Next Concert:
February 21, 2010
The Karl L. King Municipal
Band of Fort Dodge, Iowa will begin their 2010 indoor winter season on
Sunday, February 21. This concert will begin at 3:30 p.m., and will
be held in the Decker Auditorium at Iowa Central Community College in Fort
Dodge. There is no admission charge, since these concerts are provided
by the City of Fort Dodge. Jerrold P. Jimmerson is the conductor
of the King Band, with Dan Cassady the assistant conductor and Duane “Oley”
Olson the band’s announcer.
This February program
will recognize the music of the band’s namesake, Karl L. King, in celebration
of his birth on February 21, 1891. The music to be performed reflects
a wide range of King’s musical styles, and was heavily influenced by his
career as a circus musician. When Karl King arrived in Fort Dodge
in the fall of 1920 with his wife Ruth and young son Karl, jr., he was
already a well-established conductor, composer and publisher of band music.
He continued to write music along with directing the local Municipal Band
for 50 years, and eventually opened his own music store and publishing
business here.
Many of Mr. King’s compositions
are on the program and several were published exactly 100 years ago, when
King was a mere 19 years of age. He left Canton, Ohio one hot, summer
day in 1910 and traveled to Emporia, Kansas, where he had heard the Robinson
Famous Circus was looking for a baritone player. This circus had
moved on down the road, but Mr. King caught up with them and thus began
his career as a performer, composer, and conductor.
Opening the concert will
be the The Gateway City March, published in 1910 by the C. L. Barnhouse
Co. in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Several other compositions from that
same year will also be heard during the concert, including the march Ponderoso;
a beautiful aerial waltz, Desdemona; a schottische, Dance Of
The Imps; and an exciting circus galop, Excelsior.
Other marches on the program
include The Black and Gold Line, an unpublished composition written
by former conductor Reginald R. Schive and dedicated to the members of
the King Band, along with King’s most famous and recognizable march, Barnum
and Bailey’s Favorite.
Other types of music to
be performed will include an overture, Fountain Of Youth, published
in 1924, along with a two-step, Kentucky Sunrise, and a Chinese
intermezzo, Ung-Kung-Foy-Ya, both published in 1919. Karl
King was a master at writing beautiful music for many occasions, and the
King Band will perform his melodious Lover’s Lane romance, which
was published in 1925 and dedicated to his wife, Ruth.
This concert will conclude
with the playing of our National Anthem, The Star-spangled Banner.
In case of inclement weather, the concert will be cancelled. The
next performance by the Karl L. King Municipal Band will be the annual
Irish Concert on Sunday, March 14.
The
March 14 concert is the Band’s annual Irish Concert to celebrate St. Patrick’s
Day. This concert dates back to the early days of the Band under
Mr. King’s direction. A wide variety of Irish music is being planned,
and will include an audience sing-along of When Irish Eyes Are Smiling
and My Wild Irish Rose, along with everyone’s favorite, McNamara’s
Band.
The
April 11 concert has become two-fold in nature in recent years. It
is the Band’s annual Scholarship Concert, where talented high school seniors
and college freshmen can audition for three scholarships that the Band
annually administrates. In addition, this concert will tie into the
annual cultural emphasis for Iowa Central Community College. This
year’s featured country is Canada, and many selections are being planned
to showcase this heritage.
View photos from this summer's concerts.
June 7th
- - June 14th - - June
21st - - June 28th -
- July 5th - - July
12th - - July 19th -
- July 26th
Those with fast internet will enjoy
an mpg video of McNamara's
Band (52 mb) from last winter's Irish Concert.
February Karl King Birthday concert
photos
March St. Patrick's Day concert
photos
April Focus Scholarship concert
photos
View photos of the bandshell
during the renovation process.
View concert photos from previous seasons
Concert Archive
