Southwestern Michigan College Department of Visual and Performing Arts presents its fall band concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4, in the theatre of the Dale A. Lyons Building on the Dowagiac campus.

SMC Symphonic Band, Jazz Ensemble and Brass Band will be performing.

Admission is free, but donations are always appreciated.

All donations go towards activities for SMC performing arts students.

A highlight of the fall band concert will be works of art created by SMC art students inspired by two selections performed by the Symphonic Band, according to SMC Director of Bands Dr. Jonathan Korzun.

The concert culminates a collaborative project between visual arts and music where students listen to the selections, then under the guidance of graphic design instructor Bill Rothwell and painting instructor Marc Dombrosky, respond through their art.

Art works created will be shown during the concert while the Symphonic Band performs each selection.

The two pieces used in this collaboration are “Mountain Thyme” by Samuel Hazo and “Melodious Thunk” by David Biedenbender. “Mountain Thyme” is a gorgeous setting of the Scottish folk song “Wild Mountain Thyme,” also know as “The Braes of Balquhidder.” “Melodious Thunk” is written in an angular, rhythmic jazz style inspired by jazz pianist Thelonius Monk.

Monk’s wife nicknamed him Melodious Thunk.

The Symphonic Band will also perform the march “Quality Plus” by Fred Jewell and the expansive “Africa: Ceremony, Song and Ritual” by Robert W. Smith, based on ancient West African folk music.

The SMC Jazz Ensemble performs a swinging arrangement of the jazz standard “How High the Moon” featuring the trombone section.

Other selections include “Count Bubba” by Gordon Goodwin, “Freddie Freeloader” by Miles Davis and “The Chant” by Victor Feldman.

Selections by the SMC Brass Band include the march “Holyrood” by Kenneth Alford, a beautiful setting of the hymn “In Perfect Peace” and a suite from the ballet “Sweeney Todd” by British composer Malcolm Arnold.

The concert concludes with the combined bands performing a stirring arrangement of a traditional Welsh march, “The Rising of the Lark.”

In the late 19th century new words were given to this march in tribute to the 15th-century Welsh patriot Owain Glyndwr and it was retitled “Owain Glyndwr’s War Song.”

This setting features percussionists performing as a drum corps, as would be found in a Scottish/Irish/Welsh pipe band.

Southwestern Michigan College is a public, residential and commuter, community college, founded in 1964. The college averages in the top 10 percent nationally for student academic success based upon the National Community College Benchmark Project. Southwestern Michigan College strives to be the college of first choice, to provide the programs and services to meet the needs of students, and to serve our community. The college is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and is a member of the American Association of Community Colleges.

Learn more at www.swmich.edu or email mediarelations@swmich.edu.