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Band of the West Chamber Ensemble Performs in Rio Grande Valley

  • Published
  • By SrA Lenora French
  • USAF Band of the West
The USAF Band of the West Chamber Ensemble recently returned from a five day tour of the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas.  The group performed for several high schools and culminated the tour with a recital performance at the Coastal Bend College in Beeville, Texas.  

After the group returned to San Antonio, they performed a Veteran's Day concert at the Boerne Community Center in Boerne, Texas, for a crowd of nearly 200 people.  Audiences enjoyed a wide variety of music ranging from a couple movements of Dvorak's Serenade to latin and irish music for various instruments.  The most unusual instrumentation was a trio written by Gary Shocker involving TSgt Cindy Bailey on flute, SrA Brian Johnson on marimba and TSgt Alex Serwatowski on tuba.  The high school performances all ended with a question and answer sessions, where students had opportunities to ask the musicians questions about anything ranging from their jobs to questions about the Air Force or about music in general.  The members of the chamber ensemble had a great time interacting with the high school students, demonstrating their instruments, answering questions and spreading the Air Force message through music.