WCJC Band presents Christmas Concert

Photo by Benjamin Sharp
WCJC band students practice for the second annual Christmas Concert.

The Wharton County Junior College Band’s second annual Christmas Concert will feature such old-time holiday favorites as “Here Comes Santa Claus” and “A Charlie Brown Christmas” – played in a fresh, unexpected way.

Band Director Joe Waldrop rewrote much of the music and says the “semi-traditional” pieces should be an exciting experience for concert goers.

“These are traditional songs not played in the traditional way that everyone knows them,” Waldrop said.

Rewriting the selections was a time consuming task, but Waldrop wanted to not only present something enlivening at the Dec. 11 concert, he also wanted to insure the music better fit his band. The WCJC Concert Band has 18 members – and some of the musical selections were originally scored for 60 piece bands.

“For us it’s trying to make the music sound good with such a limited number of people so we don’t have any gaps,” Waldrop said.

Students come from all over Wharton County and from neighboring communities. Surprisingly, most are not music majors. Waldrop said only about one-third plan to pursue a music degree, with the rest comprised of students from other disciplines who simply love music.

Such dedication transfers over to the practice hall as well, with band members practicing for at least one hour five days a week. This is only the second time in Waldrop’s nine years at WCJC that the Concert Band has hosted a Christmas Concert.

“I just wanted the band to do something for the holidays,” he said. “We’re here to have fun and enjoy the music and put something out there that the public can enjoy.”

The second annual WCJC Band Christmas Concert will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 11, at the Horton Foote Theatre in the Duson-Hansen Fine Arts Building of the Wharton campus, 911 Boling Highway. The concert will last about one hour. It’s free and open to the public.

For more information call 979-532-6300.

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Posted by FortBendStar on Dec 5 2012. Filed under Colleges, Featured Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.