"Merry Melodies" : Chelmsford Community Concert Band presents tunes from classic and contemporary cartoons

Local residents may be so excited to see Spring finally emerge that they leap 10 feet in the air with their hats spinning like a top. Perhaps they will run out of doors so fast that when they go straight off the edge of a cliff, they keep moving forward as long as they do not notice that the ground has disappeared from under their feet. Or maybe it will only sound like they are doing these things, as the Chelmsford Community Band celebrates their Spring concert with the sounds and melodies from generations of cartoons.

The concert on Sunday, May 3 will start at 2pm with a performance of Jazz standards from the Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Paul Combs, who is in his last season with the ensemble. Listeners will escape to a warmer, more fantastic place with the classic “Over the Rainbow” and the evocative “Summer Wind,” asking the listener to “Come Fly with Me” and to go “Beyond the Sea.”

When the Concert Band takes the stage for the second half, their “Merry Melodies” program will then knock musical traditions on their ear. Thanks to a certain wisecracking rabbit, cartoon watchers are more likely to recognize Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” as “Kill the Wabbit” and to think of grass growing on Elmer Fudd’s head during Rossini’s “Barber of Seville.” Horses will gallop across the imagination during the “William Tell Overture,” and contemporary selections will include the theme from “The Simpsons” - but the audience will need to devise their own couch gag.

In addition to the musical enticements, the band will be offering their annual spring basket raffle. Local businesses and sections of the band have donated fantastic themed gifts, services, and baskets to be raffled off throughout the concert. Baked goods and beverages will also be available for purchase.

The concert begins at 2pm on Sunday, May 3, in the Elks Lodge at 300 Littleton Road in Chelmsford. Suggested donations are $10 for adults and $5 for children and seniors. For more information about the band, look for them on Facebook or find them at www.chelmsfordband.org.