Marching Band featured on fund-raising
CDs for charity

by Sarah R. Buchholz, Chronicle staff

he Minuteman Marching Band is helping to raise funds for the Salvation Army as part of a benefit project conceived in the aftermath of the events of Sept. 11.

     The only collegiate band selected to be on both volumes of the fund-raising "Music of the American Spirit" compact disc, the ensemble plays "God Bless the U.S.A." on Volume 1 and Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" on Volume 2. The CDs are being sold mainly through the mail and online to raise money for the Salvation Army, which receives 100 percent of the net profit.

     Volume 1 features 17 marching bands, drum corps, brass and concert bands from around the country. It went on sale in May. Volume 2 is scheduled to be available in August.

     Band director George Parks wrote the liner notes for the first volume, and Keith Paul, multimedia applications developer in Communications and Marketing, who is an alumnus of the band and one of its regular volunteers, took the photograph of band members that appears on the publicity poster.

     Jeff Harvey, who operates Emphatic Music, the Internet-based, independent record label in Valley Forge, Pa., that is producing the CD series, conceived of the project as a way a small company could help raise funds for charity at a "critical time in our nation's history."

      "We chose the Salvation Army as the beneficiary because they are a 365-day, round-the-clock service organization that also has a significant history of music education," he said.

     "We are indebted to Emphatic Music for tackling this wonderful project that will bring the excellent work of so many great bands and drum corps into the living rooms of Americans nationwide," Parks said. "It will help remind us of how important bands are to our national heritage."

The Music of the American Spirit" CDs can be ordered via the World Wide Web (www.
MarchingForFreedom.com) for $14.50 plus $3.50 shipping and handling.