Clovis Community Band performing concert

CLOVIS — With one week left until Christmas, eastern New Mexico residents can spend about an hour taking in live performances of the season’s music.

The Clovis Community Band will be at First United Methodist Church 4 p.m. Sunday and join two handbell choirs associated with the church.

The band, which features players from Clovis, Cannon Air Force Base, Portales, Melrose, Friona and Hereford, has been performing a Christmas concert pretty much since it began in the late 1970s.

Conductor Steve Baldock said the pieces are all traditional, including the Dallas Brass Nutcracker and “Four Carols” and well-known songs like “Let It Snow” and “Jingle Bells.”

The band has played with FUMC’s Asbury Ringers for the last few years, Baldock said, but this will be the first time in a while the band has been part of a show with the Wesleyan Quartet.

The Methodist Church won’t be the only one with a role in the show, however. Baldock said the band will perform “The Night Before Christmas,” while 21st Street Church of Christ Pulpit Minister Larry Tittle will read the familiar story.

“It’s a free concert,” Baldock said, “but we do offer the opportunity for donations. That’s how we pay for new music.”