Mr. DiCuirci's Retirement

This past weekend, Chad and I went to Cedarville to be a part of a farewell concert for Mr. D, our beloved symphonic band director from college.  He is retiring after 37 years of service at CU.  And we were reminded again what a terrific leader/director/man of God he is-- we felt very blessed to be a part of the weekend.  

Chad and I met in symphonic band our first weekend at Cedarville back in 1991.  All band alumni were invited to take part in this concert.  130 alumni were able to join in!  What a sound!  Oh, and 27 of them were trumpets.  Whoa! :)

We arrived on Saturday afternoon for a 90-min rehearsal, never having seen the music.  Near the beginning of the rehearsal, Mr. D said, "How many of you just got your horns out for this?"  I and about 10 people raised our hands.  He chuckled and said, "When in doubt, leave it out."  I think I probably played 80-85% of the notes, but it really didn't matter because there were so many people there.  

Probably my favorite part of the weekend was the rehearsal-- so fun to be a part of making music like that again, and to be under Mr. D's direction again.  He is funny, very time conscious, very perceptive musically, and LOVES good music.  So few directors can do that all well.  Cedarville's going to have a very rough time filling his shoes. 

The concert on Sunday afternoon was more than 2 hours long-- included Mr. D playing solo euphonium, Mr. D's men's quartet, jazz band, organ/piano (Dr. Coleman) duet, and our symphonic band.  Also Mr. D's testimony-- "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation...!" and the testimony of a good friend of his that he led to the Lord.  

Another treat was staying at the Hearthstone Inn, the little hotel in Cedarville.  Very nice, relaxing place. And the weather was so beautiful!  It's lovely that it's actually acting like spring now. :)

This lovely picture is to commemorate the spot where I received a ticket for going the wrong way on a one way street.  That was before they put up this sign and the nice arrows on the road.  I wonder how many one-way tickets the Cedarville police gave out before they decided to put in the sign?