Where experience meets enthusiasm: KCC Concert Band blends generations in “Awakened Voices”

Editor’s note: This story is part of Southwest Michigan Second Wave’s On the Ground Battle Creek series. All photos were taken by John Grap.

BATTLE CREEK, MI — Music created by underrepresented composers was the theme of a concert to be performed Sunday, February 22, by Kellogg Community College’s Concert Band — until January’s unrelenting snow and cold caused a program change.

KCC was among the majority of area schools that faced weather-related closures in January, which left the concert band with three rehearsals before performing the originally planned “Awakened Voices” concert, says Christopher Momcilovich, KCC Concert Band Director and Music Teacher for grades K-12 at Athens Area Schools.

“We had to change some of the programming due to snow days at the beginning of the semester,” Momcilovich says. “The concert title had already been printed, and it was too late to change it.”

No stranger to the art of pivoting or working with school bands, he decided to make pieces from the basic music list of MSBOA (Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association) the focus of Sunday’s concert.

“We’re doing pieces from each grade level,” Momcilovich says. “The MSBOA list is broken down from Class A to Class D junior high to high school.”

Among the selections in Sunday’s concert are an “English Folk Song Suite” by Ralph Vaughan Williams; “Safari” by James Ployhar; “Clouds” by Anne McGinty; “County Festival Overture” by Forsblad; “Marche Militaire” by Franz Schubert; and “The Thunderer” by John Philip Sousa.

“This concert and the next one, we get to focus a little bit more on different programmatic pieces and more variety,” Momcilovich says. “We’d like to do ‘Awakened Voices’ next year if the weather doesn’t stop us.”

Although Black History Month, which is celebrated this month, was the impetus for ‘Awakened Voices,’ Momcilovich says there are “so many pieces out there composed by Mexican, African American, and female composers that we’d rather open it up to all of the underrepresented voices, basically anyone who’s not a white guy.”

Under the direction of Momcilovich, the 20-member Concert Band will perform the revised program at 3 p.m. in KCC’s Binda Performing Arts Center. The Band represents a mix of KCC students and community members. The current breakdown is four students with the remainder from the community, including members of the Cereal City Concert Band.

Concert Band is a KCC class that runs for 15 weeks in the Fall and Spring Semesters. While some people take it as a “for credit” class, others audit the class. Rehearsals on Tuesday evenings are their class time.

“They all have to be technically enrolled,” Momcilovich says of the musicians. “I try my best to make sure they’re there for two concerts in each semester. It all depends on what’s going on in their lives. We always welcome whoever can come in and the time they can spare.”

Community members get involved because they want to continue learning and maintain their skill level with the instrument they play. 

“We have some people who have been playing for 70 years and some who are just out of high school with eight years of experience. The skill levels are very different.”

Coupled with this is the absence of particular instruments that call on Momcilovich’s ability to be nimble and ready to pivot. He says band members will often suggest pieces that they really like, but aren’t feasible if the instruments needed aren’t there.

“We don’t have someone who plays the oboe, saxophone, or trombone. If we had more of those, we could make really great symphonic sound. We have two clarinet players right now,” he says. “I tailor pieces to what’s available. If I wanted to program something with a trombone solo and I don’t have a trombone, it’s back to the drawing board to pick something else. It’s challenging to select music ahead of time until I see what the ensemble will look like.”

As he has since he took over as Concert Band director in 2021, he continues to create programs that will entertain and inspire both the audience and his band members.

When he was in the seventh grade, he began playing the trombone and never stopped.

“Everything clicked, and I got goosebump moments when everything lined up,” Momcilovich says. “I thought to myself, can I teach people how to achieve this same feeling?”

KCC Concert Band are seen practicing for their performance at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22, in the Binda Performing Arts Center on campus at 450 North Ave.