Feb. 21 Foothills Band Festival Concert gives area high school students a chance to shine
Feb. 17, 2023
Concert bands from three high schools will get a chance to shine on one of the area’s premier stages on Tuesday night when students from three of Blount County’s four high schools converge on Maryville College for the Foothills Band Festival Concert.
The performance, which takes place at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, in the Ronald and Lynda Nutt Theatre at the Clayton Center for the Arts, will give area band students an opportunity to perform on a stage many of them have only seen as audience members, said Dr. Eric Simpson, associate professor of music and director of bands at Maryville College.
“The performance facilities at Maryville College are the best in our region, but some of our local high school students only encounter spaces like the Nutt Theatre through school performances,” Simpson said. “If we can give the students of these three high school bands the chance to play on our stage a few times, it stokes their interest in MC and in our band program.
“One of the fun practices that I started last year for this festival was how I assign the band guides for the event. Each high school band is guided through the evening by a Maryville College student who is an alum of that high school band and is currently attending MC as part of our band program.”
The high schools represented at Tuesday’s performance include Heritage High School, under the direction of Paul Foster; William Blount High School, directed by Noah Tuten; and Alcoa High School, led by Russell McCurdy. (Maryville High School bandleaders have reserved the Nutt Theatre for an individual performance at a later date.)
As each band prepares for the East Tennessee School Band and Orchestra Association Middle Area Concert Assessment on March 7-8 at the Clayton Center, Tuesday’s performance is part of that preparation, Simpson said. Giving Maryville College band students an opportunity for involvement with their high school counterparts is part of the MC mission to “do good on the largest possible scale,” according to the College’s founder, the Rev. Isaac Anderson.
“It’s important to me that the Maryville College Department of Music is in the area, but also a part of the community,” Simpson said. “This event is a part of that outreach. Performing in a high school auditorium is fun, but it’s not on a stage with a 47-foot proscenium or in a hall with over 1,100 seats. You never know what kind of performance is going to turn a high school student from an average ‘band kid’ into a passionate, life-long lover of great music.”
Tuesday’s concert is free and open to the public. A reception will follow in the Clayton Center’s William Baxter Lee III Grand Foyer featuring Fat Tuesday-themed desserts and snacks.