Sequim Gazette staff

Kicking off its 21st year, the Sequim City Band looks to celebrate the city’s centennial through the years.

The band plays musical gems through the decades at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 10, in Sequim High School’s auditorium.

The show begins with a medley featuring clarinetist Martin Forster with “The King of Swing,” “Let’s Dance,” “Stompin’ at the Savoy” and more.

Band-favorite “English Folksong Suite” by Ralph Vaughan Williams follows the series of songs. It features three movements of traditional melodies challenging the woodwinds section’s technical skills in a range of tempos.

“Amparito Roca (Spanish March)” by Jaime Texidor epitomizes Spanish marches with images of bullfighters and ruffle-dressed dancers clacking castanets and flamenco shoes.

The band marks a portion of most of its concerts with signature marches such as the “The Klaxon” by Henry Fillmore. It is a crisp traditional march with the woodwinds flying over melodies, counter melodies in the brass and a rousing trio.

“Century of Progress March” by John Philip Sousa closes the concert as a timeless tune commemorating the 100th anniversary of Chicago in 1933.

Other songs include “On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss,” a version of “Shenandoah” by Frank Tichelli, “Those Fabulous Flutes” by Jack Bullock and Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).”

New assistant music director Tyler Benedict conducts the concert and Paul Martin, president of Reader’s Theatre Plus, announces songs throughout the show.

The city band consists of 60 volunteer players from across the North Olympic Peninsula. They rehearse Monday nights at the Swisher Rehearsal Hall at the James Center for the Performing Arts.

Summer concerts begin at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 19, at the bandshell, 563 N. Rhodefer Road, in the Water Reuse Demonstration Site north of Carrie Blake Park, and go through September. The band participates in a special Fourth of July picnic this year and holds its season finale at the high school in October.