Ypsilanti Band and Choir Concert

Holiday performance dedicated to Lorne Kennedy

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The Chronicle attended rehearsals of the Ypsilanti Community Band and the Ypsilanti Community Choir in preparation for their joint concert last Thursday night. We enjoyed the concert. Here we would like to observe and commemorate the absence of one of the band’s charter members, clarinetist Lorne Kennedy, who passed away on Sunday. The performance did his memory proud.

Lorne Kennedy's first clarinet seat was graced with a rose on Thursday night's joint performance of the Ypsilanti Community Band and Choir.

Lorne Kennedy's first chair clarinet seat was graced with a rose for Thursday's concert at EMU's Pease Auditorium.

3 Comments

  1. By Joe Burke
    December 14, 2008 at 8:04 pm | permalink

    It was my great luck to participate in two of the ten bands that Lorne played in- the Ypsilanti Community Band and Jon Reves’ Riverside Big Band. Lorne is the finest musician I’ve ever worked with. Put a piece of music in front of him and he would play it, by the third time, flawlessly. Never heard him complain. Only words he spoke were pleasant. As good a musician as he was, he was even a better person

  2. By Jerry Robbins
    December 14, 2008 at 9:58 pm | permalink

    Lorne Kennedy represented perfection as a musician from a conductor’s point of view. He never missed a rehearsal or a concert and he was always punctual as well. Every piece was prepared ahead of time to perfection, whether that was on clarinet, saxophone, or flute. A very quiet man, he typically spoke in rehearsal only when he needed to ask a question about some aspect of interpretation. Yet he was friendly, highly cooperative, and concerned about the well-being of others. These highly desirable personal traits reflected themselves not only in his substantial music-making but in every other aspect of his life as well. We in the Ypsilanti Community Band–and the numerous other groups he played with–will miss his strong personal and musical influence on all of us.

  3. By Andrea Duval
    December 19, 2008 at 10:17 pm | permalink

    Lorne was a great clarinetist and friend. I really enjoyed playing with him. Over the past 5 years I participated in 3 different bands with him (Ypsilanti Community Band, Ann Arbor Concert Band and Dexter Community Band) as well as in a small ensemble that plays occasionally.

    I will miss Lorne, but I know he is playing perfect music in God’s band.