CANTON: Marcus Neiman will appear as a featured main stage performer as part of the Plain Local Schools Annual Fine Arts Fair, Saturday, February 27 th, from 9a until 4p. The Sounds of Sousa Band will perform in the main commons of Glen Oak High School from 10a until 11a. Admission for the entire event, including the Sounds of Sousa Band performance will be $5 for adults and $2 for students (fifth grade and below). The event will be held at GlenOak High School, 1801 Schneider Street NE, Canton (44721). The Plain Local Schools Fine Arts Fair will feature over 40 local artists performing, demonstrating, and selling their works of art throughout the day. In addition, there will be featured student instrumental, vocal, dance, and dramatic ensembles from Plain Local Schools. Student art exhibits and hands-on fun activities for children are scheduled as well. According to Christopher Irwin, director of bands at GlenOak High School, The Sounds of Sousa Band will be performing in the main commons of GlenOak High School. This venue will feature several main stage performances throughout the day and accommodate over 250 seats and have plenty of standing room as well. Professional and student artists will be displaying their work throughout the high school. Visitors should enter through Door #17 and park in the main visitors lot. Also featured will be the musical "Barnum" which traces the career of P.T. Barnum as he created his circus with James A. Bailey during the mid-1800's. We will present this musical in the GlenOak Theater on Friday and Saturday nights at 7 PM for $9 per ticket. A special senior citizen dinner and performance will take place on Thursday, February 25 for the cost of $15. For more information about "Barnum" please call 330-491-3845. Plain Local Schools is located in Canton, Ohio serving over 6300 students in two all-day Kindergarten centers, six elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school. GlenOak High School has an enrollment of approximately 2400 students which features an intensive arts specialization program providing opportunities in the visual and performing arts. Marcus Neiman will bring his Sounds of Sousa Band to GlenOak in their first performance of the 2010 season. The ensemble was created by Neiman in 1994 in an attempt to recreate concerts in the style of the great band director John Philip Sousa, who started his first professional concert band in 1894. Neiman s current edition of The Sounds of Sousa Band is composed of 40 of the finest professional wind and percussion players in Northeastern Ohio. The ensemble has performed for over 500,000 since it s first concert and has been featured throughout Ohio in halls large and small. Neiman has performed throughout the United States and traveled to Russian in 2004 to lecture on American bands and John Philip Sousa at the University of Moscow and conduct the Volga Concert Band in Saratov, Russia in October of 2004. The appearance of Marcus Neiman is being made possible through a partnership between Plain Local Schools, Pellegrino Music, and the Plain Local Instrumental Music Patrons Association (PLIMPA). Neiman indicated that the GlenOak concert will feature Massillon flutist Robin Tryon in Claude Bolling s Baroque and Blue for solo flute and band. She will be conducted by her son Mark Tryon, associate conductor of The Sounds of Sousa Band, and a band director at Lake High School. Sounds of Sousa Band will perform Rossini s overture to La Gazza Ladra; John Williams Symphonic Suite from Harry Potter; and marches by J.C. Heed (Regimental Pride); Ohio composer Henry
Fillmore (Canton Aero Club), to be conducted by GlenOak high school band director Christopher Irwin; and, marches by John Philip Sousa (Aviators and The Stars and Stripes Forever). Also featured will be At a Dixieland Jazz Funeral by Jared Spears. Complete details on the Plain Local Schools Arts Festival, as well as a listing of all artists, can be found at www.plainlocal.org. For more information on Marcus Neiman, please visit their website: http://www.soundsofsousa.com/dynamic/default.aspx. Robin Tryon, flute soloist, (left) has served on the faculty of Mount Union College since 1984, where she is the Instructor of Flute, founding director of both the Stark County Honors Flute Choir and Mount Union College Flute Choir, and flutist with the faculty woodwind ensemble, Sine Nomine. She is also the manager and flutist with the Silver & Strings Trio, www.silverandstringstrio.com, principal flutist with the Canton Concert Band, and pit musician with the Canton Players Guild. Tryon has performed with the Canton Symphony and Canton Symphony Woodwind Quintet, Tuscarawas Philharmonic, Bayless Symphonic Winds, and Dolce Musica Quintet, and has been soloist the Canton Concert Band, Alliance Symphony, Mount Union Wind Symphony, and its Horn Ensemble and Repertory Strings. Tryon earned a B.M in music education from Bowling Green State University and a M.M. in flute performance from the University of Akron with additional study with