Tag Archive for: #vancegranvillecommunitycollegeband

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VGCC Announces Ramona Cox As New Associate VP Of Student Services

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Information courtesy of VGCC Public Information Officer Courtney Cissel

Vance-Granville Community College has announced that Ramona Cox, Ed.D. will join the college as associate vice president of Student Services, with a start date of Nov. 13.

With more than 20 years’ experience in higher education administration and student and academic support services, Cox most recently was dean of Student Affairs at Rio Salado College in Tempe, AZ, according to information from VGCC Public Information Officer Courtney Cissel.

Prior to her role at Rio Salado College, Cox was the executive director for the Department of Defense STARBASE Maxwell program in Alabama. STARBASE is a nationally recognized STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education program for underserved and/or underrepresented student populations across the nation.

Cox has held several senior administrator positions within higher education, including dean of Faculty & Student Services for Florida’s Miami Dade College and division director of Arizona’s Maricopa Center for Learning & Instruction. During her time at Maricopa Community College, she and her team successfully supported the strategic efforts of 10 college presidents, the executive vice chancellor/provost, associate vice chancellor of Student Affairs and division administrators.

Cox previously spent more than a decade working at various North Carolina educational institutions, including the state’s public school and community college systems. In addition, she served as the director of University – K-12 School Partnerships for N.C. Central University and the coordinator of Student Recruitment & Retention for the School of Education at UNC-CH.

Cox holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership & Cultural Foundations from the UNC-Greensboro, as well as a post-master’s certificate in College Teaching & Adult Learning from the same institution. She also holds two master’s degrees, including a Master of Arts in Instruction & Curriculum from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

 

 

 

 

TownTalk: VGCC Concert Band To Perform Monday Night

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Join the VGCC Community Band for its spring concert at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, May 1 at McGregor Hall. Director Brian “Doc” Miller says the 40-plus member band will perform in the style of a good, old-fashioned band concert. And if you look closely, you may see an unusual percussion instrument that Miller himself will play for one selection.

The audience will be invited to sing along with a “nice and brisk” rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner, the band will continue with the state song of North Carolina, “The Old North State.”

Other selections include an overture from a movie called “The Cowboys,” Miller said on TownTalk. The movie was a dud, but composer John Williams’s music has endured. “It’s a great piece of music,” Miller said.

More along the tradition of the high school band concerts of yore are “In A Chinese Temple Garden” and a waltz called “Song of Love” from the 1921 musical “Blossom Time.”

Miller also will lead the band in another of what he calls a classic American march – the National Emblem March by E.E. Bagley, who composed the music in 1906.

And stay tuned for the concert finale, a piece originally created for the organ and transcribed for the band by UNC’s band director back in the 1920’s and ‘30’s.

“It’s a real barn burner,” Miller said. “It’s a technical challenge but I think the audience will enjoy it.”

That seems like a lot of music to pack into one hour, but that’s the goal, Miller said, remembering advice given long ago to always leave the audience wanting more, not wishing it were already over.

Will there be Sousa?

As long as Miller has a say, that answer will always be a resounding and emphatic Yes!

“Nothing beats a good old-fashioned Sousa march,” he said.

But what about that unusual percussion instrument?

It’s a typewriter – an Underwood Model 5 typewriter, to be precise –  and it’s from Miller’s personal collection.

Miller will yield the baton to Sam Morgan to perform with the band in its performance of Leroy Anderson’s classic “The Typewriter,” which he composed in the 1920’s.

 

Want to join in the fun and play with the VGCC Community Band? It’s open to all. Call 252.738.3371 to learn more.

 

 

Vance-Granville Community Band presents free spring concert on May 1st at McGregor Hall

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The Vance-Granville Community Band will hold its annual spring concert on Monday, May 1, at 7:30 p.m. at McGregor Hall Performing Arts Center in historic downtown Henderson. Admission is free of charge.

This will be the second time that the Community Band has held a concert at the 1,000-seat venue, located at 201 Breckenridge Street in Henderson.

The concert is set to feature some classics of band literature, including the original transcription of the famous overture to “The Barber of Seville” by Rossini; two classic Sousa marches, “Hands Across the Sea” and “The Black Horse Troop“; as well as two additional traditional marches, “Free Spirit” and the 1911 “Ringling Brothers Grand Entry March.”

According to Community Band director Brian D. Miller, “bands should always play the classics of literature. No concert is complete without several marches, and Sousa wrote marches better than anybody else! Marches are the all-time greatest music written for band, and we have certainly had a lot of fun learning these.”

Miller noted that it is of local interest that John Philip Sousa himself vacationed in Henderson in 1920. He went hunting with the mayor of Henderson and spent the night at the mayor’s home while here.

The band will also perform a transcription of music from the 1949 Broadway musical, “South Pacific.” Other selections include the “Finale” from Dvorak’s Ninth Symphony and an entr’acte from the seldom-heard Romantic-era opera, “King Manfred,” which is “a beautiful composition,” according to Miller.

The band will feature its star tuba player, Justin Bare, on a tuba solo with band accompaniment entitled “The Grumbly Old Bear,” written by Julius Fucik, better known for his popular circus march, “Entry of the Gladiators.” Finally, for lighter fare, the band will pay tribute to the Beach Boys and the Eagles with medleys of those groups’ greatest hits.

“It’s a concert for everybody,” quipped Miller. “We want everybody to come and appreciate the work of these musicians. The ensemble is truly representative of our four-county service area. Nothing beats an old-fashioned band concert!”

Miller retired as band director at Louisburg High School and now teaches for VGCC and Crosscreek Charter School.

The Community Band, which is sponsored by the VGCC Division of Arts and Sciences, includes people of all ages, from all walks of life, and from throughout the region. No auditions are required. Rehearsals are held on Monday evenings from 7-9 p.m. at the Vance-Granville Community College Civic Center, on the Main Campus in Henderson, at Exit 209 on Interstate 85 (Poplar Creek Road). For more information, contact Brian Miller at (919) 496-5877 or at bmiller9302@vgcc.edu or Betsy Henderson at hendersonb@vgcc.edu.

–VGCC–