Outdoor concerts begin

Music echoed across Jordan avenue, blending with the distant sound of a train whistle.
The IU Jacobs School of Music Summer Music Festival moved outside Wednesday evening for a free concert on the lawn of the Musical Arts Center.

The Summer Concert Band, conducted by Stephen W. Pratt, performed at 7 p.m. Wednesday on the MAC lawn for a crowd of more than 200. Friends, families and music lovers alike sat together to enjoy the show.

The Summer Music Festival outdoor concerts offer an opportunity for audiences to enjoy a free show in the fresh summer air. Weather permitting, the Summer Concert Band will be performing 7 p.m. Wednesdays through July on the MAC lawn. If it rains the performance will be moved to an indoor venue.

Bonnie Lorenzen, a Ph.D. student in speech and hearing, attended the show with her family.

“This is the first (performance) I’ve gone to this summer,” Lorenzen said. “I have a one year old so it has to be an outdoor concert.”

The outdoor concerts are more conducive to families with young children and all the tiny members of the audience seemed to be enjoying themselves as many stared mesmerized at the full band playing less than 30 feet away.

Pratt addressed the audience several times during the performance.

“These next pieces by LeRoy Anderson are some of the most famous pieces you have ever heard, although you may not know it,” Pratt said. “But as soon as you hear it you’ll go ‘Oh, I know that!’”

IU employee Becky Curtis and her daughter Michelle Harker sat on the sidewalk listening to the performance.

“We heard about this from a flyer in the music school,” Harker said. “We’re very interested in attending more performances.”

Curtis said she gained interest in Jacobs events after taking a class at the music school. She said she was able to pick out the different instruments being played during the performance as a result of her Jacobs school class.

“I love the outdoors when the weather is like this,” Curtis said. “Enjoy nature and music.”