The Lake Area Community Band rehearses for Friday’s Independence Day concert. The rehearsal took place at Wawasee Middle School south of Syracuse. (Photo by Ray Balogh)

The Lake Area Community Band will light up the evening with audio pyrotechnics before the fireworks display at Lakeside Park Friday, July 3.

The Syracuse-based band, approximately 50 strong, will perform for an hour and a half beginning at 7:30 p.m.

The play list includes, in order: “The Star Spangled Banner,” “The LACB Song,” “Americans We,” “Italian Holiday,” “I Dreamed a Dream,” “Bugler’s Holiday,” “The Sound of Music,” “The Cowboys,” “Thunder and Lightning,” “Music of Cole Porter,” “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “The Chimes of Liberty,” “Peanut Vendor,” “Woodwind Marmalade,” “Symphony of Sitcoms,” “American Pageant” and “Stars and Stripes Forever.”

The band is directed by Cincinnati native Martin Becker, now in his fourth year in that role. Becker He earned a B.M.E. degree from Morehead State University and an M.A. from Ball State University.

He directed high school bands for 34 years, half of that time with the Warsaw Community Schools. He retired in 2002 and now directs not only the LACB, but also the Grace College Wind Ensemble and the Warsaw Optimist Singers.

Becker’s professional experience includes conducting the Greenville, Ohio City Park Band, playing trumpet with several city philharmonics and orchestras, performing with the Elkhart Truth and Jazz Big Band and touring Europe five times with the Indiana Ambassadors.

He has been a brass judge at the ISSMA State Solo and Ensemble Contest for the past 12 years and has judged for 25 years at the District ISSMA Solo and Ensemble Contests.

The band has been performing regular spring and summer concerts for more than 20 years, featuring traditional concert band music including marches, jazz standards and current and past pop favorites.

The band will have four more play dates this summer after the July 3 event.

They will perform at 7 p.m. Friday, July 31, at Dixie Park in North Webster.

In September the band plays three times in 11 days.

They will perform a 9/11 memorial concert on Sept. 11 in Warsaw. The time and place will be decided and posted on the band’s website and Facebook page.

The band also has concerts at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 17, at Greencroft in Goshen and 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 21, at Grace Village in Winona Lake.

Membership is open to all ages and several sponsorship levels are available. The Lake Area Community Band is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.

For more information, visit www.lacband.com or www.facebook.com/LakeAreaCommunityBand or e-mail [email protected].