At the annual Three Rivers Community Band Festival coming up this month, the Scottdale Concert Band will perform a song with some special significance.
It is “The Westmoreland,” an uptempo march that is also the official song of Westmoreland County. That might evoke the image of a tune dating back to the county’s early days, but it’s actually little more than a decade old.
“I was director of music at Westmoreland County Community College, and I noticed the county didn’t have an official song, and neither did the college,” said Roderick T. Booker, director of the Scottdale Concert Band. “I reached out to W. Roy Mitchell from Connellsville, a composer I worked with while I was teaching at Hempfield.”
The result was “The Westmoreland,” which cleverly incorporates the Youngwood ZIP code, 15697, as well as the college’s street address number, 145, into the chord structure for the piece.
Booker premiered it in 2015 during a concert at the college, and it was also approved by county commissioners to serve as the official county song. It will be part of the Scottdale Concert Band’s set as the featured group in this year’s festival, set for April 11.
They will also play compositions by William Owens, Alfred Reed, Robert W. Smith and a medley of Ray Charles tunes. But “The Westmoreland,” which will kick off their set, holds a special place for Booker.
“I wanted something that would really invoke Westmoreland County,” Booker said. “I thought a march would work well because we have so many marching bands, high school bands and community bands. It’s been played by a couple of the community bands here in the area.”
Below, watch the world premiere of “The Westmoreland March,” from a 2015 performance at Westmoreland County Community College.
The festival will take place again this year at Franklin Regional Senior High School in Murrysville.
“It’s a really neat space and a nice place for the festival,” said Roger Schneider of Murrysville, who is a member of the East Winds Symphonic Band and one of the festival organizers.
East Winds and the Community Band South — made up of musicians from the South Hills — play every year, with Scottdale in as the rotating “feature” slot. A special “festival band,” made up of members from each group, will also play a short set to kick things off.
Schneider said the festival band was inspired by drum corps festivals he used to attend with his wife.
“At the end, they’d get everyone out on the field to all perform at once,” he said. “We tried that the first four years of the festival, but it just took so long to get everyone onstage.”
Since then, they’ve pared it down to a manageable number of players, although at 117, Schneider said this is the largest festival band he can recall apart from the first few years.
Booker said the set he’s assembled for his group will be a “nice challenge.”
“There are a lot of very good community bands here in Western Pennsylvania, so I wanted to pick music that they not just enjoy, but which would also challenge them a little. This festival is a great opportunity for musicians who appreciate music to hear other musicians play.”
The Three Rivers Community Band Festival will be at 2 p.m. April 11 at Franklin Regional Senior High School, 3200 School Road in Murrysville. The concert is free and open to the public.
For more, see EWSB.org/festival.