01
June
2021
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19:16 PM
Europe/Amsterdam

They’re Back! Corpus Christi Municipal Band Opening Free Summer Concert Season June 6

Sunday night concerts start at 8 p.m. at Del Mar College East Campus amphitheater; performance season runs through July 4

Article by Melinda Eddleman

It’s been awhile since their last outdoor performance at Del Mar College’s amphitheater … July 24, 2016, to be exact. A construction project moved the Corpus Christi Municipal Band indoors into the Harvin Student Center in 2017 after the College began an East Campus capital improvement project. Then, the pandemic hit in 2020.

 

The Corpus Christi Municipal Band has not performed at the amphitheater in five years. But we’re happy to be back, especially at this outdoor venue, to perform a variety of music that appeals to listeners of all ages.
David Irving, Retired Professor of Music and Corpus Christi Municipal Band Business Manager

Starting June 6, the Municipal Band will begin their FREE traditional summer outdoor performances, which start at 8 p.m. each Sunday night and will run through July 4. Concerts are scheduled at the DMC amphitheater, located between the Fine Arts Music Building and the General Academic and Music Building II (GAMBII) on the East Campus at Kosar and Ayers. Directions and a campus map are available by clicking here.

Participants will need to bring lawn chairs or blankets. While masks are not required, the College encourages wearing them as well as following DMC safety protocols that include social distancing. For more information, contact Irving, who taught stage band and guitar and now serves as the current business manager for the Municipal Band, at dirving@delmar.edu or the DMC Music Office at 698-1211.

The five performances (June 6, 13, 20, and 27 and July 4) will feature a different conductor each week, along with varied music selections. Richard King High School Head Band Director Adan Molina will conduct the first performance.

 

For each week’s details, visit the Corpus Christi Municipal Band’s Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/ccmunicipalband

In addition to providing the venue for performances, DMC supports the Municipal Band by providing rehearsal space, equipment and logistical support. The Municipal Band moved performances to the College’s East Campus in 2014. In previous seasons, the band performed at Cole Park and Heritage Park.

When the Municipal Band played its first concert in 1952, all the band’s musicians were members of the local chapter of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM). The AFM funded the concerts with its Music Performance Trust Fund established by the national AFM and the recording industry as a hedge against the threat of recorded music taking away live musicians’ livelihoods. Union membership thrived in the 1940s and 1950s with more than 400 members in the Corpus Christi chapter alone.

Today, most musicians are volunteers. The band accepted volunteer musicians into the group beginning in the mid-1950s.

 

 

About Del Mar College

Del Mar College empowers students to achieve their dreams. We offer quality programs, individual attention, outstanding instruction through faculty with real-world experience and affordable costs to credit and noncredit students in Corpus Christi and the South Texas Coastal Bend area. Nationally recognized while locally focused, we’re ranked in the top two percent of community colleges in the country granting associate degrees to Hispanic students (Community College Week). Del Mar College focuses on offering our students programs that match current or emerging career opportunities. Whether students are interested in the fine arts, sciences, business, occupational or technical areas, students get the education they need for the future they want at Del Mar College.