Maurice Sharp of the Cleveland Orchestra. She has enjoyed a long freelance career in northeast Ohio, and has served as adjudicator for competitions including those of the National Flute Association, Northeastern Ohio Flute Association, Central Ohio Flute Association, and Ohio Music Teachers Association. Tryon is in demand as a clinician specializing in both flute pedagogy and performance health, and as a flute choir conductor for workshops, festivals, and conferences throughout Ohio. Mark Tryon, associate conductor, (left) is in his second year of teaching at Lake Local Schools in Uniontown, Ohio, where he directs the Symphonic Band and Lake Middle School Jazz Band, teaches high school music theory and small group clarinet lessons in grades 5-8, and also assists with the marching band. He is a graduate of The University of Akron, where he earned degrees in music education and clarinet performance. A recent graduate of The Ohio State University, he was awarded a master's degree in instrumental conducting with a band emphasis. He has studied clarinet with Kristina Belisle Jones, James Pyne, and James Perone. In addition to his teaching responsibilities at Lake, he is active as a freelance clarinetist, pianist, and organist, performing with the Sounds of Sousa Band, Blossom Festival Band, Lakewood Hometown Band, Canton Concert Band, and Silver and Strings Trio. He is a member of Ohio Music Education Association.
Marcus Neiman, artistic director-conductor (left). Ask anyone in Medina (Ohio) to name the music man, and the immediate answer will be Marcus Neiman. Retired (May, 2010) fine arts consultant for the Medina County Educational Service Center (MCSESC) (since 1980), formerly as director of bands at Medina High School (1972 through 1980), and continuing as conductor of the Medina Community Band (since 1973) Neiman has earned the title. He attended the Akron Public Schools, received his bachelor of science in music education degree from The University of Akron, master of music in music education degree from The University of Michigan, postgraduate hours at The Kent State University, and The University of Akron. Neiman serves The University of Akron as an assistant lecturer with major responsibilities of supervising visual arts education student teachers. Neiman was appointed to the position of part-time lecturer for the music department at Case Western Reserve University with major responsibilities of teaching their Foundations of Music Education Course and supervising music education student teachers. Neiman has served The Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) as a member of the governmental relations and adjudicated events committees, district president, vice-president, state chair for Music In Our Schools and public relations, state editor of their professional journal TRIAD, and state chair for their council of supervisors. He was elected by OMEAs membership to serve as state president from July 1, 1998 through July 1, 2000, and a past state president of the association. He currently serves OMEA as a woodwind adjudicator for their solo and ensemble adjudicated events and state historian and was presented with OMEAs highest award The Distinguished Service Award at the 2010 Professional Development Conference in Cincinnati, on Friday, January 29 th, 2010, becoming only the 57 recipient in the association s history to receive the honor. Neiman has been published in Music Educators National Conference journal MEJ, The Instrumentalist, The School Musician, The Music Educator, OMEAs TRIAD, FANFARE magazine, Bands of America Newsletter, and the Conn-Selmer electronic newsletter Keynotes magazine. His first book, edited for MENC, entitled Life in the Music Classroom, was published by MENC in April 1992. He is listed in Marquis Who's Who in America (58th Edition). Neiman has appeared with junior high/middle and high school, college and university, community bands, and American Federation of Musicians union professional bands as a guest conductor and in his characterization of famed bandmaster John Philip Sousa in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, (state of) Washington, and Wisconsin. In addition to conducting the Medina Community Band (since 1973), he formed his own professional touring band The Sounds of Sousa Band (in 1992) to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the formation of Sousa's first non-military band. To this date he has performed for over half a million people in the role of Sousa. Neiman is a member of Local 24 (Akron), American Federation of Musicians. Neiman made his first international appearance as John Philip Sousa in October of 2004 when he appeared as special guest conductor of the Volga Concert Band in Saratov, Russia (October 15th). During Neiman's visit to Russia, he also presented lectures at the Moscow Conservatory of Music and Saratov Conservatory of Music. Neiman resides in Medina with his wife Mary Ann and two cats (Dmitri and Sasha). In his free time he enjoys gardening and science fiction.
