Centralia College: Three Nights, Three Concerts, One Stage

Centralia College: Offerings Range from Civil War America to Original Pieces

by Students

By Carrina Stanton

For The Chronicle

The Corbet Theatre stage on the Centralia College campus will be busy next week with what a series of music supporters are billing as a music festival.

March 14-16 there will be concerts by the Lewis County Community Band, Centralia College Choir and the Centralia College Jazz Ensemble. Associate music professor and music department head Beth May, who directs the choir, explained that each of the musical groups usually presents a free, community concert three times each year and that their concerts often are on similar dates. This year, they decided to capitalize on the proximity.

“It’s just a great way for us all to support one another,” May said.

A little something for everyone is how conductor Louie Blaser described the music that will be presented at the Lewis County Community Band concert 7:30 p.m. March 14.  

Blaser’s grandfather began the group in 1990 and Blaser and Karl Scarborough have led the band for the last 10 years. Blaser explained the band was mainly started as a way to provide a musical opportunity for community members through continuing education. When May was hired last fall, she asked to hear all of the musical groups rehearsing at the college to get a feel for the offerings there. Blaser said May got the band approved to offer a college credit and this quarter there are eight students earning credit for the class.

“She recognized that we had a full band that was playing high quality music,” Blaser said.

Each quarter the band chooses a few easy songs and a few more difficult songs that members rehearse leading up to a final concert. Blaser said there are always a few marches because audience members seem to enjoy those songs. This quarter’s concert will also feature songs such as: “Avalanche” by Jonathan McBride; “Circles of Light” by John Prescott; and the dramatic “Trail of Tears” by James Barnes, which includes a spoken word Cherokee poem.

The Lewis County Community Band comprises about 40 musicians, ages 17 to 85. Blaser, who teaches band in the Centralia School District, and Scarborough, who teaches band and choir in the Winlock School District, both said it is the passion of their musicians that keep them coming back each season.  

“Everybody in the group takes it seriously and the thing is they show up week after week, year after year,” said Blaser. “This is something you can do your whole life no matter what you do for a job. Band doesn’t have to end after high school. I always advocate for that with my students.”

The next evening will bring a musical performance that is part concert and part history lesson when the Centralia College Choir presents “Hoorah: Music of the Civil War” 7 p.m. March 15.

Conductor May said she chose Civil War era songs because it is a time period which seems to have gathered a fair amount of fascination from people in recent years. May’s father, Robert E. May, of Purdue University, assisted her in finding the music for the show. Robert May will also be part of the concert, offering some photos and insight on the different musical offerings.

“He’s going to go in between the songs,” Beth May explained. “Before each piece, he will speak about the historical context of the song and what the lyrics really mean.”

The choir will be assisted in this concert by guest musicians on drums, piccolo, violin and guitar. Some of the songs that will be sung include: “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”; “John Brown’s Body”; “Just Before the Battle”; and “Battle Cry of Freedom”.

“There’s a lot of hoorahs. I think almost every song has a hoorah in it,” May said, explaining the title for the concert. “And I think a lot of songs people will have heard of.”

This quarter, the Centralia College Choir comprises 15 singers ranging from high school students to senior citizens. It is either an academic class for college students or available to the general public through the continuing education department.

“Since most of them are doing it through continuing education, they’re here because they want to be here,” May said of what she enjoys about the group. “They’re enjoying it. I think when people have fun it shows.”

An equally time-consuming but different process has gone into the creation of the Centralia College Jazz Ensemble’s concert, which the seven-member group will give 7 p.m. March 16 in Corbet Theatre. These musicians are relying on the spirit of jazz to guide them rather than a specific theme or set play list.

“It’s just really good music,” said Wayne Conke, who plays low brass for the group.

The Jazz Ensemble’s concert will feature a range of jazz pieces ranging from Stevie Wonder to Frank Sinatra. But perhaps more exciting will be the pieces written and arranged by the students themselves. The performance will include: “9 Lives” by Travis Larson, drums, which features unique nine-measure bars instead of the customary eight; “Hamlet in the East” by Daniel Kilhoffer, alto sax; and “Birdland” arranged by Conke.

Audience members can expect to see a great deal of improvisation and collaboration between the players at the concert, explained conductor Richie Lopez.

“Jazz is a very fluid word to define,” Lopez said. “It doesn’t have any limitations so whatever the students pull together is the best definition yet. It’s constantly moving, constantly evolving and if you start to put limitations on it, it’s no longer jazz.”

The seven-member jazz ensemble also works with someone who arranges music specifically for them and their unique makeup of musicians. For example, most jazz pieces are written to be led by a trumpet section but the Centralia College group has none so many of their pieces are written to be led by a soprano sax instead.

“So, the music is just for us and it’s written for what we have,” Larson explained. “If you play a piece and just leave parts out it sounds garbled.”