New music is coming out of the woods tonight. Students of the Contemporary Music Center, a college-level music industry program that thrives in West Tisbury under the radar of most Islanders, are ready to rock the Friday night house at Outerland.

Now that Labor Day has come and gone, Islanders are reclaiming Circuit avenue parking spots, swimming at Squibnocket and finally savoring the Menemsha sunset. Brad Tucker, front man for the Island band Ballyhoo, the sleeper hit of the summer music scene, is thrilled Vineyarders are taking back the Island. Mr. Tucker and his band mates have spent Sunday evenings since June playing free music down at the docks in Menemsha. The seasonal slowdown allows them to get back to what they really love doing — playing low-key music for their friends and family, the Islanders.

An encore performance of Maureen Hourihan’s trilogy of short plays, Slow Train Coming, preceded by Arlene Bodge reading selections from her writings about memory loss, should make for a special evening at the Vineyard Playhouse this weekend.

Ms. Hourihan’s theatrical tribute to her father, who had Alzheimer’s, is being performed ahead of the Vineyard’s annual Miles of Memories walk on Sunday, sponsored by the Alzheimer’s Services of Cape Cod and the Islands.

Vineyard Dance

Vineyard Dance begins their fall classes on Monday, Oct. 1, at Nathan Mayhew Seminars on North William street in Vineyard Haven.

Classes for adults and teens are offered in modern dance, modern jazz, ballet and floorbarre.

Younger students may enroll in creative movement, modern dance and ballet.

Call 508-693-2257 for more information.

Masters of the Celtic harp Gráinne Hambly and William Jackson will play a concert — and offer a music therapy workshop centered on the small harp — next weekend at the Katharine Cornell Theatre on Spring street in Vineyard Haven.

Both events are on Saturday, Sept. 29 — the concert is at 8 p.m. and Mr. Jackson’s workshop is at 4 p.m.

Classical Class

Love concert music but hate compositions written in the 20th century? Perhaps you’ve listened to the wrong pieces. Experience the best of the 20th century in a six-week course with musicologist Charles Blank, open to all ages. It begins Sept. 17 at the Tisbury Senior Center.

Lucinda Childs, a pioneer of post-modern dance and a Vineyard resident, is the subject of a documentary screening free at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 11 at the Capawock Theatre on Main street in Vineyard Haven.

The 53-minute documentary was made in 2006 by Patrick Bensard of the Cinematheque de la Danse in Paris. It includes rehearsals, performances and interviews in London, New York and Paris with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Philip Glass, Anna Kisselgoff, Yvonne Rainer, Susan Sontag and Robert Wilson.

Chilmark Concert

Don’t miss the last summer concert and community hymn sing: join Lia Kahler, some of her students and fellow Methodist musicians on tonight, Sept. 7, at 7:30 p.m. at Chilmark Community Church.

The concert and sing will be followed by refreshments in the community room. Proceeds from the freewill offering will be used to help replace the music and instruments destroyed in Hurricane Katrina and to help replenish the Island Food Pantry for next winter. For details, call 508-645-3325.

Celebrate the release of the Phil daRosa Band’s debut album Better Days with an all-ages party tonight, Friday, Sept. 7, at Outerland at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport. Tickets are $10; doors open at 9 p.m.

Outerland, the Island’s only nightclub, is up for sale. Aboveground Records and Offshore Ale have cut back on their performances. The Oyster Bar’s entertainment license was revoked this summer. The Wintertide is gone. The old Atlantic Connection is now an amusement arcade.

Is it that hard to put on a little music?

Well, clearly Vineyard music promotion is a tough racket, but the pervading sentiment of those working in music on the Island is that it can be done.