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Maryville College Tartanband puts together a ‘Calendar’ of songs for its April 7 performance

March 27, 2026

Poster for he Maryville College Tartanband spring 2026 concert

Time has a habit of getting away from us all. Now, several months into 2026, the Maryville College Tartanband is encouraging folks to deviate from their strict calendars and do away with unwanted obligations with its spring concert, “The Calendar.”

The Tartanband has built a reputation for presenting engaging and memorable performances through its creative themes. Last spring, the group showcased a humorous concert titled “Punchline,” displaying comedy through concert band, something not often achievable.

 But Director of Bands Dr. Eric Simpson loves to push the boundaries of band performance, putting on shows with tales that seem impossible to depict through lyricless music. Yet, with the 30 talented Tartanband members, he tells the stories distinctly and seamlessly every time. “The Calendar” is sure to be no exception. 

“The theme came about because I was thinking about how calendars direct so much of our lives,” Simpson said. “We become beholden to certain events, occasions, celebrations and how we feel obligations to different people and events.” 

Although the theme of this concert is stepping away from calendars, this event’s date is definitely one to write down. The concert will take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 7, in the Clayton Center for the Arts.

 During the concert, the Tartanband will showcase the passing of time through music, moving from January to December. 

“Our first goal is always just to play music and to play it well,” Simpson said. “But, I like it if the students can explore some other, abstract concepts through the music.”

To represent each month, the band will perform songs that correspond to that particular season. 

“For instance, the concert will begin with ‘Un Año Más,’ which is a Chilean cumbia (a subgenre of cumbia music that originated in Chile) that has been covered and recovered by numerous artists,” Simpson said. “It functions, somewhat, as the Chilean version of ‘Auld Lang Syne. The folksong is synonymous in Western culture with the passing of the new year,” Simpson said. “A lot of the concert has those connections.”

The band has an impressive repertoire prepared. Following “Un Año Más,” the band will perform “Hymn of the Overcomer” by Lawren Brianna Ware, “Circus Bee” by Henry Fillmore and “Mayflower Overture” by Ron Nelson, among others. 

The concert will take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 7, in the Clayton Center for the Arts’ Harold and Jean Lambert Recital Hall. The event is free and open to the public. 

— Written by McKenna Marr ’28

Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges. For more than 200 years we’ve educated students to be giving citizens and gifted leaders, to study everything, so that they are prepared for anything — to address any problem, engage with any audience and launch successful careers right away. Located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville, Maryville College offers nearly 1,200  students from around the world both the beauty of a rural setting and the advantages of an urban center, as well as more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last. Today, our 10,000 alumni are living life strong of mind and brave of heart and are prepared, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”