The Norwich Band is going to be holding a Christmas concert on Sunday, December 13 at 2 p.m. in Plumley Armory at Norwich. Admission is free and all are invited to attend.

For this concert, the format of the Norwich Marching band changed from a regimental band to a concert band. The beginning of this change came about in early October when most of the outdoor obligations for the Regi Band had been met for the year.

Colonel Larry Porter, the band director said “we still had a football game or two, some retreat parades and the like, and a trip to New York City for the Woodruff Foundation's Stand Up For Heroes, but for all intents and purposes concert band had the floor, and will remain there until sometime in late Spring.”

As the new band director at Norwich, the Colonel said “I'm still discovering the requirements of my job, the students and the master calendar are my best sources of what musical events are coming up and how to best be ready for them.”

He added that the change to concert band brought a few more musical students out of hiding, notably those that don't like the marching band aspect of the regimental band along with some civilian students.

We added a flute, oboe, trombone, and even a cello player ("Hey, I just want to play!), he said. The cessation of some fall sports also boosted music group attendance, most notably the regimental chorus.

While there has been a long history of Winter and Spring concerts by the campus musical groups, prior to Col. Porter’s arrival there had not been concerts for at least the last two or three years, he noted.

The Winter Concert, free and open to the public, will be a performance venue for the Band and a re-started Campus Choraleers.

The reinstituted Choraleers is open to all students and is the only venue where femal students can sing, Colonel Porter explained.

He also noted that the Regimental Men's Chorus is still in the rebuilding stage, and is not yet ready to perform.

In addition, Col. Porter has been working to restart a jazz ensemble and initiate other new groups such as a woodwind quintet, brass quartet or quintet, saxophone choir or some kind of sax group, he said.

“I have had some success at a trombone quartet and their appearance is very possible at the winter concert,” he said.

Another rebuilding group, invited to and intending on performing at the Winter Concert, is the Norwich University Pipe Band.

They are learning a couple of holiday tunes and this may constitute their first "real" performance, Col. Porter said.

Music at the concert will range from seasonal to holiday.

Colonel Porter said that he was been working to provide more access to campus musical groups who want to play and practice. He reconfigured the use of one of the rooms in the basement of White Chapel and has made available one small and one larger practice rooms, each with a piano, music stands and chairs.

He also spoke about the generous gift from a Band Alumnus who installed some storage lockers in each practice room. Students will now be able to preposition their instruments in locked cabinets, retrieve them for practice in the practice room and return the instrument to locked storage afterward.