to perform local concers for their town residents and will post details on dates and times once the band finalizes arrangements. One engagement will have the Maine Pops performing on July 27 at the Cape Elizabeth Village Green, located near the Cape Elizabeth Town Hall, beginning at 6 p.m.

On Saturday, August 6, the Maine Pops will be performing at the Deering Park Bandstand in Portland, part of a 3 p.m. benefit concert in conjunction with the Mountainside Community Church of Falmouth, ME. Donations for this concert will go to supporting the church’s efforts to support the homeless in the Portland area.

Information regarding the summer schedule is available on the Maine Pops website at www.mainepops.org, or through its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/mainepops. For questions regarding the band’s summer events, contact president@mainepops.org or sbarrett@mainepops.org.

The Maine Pops Concert held elections for half of its board of directors during the band’s end-of-season general membership meeting. The elections were conducted in conjunction with the band’s June 8 rehearsal at Scarborough High School.

Band president Bob Swerdlow briefed the band about the process of elections, where half of the band’s board is elected each year. Board members serve for two years and lead a variety of committees that support the band’s administrative, logical, financial, and outreach efforts.

Reelected to board positions were flautist Lily King as secretary and clarinetist Christina McCarthy as venue coordinator. McCarthy has the dual role on the board as the Maine Pops’ past president. Also reelected were saxophonist Danielle Capozza and flautist Nanci Goudey. New to the Maine Pops board are saxophonist Sue Niemoeller, flautist Patty Lawson, euphoiumist Kristin Seavey, and clarinetist Rick Wacksman.

Swerdlow thanked trombonist David Gowen for his two years as a member of the board. Gowen elected not to return to the board but will continue as a member of the band.

The remaining members of the Maine Pops board include Swerdlow as president, oboist Linda Hornig as vice president, and percussionist Laura Merten as treasurer. At-large board members include trumpeter Steve Barrett, percussionist Vicki Swerdlow, and percussionist Leslie Ouellette. Their terms will end on June 30, 2023.

Band conductor David Watts serves as a non-voting member of the Maine Pops Board.

Members of the Maine Pops Concert Band will be joining with musicians of Biddeford/Saco’s Alumni Band to host special massed performance in observance of R.B. Hall Day on Saturday, June 25, beginning at noon at the annual La Kermesse Festival in Biddeford.

In a joint memo to members of each band, Maine Pops President Bob Swerdlow and Alumni Band President Kathye Martin said, “We could not let the year go by without a celebration of Maine’s own March King, Robert Browne Hall.” Invitations were sent to musicians in both bands, and to other Maine community bands for the opportunity to perform in Biddeford to observe and honor the contributions of Hall.

The last Saturday in June every year is officially Robert Browne Hall Day in the State of Maine. Traditionally, community bands throughout the state meet in a central location for the annual R.B. Hall Day festival. The COVID-19 pandemic had forced cancellations over the past three years, including 2022. In 2021, the Maine Pops recruited musicians from 31 bands based in five states to virtually perform Hall’s “New Colonial March," released on the last Saturday of June, 2021.

Robert Browne Hall – usually known as R. B. Hall – was a leading composer of marches and other music for American wind bands. A principal American composer of marching music, he was born in Bowdoinham, Maine and seldom left his native state during his lifetime. However, his music has traveled around the world. He is particularly popular in the United Kingdom, so much so that many lovers of brass band music there mistakenly imagine that Hall is an English composer.

His celebrated march, "Tenth Regiment March", written in 1895 and dedicated to the Tenth Regiment Band in Albany, New York, is a well-known staple of brass band concerts and competitions all over the UK, under the title "Death or Glory".

After a lengthy break following the holiday performance season due to the Omicron variant to COVID-19, the Maine Pops Concert Band will resume weekly rehearsals March 2 in preparation for the 2021-2022 Winter-Spring Season.

The Maine Pops Board of Directors – during its February 9 meeting – agreed that in-person rehearsals would begin on March 2 at the Mountainside Community Church in Falmouth. This would be the first gathering of Maine Pops musicians since the Christmas benefit concert held at the Mountainside venue on December 15.

Although hospitalization and case rates regarding Omicron are dropping throughout Maine, the variant is still present and of concern. The band will continue to exercise caution, and resume health and safety steps implemented last fall during our indoor rehearsal schedule. COVID-19 vaccinations remain an important part of the band’s operations. All members must be “up-to-date” with their vaccinations, meaning that musicians having received all recommended COVID-19 vaccines, including any booster dose(s) when eligible.

