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    Not many bands have music written especially for them, but in 2002 the Somerset County Community Band commissioned "Flight of Valor," a composition to honor the heroes of United Airlines Flight 93.

    Nationally-known band composer James Swearingen based the work on the hymn "It is Well with my Soul," written in 1876 by Horatio Gates Spafford. Spafford's wife and four daughters were heading to Europe when their ship collided with another. The girls perished, and Mrs. Spafford sent her husband the telegram, "Saved alone." Spafford later passed the spot where the ship sank, and was moved to write the words, later set to music by Philip Paul Bliss.

    Band president Dave Breen had planned to look into an original work, either for the band's 15th anniversary this year, or the borough bicentennial in 2004. "But the events of September 11 changed my focus," he explained "and I remembered reading about music written to honor the students killed at Columbine High School.

    "We have a lot of music written or arranged by James Swearingen; he's the favorite of our director, Dan Croft. I contacted Jim, and he agreed to do the composition within our time frame: that we would have it in time to prepare for the Community Memorial Concert scheduled for the evening of September 11, 2002.

     "Somerset Eagles Aerie 1801 and the Ladies Auxiliary made this project possible," Breen continued. "I had hoped for a grant to cover part of the cost of the composition, but we did not get it. When the Eagles heard about our problem, they stepped forward with the entire amount. We probably could not have done this without them."

Over the years, we've had the pleasure of playing with and hosting other community bands. Groups from Jeannette and Scottdale, PA and Frostburg, MD have come to play concerts in Somerset. Last year, many of our members went to Ohio to perform with the Youngstown Area Community Concert Band; this summer, many of them will join us for our Somerfest concert.

This spring, members of the Macungie Band (from the Allentown, PA area) came to the area for a concert in Johnstown. They received permission to play at the Flight 93 Temporary Memorial, and invited us to join them for a program which included "Flight of Valor" (see story above). A few of us also played with them at Johnstown.