The Sounds of Sousa Band Marcus Neiman, artistic director-conductor Mark Tryon, associate conductor Robin Tryon, flute soloist Christopher Irwin, guest conductor Glen Oak High School Arts Festival Program Saturday, February 27 th, 2010-10:00 a.m. Anthem, Star Spangled Banner... Francis Scott Key John Philip Sousa Overture, La Gazza Ladra... Gioacchino Rossini Lucien Cailliet March, Regimental Pride... J.C. Heed Flute Solo, Baroque in Blue... Claude Bolling Robert O Brien Robin Tryon, soloist; Mark Tryon, conductor March, Aviators... John Philip Sousa Dixieland, At a Dixieland Jazz Funeral...Jared Spears Vicki Smith, clarinet; Marcia Nelson-Kline, trumpet; Lee Harper, trombone; Kyle Snyder, tuba Ryon Louie, drum March, Canton Aero Club... Karl L. King Christopher Irwin, guest conductor March, Troopers Tribunal... Henry Fillmore Symphonic Suite, Harry Potter... John Williams Robert W. Smith March, The Stars and Stripes Forever... John Philip Sousa
When John Philip Sousa played his final concert with The United States Marine Band in the late 1890s, one newspaper reporter commented that the skies opened up and cried as our little band director played his final concert on the White House lawn for a huge crowd of well-wishers. Their umbrellas sprung up like black mushrooms as the rain continued and the band played. They certainly don't write like that anymore, do they? Sousa took a huge chance leaving the security of his military commission and directorship of the United States Marine Band. Yet, David Blakely, manager for such great ensembles as the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, (Patrick) Gilmore Band, and others, encouraged Sousa that he would become a wealthy man. Blakely was right, but it took at least one name change (from The New Marine Band, which the U.S. Congress didn't appreciate), to the final and more lasting name of simply, The Sousa Band, to get the entire process in motion. To celebrate the 100 th anniversary of Mr. Sousa's starting his first professional band in 1892, Marcus L. Neiman decided to organize a professional level concert band in Northeastern Ohio capable of performing throughout the state and nation. His goal, simply stated, was to produce a band capable of bringing the sights and sounds of John Philip Sousa to a new generation of listeners. Thus was born Marcus Neiman. The ensemble, called the great band from Ohio's Western Reserve, is the only professional touring concert band in Northeastern Ohio. Encouraged by life-long friends Mike Hadgis and Richard Keel, then both officers of the Akron (Ohio) American Federation of Musicians Local 24. With the help of his wife, Mary Ann, the two began recruiting members for the ensemble. The criteria was simplistic: (1) the finest wind and percussion players in the area; (2) a dedication to reproducing the music of the Sousa era; and, (3) the ability to be a team player and work for the general good of the band. In 2009, due in part to the changing economic times, the ensemble moved from an all-union ensemble to a non-union ensemble. The ensemble is currently in a reorganization process and rehearsing monthly. Concertizing in the Cincinnati area encouraged the Neiman's to use the same formula down south to recruit another roster of superior players. To date, the entire Sousa Band roster boasts a membership of well over 125 musicians from across the state of Ohio. The majority of the members of the ensemble are professional musicians, orchestra players, school instrumental music directors, or studio musicians. Almost all are capable of, or have performed as a soloist with Sounds of Sousa. Our goal has been, and will continue to be to entertain our audience, Neiman commented. We have expanded our operation from simply playing summer venue concerts to a full year season of engagements, educational concerts, as well as guest appearances. The band has performed in 33 of the 88 counties in Ohio, and in Indiana, Kentucky, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, (state of) Washington, and Wisconsin. The ensemble has performed engagements for an estimated 500,000 people. For additional information on Marcus Neiman, visit our website: http://www.soundsofsousa.com. END