In resuming these sessions, band president Bob Swerdlow emphasized that members must make their own decisions about attending the indoor rehearsals, indicating that the band is not going to mandate attendance for those not ready to resume. “If you decide not to come for now, that’s okay,” said Swerdlow. “We are happy to have you re-join rehearsals once conditions improve.”

A new step toward lowering risk to musicians will be sectional rehearsals that will begin March 2 at Mountainside. Brass and percussion will rehearse in the church’s fellowship hall as in previous sessions, but the woodwinds will rehearse separately in the church sanctuary. The split allows more space between musicians, and provides an opportunity for sections to initially concentrate on specific music. The plan is to spend the first month in sections, then combine the band in early April for normal rehearsals. Band director David Watts will spend time with both groups at each rehearsal, but he is also looking to have a couple of band director members conduct sessions that he is not attending.

The band will continue to adhere to the health and safety policy of Mountainside Community Church. All musicians must be masked when not rehearsing.Those having instrumental masks may use them if they wish. There will be breaks to “air out” the rooms during each two-hour session. Musicians must use bell covers on instruments whenever possible.

The band will provide updates regarding the spring rehearsal schedule on the band’s internal social media pages, on the public website, and through the “Maine Pops Tribune.”

The Maine Pops Concert Band has suspended in-person band rehearsals until further notice because of the continuing case numbers involving the Omicron variant to COVID-19.

The Maine Pops Board of Directors, after a lengthy discussion on January 5 during its monthly teleconference call, decided that in best interest of safety to its members, it would delay the start of the 2022 Winter-Spring rehearsal schedule. The board will meet again on February 9 to reassess the issue with the hopes of resuming in-person rehearsals in February.

The band was scheduled to resume rehearsals on January 12 at 7 p.m. at the Mountainside Community Church in Falmouth.

Although the band has required that all members be vaccinated and receive booster shots, the more contagious Omicron variety can still cause various levels of illness to those who contract the variant. The board decided that even with the vaccinations and booster shots, they determined that the chances of contracting the omicron variant in a close music performance environment were too great.

Even though rehearsals are suspended until at least February, band president Bob Swerdlow is encouraging band members to download the spring season music now being posted on the band’s virtual library and begin rehearsing at home. Ten selections have been chosen so far for the season and all new music is now available. In addition, a few compositions – standard repertoire for our spring and summer performance – should be kept in the music folders. A formal list of “stand-by” music will be announced soon.

The Maine Pops Board asks all members to continue practicing and remain alert to schedule changes as we attempt to kick-start the spring campaign. The Maine Pops Tribune, our two Facebook social media sites, LinkedIn, and the bands webpage at www.mainepops.org will post updates and information when it becomes available.

Like many musical ensembles in Maine, the Maine Pops Concert Band has been through some tough times during the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ve dealt with restricted or closed rehearsal venues and seen a series of scheduled concerts cancelled. Even through the band remained active, it performed with fewer members and spent eight months in make-shift home recording studios to produce a virtual Christmas concert and a series of single releases published on the band’s web site and social media channels.

With the return of live, outdoor summer and fall rehearsals, and the completion its first public performances after nearly two years, the Maine Pops has slowly recovered much of its membership, recruited new musicians, and regained most of its balanced and full pre-pandemic sound.

But as the band’s musical resurgence continues, it is still in need for support from its Greater Portland Metropolitan Community; support in the form of community sponsorship and donations to help defray costs. This winter, as the band heads into its holiday break, !it is resuming its campaign to bring additional funding into the organization and keep and needs help.

“Our mission is to support community though concert band music and we continue to play, both virtually and in-person when safe,” said Bob Swerdlow, President of the Maine Pops. “We now need your help to ease the financial burden the pandemic has created.”

The COVID-19 pandemic in Maine has been hard on many non-profit organizations, especially on concert bands. Swerdlow said the pandemic has been expensive for the Maine Pops and its earned revenue is down substantially. “The band did not collect membership dues for the 2020-2021 season, and we have had no concert ticket sales, advertising, or sponsorship revenue for nearly two years. Yet, many of our expenses persisted right through the pandemic.

“We continue to employ our music director, David Watts, who has been exceptionally flexible and creative in his work with the band during this difficult time,” said Swerdlow. “We also continue to buy music, maintain our online presence, and incur all other necessary expenses.”

