Arts & Entertainment
Scio Resident to Perform with U of M Alumni Band
Sunday's concert will feature music from Beethoven, Gershwin and Mancini.
Scio Township resident Linda Ridley will play clarinet with the University of Michigan Alumni Association Concert Band on Sunday.
Under the baton of conductor Patricia Cornett, the band will perform “Rizzendo,” “Shenandoah,” Holst’s Second Suite in F, “Mock Morris,” “Americans We,” “Hold This Boy And Listen,” “The Hounds of Spring,” “Don Ricardo” and “The Victors.”
Ridley and other members of the clarinet choir will play Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Turkish March,” George Gershwin's “Rialto Ripples” and Henry Mancini’s “Pink Panther.”
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Ridley, a Pittsburgh native who moved to Adrian at the age of 10 after a few years in St. Louis, MO, has played clarinet since fifth grade. She played in the Michigan Marching Band at the University of Michigan all four years while she attended there and also played in the varsity band.
“I’ve been playing in the (alumni association) concert band since it started in 2009," Ridley said. "During that first session, we only had three clarinet players for the concert, but we have 10 this session.
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"Playing in the concert band is a lot of fun," she said. "I like most of the music we play and need to practice, since there are usually some hard parts."
Ridley, who also serves on the concert band board, enjoys the mix of the band performers and the dedication of the musicians. The band was founded in April 2009 to provide a place for band alumni of all ages and abilities to perform.
“Our youngest member this session graduated in 2009, and our oldest member graduated more than 50 years ago. We have several married couples playing in the band and some fathers and sons and teachers and students,” she said. “Some people drive for more than an hour to attend rehearsals.”
Ridley, who coordinates a lunch for new members of the band every August, moved with her husband to Scio Township from the old west side of Ann Arbor in March 1996.
She graduated from U of M in 1977 with a degree in computer science and has worked for several small computer companies in Ann Arbor. She retired from Advantage Computing Systems a year ago.
When Ridley is not playing clarinet, she and her husband of 30 years enjoy spending time with their four adult children, five grandchildren and two cats.
The concert takes place at 1 p.m. Sunday at Huron High School, 2727 Fuller Rd. in Ann Arbor. Admission is free.
