Carolyn Moravitz Sherrill
began her affiliation with
the Meridian Community Band as a clarinetist before becoming its Conductor
and Musical Director in 1990. She is a graduate of Michigan State University where she earned both
Bachelor and Master degrees in Music Education.
During her tenure, the band has experienced an unprecedented
growth in membership from 36 in 1989 to 85 for the 2001-02
concert season.
Among her achievments are helping to establish both the
Grand Sousa
Concert as the traditional season opener and the annual
Red Cedar
Festival of Community Bands
, which attracts adult bands from across
the state of Michigan.
Due to her emphasis on continuing education, the band has significantly expanded
its repertoire to include a wide variety of contemporary, popular
and classical band literature.
Red Cedar Festival
This all-day event was created to bring Michigan
bands together for a day of music, education and comraderie.
Each participating band performs a public concert which
is critiqued by top-level performance clinicians from
colleges and universities in Michigan. The concerts
are followed by a thirty minute educational clinic.
Instrumental master classes are offered by MSU School of Music
faculty members and graduate students to improve techniques and musicianship.
Since its
inception in 1996 twenty-five bands have shared in the festival experience.
For further information about this year's festival click on the
Red Cedar Festival webpage link.
Our annual season-opening concert honors the legacy of
John Philip Sousa's contribution to the American culture.
Authentic period pieces combined with the use of instrumental
and vocal soloists make this event the most popular event
of the concert season. Each concert also contains encore selections
of Sousa's famous marches. For more information about this
concert series visit the Sousa Concerts webpage link.
of Community Bands