UA Little Rock’s Summer Concert Band returns this month, and musicians of all skill levels are invited to participate in the free program.

The group will rehearse four Tuesday and Thursday evenings – May 28, May 30, June 4, and June 6 – from 6 to 8 p.m. and then present a concert on Friday, June 7, at 7:30 p.m. in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall, located in the Fine Arts Building on the UA Little Rock campus.

All high school, university students, band directors, and community members are invited to participate.

“I call it the ‘Danger Band’ because you never know who will show up,” said Dr. Ken Goff, the university’s director of bands. “I have music picked for a group who I have no idea what they can do.”

Goff has selected music by band composer Steven Bryant, a Little Rock native, Arkansas composer Francis McBeth, and composers James Curnow, Jay Chattaway, John Phillips Sousa, and Clare Grundeman.

The Summer Concert Band – now in its third year – started with 35 musicians. Last year, 60 musicians of all skill levels participated.

The band is part recruitment tool for the university’s Department of Music, part community outreach, and a lot of fun for musicians, Goff said.

“A lot of high school band kids go to band camps during the summer, and they aren’t cheap,” Goff said. “I wanted to provide an opportunity to students in central Arkansas who may not be able to afford to be a part of such a program.”

The Summer Concert Band also brings together musicians of all kinds.

“I’ve had rehearsals where there’s been a son, father, and grandfather all playing in the group, or there might be a student sitting next to his or her school band director,” Goff said. “That’s pretty cool.”

The band is open to musicians who play traditional band instruments, including flute, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, French horn, percussion, tuba, baritone, saxophone, oboe, and bassoon.

The band is also a learning opportunity for UA Little Rock’s music education students, who get directing experience. Goff films the UA Little Rock students as they conduct and gives them feedback.

For more information, contact Goff at kggoff@ualr.edu.