by Sheila Pursglove
Legal News
When the Ann Arbor Concert Band performed in concert on March 8, Ann Arbor attorney Kevin Ference played trumpet, and Keely Kaleski, a volunteer mediator for the Washtenaw County Dispute Resolution Center in Ann Arbor, played clarinet.
The diverse works on the concert included compositions by Aaron Copland, John Williams, P.D.Q. Bach, and John Philip Sousa.
Ference, an Ohio native who has called Ann Arbor home since 2004, is a member of the State Bar of Michigan and currently employed as an attorney advisor at the Social Security Administration - Office of Disability Adjudication and Review in Toledo.
He is a graduate of Ohio State University, where he was a member of The Ohio State University Marching Band, and Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
He joined the Ann Arbor Concert Band in 2006, because of its reputation as an ensemble of amateur musicians who perform at a professional level.
“Dr. [James] Nissen and the AACB adopted me even though I went to Ohio State and hadn't played in a traditional concert band since high school,” he says.
“I think the band is really an asset to the community and anyone who is a fan of classical music should check out one of our concerts at the Michigan Theater or Hill Auditorium to see what we're all about.”
Kaleski, a project/installation/training manager for Ann Arbor’s MediaSpan, completed Community Mediator training at the Dispute Resolution Center in 2009, to be better at resolving conflict at work, and in her life.
“I discovered a wonderful group of people at the center, and I mediate small claims court cases once a month,” she says.
“It fits into my work schedule, and allows me to give back to the community.
“Mediators listen to people, and watch for nonverbal cues to enter the conversation; you learn when to speak, and when to let others speak. Like band, you've got to know your part.”
Kaleski played the clarinet from fifth grade through high school.
“I liked how the clarinet sounded on polka records I grew up listening to,” she said. “It's happy music.”
After studying journalism at Michigan State University, she became editor of The Citizen newspaper in Hamtramck.
When Pope John Paul II visited the area in 1987, the publisher asked her to join the Hamtramck Community Band because musicians got closer to the Pope than the press.
“I took pictures of the Pope for the paper when I wasn't playing my music,” she says. “It made me want to play the clarinet again; I've been playing with community bands ever since.”
Kaleski joined the Ann Arbor Concert Band in 2004.
“Dr. Nissen is an excellent conductor, and teaches us not only how to play music, but also how to appreciate it,” she said.
The nonprofit Ann Arbor Concert Band serves as an ensemble for wind band literature. The 75-member band travels throughout the lower half of Michigan to perform four to five times a year from September to May.
The band's season finale will be on May 8 at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor.
For more information, visit http://aaband.org.
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