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Southwestern Michigan College’s Brass Band bookended Dowagiac Union High School’s Chamber Choir and Jazz Ensemble June 4 at the first “Summer Music Showcase” in the theatre of the Dale A. Lyons Building.

An SMC alumnus leads each DUHS group — the singers by Hunter Schuur (’15) and the musicians by Benjamin VanRoekel (’19).

The concert opened with the Brass Band’s rendition of the national anthem and a march, “Hands Across the Sea,” by Dowagiac visitor John Philip Sousa, who brought his band to Beckwith Memorial Theatre in 1911.

Director of Bands Mark Hollandsworth switched places with Professor of Trumpet Danny Lopez so he could conduct John Williams’ “Hymn to the Fallen” from Saving Private Ryan.

The Brass Band, whose members range from current SMC students to alumni and retired music educators, rounded out its first set by switching from Hollywood to Broadway for “Seventy-Six Trombones” by Meredith Willson from The Music Man.

“We’ve got five, but they’re up to doing the job of 76,” Hollandsworth said.

The trombone piece unintentionally set up a competition with the trumpet/cornet section, which followed with “Buglers’ Holiday,” spotlighting a trio of Steve Bizoe, Connor Vance and Lopez.

The Brass Band closed its first set with Queen’s “We Will Rock You” and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Music of the Night” from Phantom of the Opera.

Schuur’s choir opened with Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” featuring solos by Carter Thompson and future Roadrunner Jocelyn Kiner, who is a member of the 2026 recruiting class for women’s cross country.

Sage Gordon, another choir member and alto saxophonist in the Jazz Ensemble, is coming to SMC to study music, Schuur said.

A couple of other singers will be back on campus for the college’s choir camp, which concludes with a concert at 7 p.m. July 24.

The choir offered a sampling of its repertoire that rated a II at the state choral festival in May.

“Next week, the 11^th, we’ll be downtown at Music in the Park, the Thursday concert series by the library. We’ll have a preview of the Beckwith summer musical ‘1776,’” Schuur said, closing with Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke.”

The Jazz Ensemble, with VanRoekel on baritone saxophone, led off with the swing tune “Leap Frog,” then two slabs of funk, “Fish Lips” and “Updraft.”

The Brass Band concluded the concert with a set that included Williams’ “Flying Theme” from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, “The Magnificent Seven Theme” from Marlboro commercials, the Latin-flavored hymn “Rejoice” Hollandsworth acquired from a Salvation Army band arranger in Chicago, “The Flintstones” theme and a 1914 ragtime composition, “That’s a Plenty.”

“Traditionally, the Brass Band has opened the concert series in town,” Hollandsworth said, but due to a scheduling conflict, “I started to think of something else we could do in the local Dowagiac community to replace it. When I mentioned the concept to Hunter and Ben, they were all for it!”

Whether there will be another Summer Music Showcase remains to be determined, Hollandsworth said.

“I was really pleased with how things went and our turnout. I will debrief with the two Dowagiac directors and see what their takeaway was,” he said. “It is a big commitment for them to get those kids in after school is out, but I would be all for continuing this partnership.” Or, the Brass Band could return to the Concert in the Park next year.

“As I plan our performance venues for the Brass Band, I usually try to check three boxes,” he said. “One, something local, as in Dowagiac. Two, something in partnership with an area school district/band program. Three, something community-service-related, such as a retirement center or church concert.”

This year that meant the holiday concert at Dowagiac’s First United Methodist Church, the Summer Music Showcase, a holiday concert at Whitcomb Senior Living Center in St. Joseph, downtown Lawton’s Food Truck Tuesday last week, Berrien Springs High School shared holiday concert and Buchanan Commons Summer Music Series, a shared concert with Buchanan High School Band last week.