Swerdlow said that during the pandemic’s early stages, it became clear that it was not safe for bands to play in person. “Our biggest concern, from the beginning of the pandemic, has been the safety of our members,” he said. “Wind instruments, by their nature, disperse aerosols, and many of our members are old enough to be at high risk. For caution’s sake we cancelled our Spring 2020 concert and all in-person rehearsals. We were not sure the Maine Pops would survive.”

The band’s board of directors spent many hours in Zoom meetings discussing options, and in August 2020, Swerdlow sent a video (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PtqHEhWo70qswo-zydfOrm9ZaXfdm-aC/view?usp=sharing) to the band outlining its approach. The message to the band was clear: “We need to be safe now, but we are strong, and we plan to be back. We are a close-knit community of dedicated musicians, and the Maine Pops is here to stay.”

From that video release, the band increased their efforts to rebuild and perform, starting with virtual, Zoom-based, muted rehearsals performed in homes. By December, band members had produced a 51-minute Christmas holiday concert – a performance that helped the band raise over $1500 in charity donations to local food pantries.

During the 2020-2021 pandemic, the band also:
• Recorded and released virtual performances of “You’re a Grand Old Flag,” “A String of Pearls,” “Seventy-Six Trombones” and “Tuxedo Junction” between February and May 2021.
• Recorded and released a virtual R. B. Hall Day performance of R. B. Hall’s “New Colonial March” featuring over 50 musicians from all over Maine and beyond.
• Posted all virtual performances on the “Maine Pops” YouTube channel.
• Began outdoor in-person rehearsals for vaccinated members in July 2021.
• Performed our Fall 2021 – “Americans, We” — our first live post-COVID concert, at St. Luke’s Cathedral in Portland on November 21 with pandemic restrictions in place for both the musicians and the audience.
• Performed “A Cathedral Holiday” concert at St. Luke’s in Portland on December 4 and will perform “Charity Christmas Concert” at Mountainside Community Church in Falmouth on Wednesday, December 15 at 7:30 pm. Again, pandemic restrictions were in place.
• Streamed all live concerts on the “Maine Pops” Facebook page.

After falling from a roster of over 80 to fewer than 20 players during Zoom rehearsals, Swerdlow said the band has now rebuilt to over 50 members, including more than a dozen new musicians The band has resumed receiving membership dues for 2021-2022, bringing needed revenue. The band also received donations from its November 21 concert.

However, the band needs more funding as the band begins planning for its spring and summer season with hopes for a full concert schedule. Members of the band’s marketing committee are working to contact current sponsors to maintain their support, while also venturing other community assets for support. “Your donations are critical to our future,” said Swerdlow. “With your help we will continue to build community through music for years to come.”

The Maine Pops is a 501(c)3 educational non-profit corporation. Donors can mail their tax-deductible donations to Laura Merten, Treasurer, Maine Pops Concert Band, 72 Harbor Place, South Portland, Maine 04106. Donors may also contribute through Venmo (www.venmo.com), enter 207-712-7119 and confirm the payee is ‘Victoria Swerdlow’, who manages these payments.

To become a sponsor, please email Bob Swerdlow at president@mainepops.org.

The Maine Pops Concert Band will perform its final Christmas holiday benefit concert on Wednesday, December 15, beginning at 7:30 p.m.

The band will perform "Charity Christmas Concert" at Mountainside Community Church, located at 18 Mountain Road in Falmouth, ME. This in-person concert resumes the long-standing concert cooperation between Mountainside Community Church and the Maine Pops; an effort conducted as a virtual event last year during the COVID-19 pandemic. The performance benefits Mountainside’s fundraising efforts focused toward collecting funds for the homeless in Portland.

The concert is being live-streamed by Mountainside Community Church and will be available at 7:30 p.m. at https://www.mountainsidecc.org/concert-livestream.

The music for this concert includes a medley from “The Polar Express,” Richard Saucedo’s arrangement of “Dashing Through the Snow,” “Silver Bells,” John Cacavas’ arrangement of “Christmas Music for Winds,” Gustav Holst’s “On this Day Earth Shall Ring,” John Lovrien’s “Minor Alterations” and Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride.” The band selected ten compositions for performance, and may add a couple selections from its Fall 2021 concert.

In conjunction with the health and safety requirements of Mountainside Community Church all attending guests must wear masks during the band’s performance. Doors will open to the public at 7 p.m.

The Maine Pops Concert Band is a 501(c)3 educational non-profit corporation. Individuals and organizations wishing to become a band sponsor should contact the band president at president@mainepops.org. Contributions may be tax-deductible.