Alums return for concert

Musical gala to mark LMCS’s farewell

By Erick Slattery | Manor Ink

Livingston Manor, NY – On Tuesday, May 20, the Livingston Manor Central School Concert Band will take its final bow as an LMCS group. But it will be going out with a bang.

To celebrate the band’s final concert, Instrumental Music Teacher Dan Smith has invited alumni musicians to come and perform. The show will mark the ending of Livingston Manor’s band as LMCS and Roscoe Central School merge under the newly formed Rockland Central School District.

Smith, the band director for the past fourteen years, has a passion for music and a goal for all of his students. He strives to teach and inspire young minds while growing their love for music. He has made it a priority to teach his students about the first band program, held in the old Livingston Manor schoolhouse, long before the current-day school was built. Because of Smith’s interest in the history of music at LMCS, he sees the concert as the celebration of an ending, bringing alumni back to their home to share music with the school’s current musicians.

Currently, there are 35 former students slated to perform. “As an alumnus of LMCS myself, and someone who’s been making music in that band room my entire life, I’m pretty invested in that program,” said Smith. “I didn’t want to see the name LMCS fade away without some sort of recognition.”

The concert is something Smith has been talking about and planning since last June. He not only had to prepare his students, but he also needed to give the alumni time to plan and rehearse on their own as they often can’t attend rehearsals with the band.

“I’ve gotten a lot of support from our administration, and when I pitched it to them in the first place, they just lit up,” Smith said of concert idea.

To commemorate the band’s history and make the concert special, Smith will include an exhibit showcasing memorabilia and pictures of school bands through the years. He has received many items and a lot of support from community members, especially from longtime Manor residents Shirley Fulton and Fred Fries.

At the concert, the band and alumni will perform the song “Blue Tango” under the direction of James Newton, LMCS band director from 1960 to 1995. This selection will serve as the final piece, and the official ending of Livingston Manor Central School’s band concerts.

The concert will be live-streamed from the LMCS website at lmcs.k12.ny.us for those at home who would like to tune in.