Cape Girardeau Municipal Band opens its summer season today

The Cape Girardeau Municipal Band will be playing its first show of the summer at 8 p.m. today at the Capaha Park band shell. The guest director for the first show is Cape Girardeau Mayor Harry Rediger.

"I'm excited. I've had the honor of doing this before. I like to recognize all that the municipal band and the director do for the community. I'm looking forward to it," Rediger said.

The band has been providing free weekly summer concerts for Cape Girardeau for more than 110 years, according to the band director, Ron Nall.

Nall has been the director for the past 18 years but has been playing the French horn since 1966. Nall said the band plays a variety of music including jazz and swing, bringing in an audience of all ages.

People come out and usually bring lawn chairs, which Nall encourages.

"We have to work around the weather. Sometimes it's really hot or it rains, but we have a dedicated audience. Some never miss a show," he said.

Nall said the band consists of talented musicians ranging from high school students to college professors, and some are people who just enjoy playing music.

"We have talented students from Central [High School] and Notre Dame [Regional High School] and it gives them a good experience going into college. Sometimes they continue and play in the band or become music majors," Nall said.

The band's first show this season will be an hour long. During a small break, Southeast Missouri State University student Hannah Bagnall will perform four songs as a guest singer.

"I was so excited to be asked to sing at this event because we have a similar event in my hometown of Rolla, Mo., and I always enjoyed them. It's great to get to have local performance opportunities in the summer," said Bagnall.

Bagnall said she has been singing since she was very young. She is pursuing a degree in musical theater at Southeast and said she has been studying with vocal coach Judith Farris in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Southeast since 2008. Nall said Farris recommended Bagnall to sing with the band.

"She knows I like older songs and that I would be here for the summer," Bagnall said.

"I'm not from Cape, and I've never been here during the summer until this year so I haven't been to the summer concerts. Now that I know that they're going on, I'll definitely attend them," Bagnall said.