Tag Archives: Pops Concert

A&E

Band performs annual Pops concert

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By Melanie Parrish and Megan Johnson

On Wednesday, March 12, the band program came together for the annual Pops concert. The concert included performances jazz, concert, pep, intermediate and advanced bands. It also featured the final performance of “Currents” by the marching band and a look at the show “Repeat” by the Winter Percussion Project.

The concert featured songs from famous movies such as “Shake a Tail Feather” from The Blues Brothers and “Somewhere,” the ballad from “West Side Story.” Another piece played by the advanced band, “Redacted,” was found to be popular with several of band members. This included trombone player senior Craig Bossley.

“It’s so weird. It hits you when you don’t expect it,” said Bossley.

A number of the musicians had differing opinions on the quality of the concert, including trumpet player freshman Robert Wormley.

“It went well. Not great, but well. It didn’t seem as perfect as it did in the classroom,” he said.

Tuba player junior Brandon Blasdell, on the other hand, felt that the concert went exactly as intended.

“It went just as we planned, because we rehearsed it in class a lot,” he said.

Not only did this concert provide entertainment through instruments, it also showcased routine dances performed by the A and B winter guards. B guard, which is for younger teens and new members, performed to the song “Lego House” by Ed Sheeran. Next the A guard, which is for the more experienced members, performed to “Moonlight Sonata” by Beethoven.

Most of the experienced guard members appeared positive about the performance beforehand.

“I’m really excited because we’ve been working hard at this since November,” said junior A guard member Madi Wiley.

However, less experienced guard members such as junior Meg Buckalew expressed that the routines are harder than what is expected.

“It gets easier depending on how long you’ve been doing it. Tossing’s harder than dancing,” she said.

At the end of the performance, band director Harold Yankey thanked the audience for coming out and expressed gratitude towards his students.

Wormley concluded that since it was the last time playing that marching band show, it was very emotional.

“I can’t wait for next year.”

News

Freshmen play their first pops poncert and their last marching band show for the season on Wednesday

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By Garland Noel

“People may say that it takes a lot of dedication and work, and they’re right about that, but it’s all worth it in the end, ” said freshman Chase Bishop

Bishop, who plays baritone saxophone for pep, concert and marching band, is playing his first pops concert this year along with most of the freshman band players. The pops concert, which is held here on Wednesday at 7, marks the last time this year’s marching music will ever be played. The marching band is not alone as all the school bands will be playing their own part of the performance, making this one of the largest band concert aside from Winter Fantasia.

“We’re playing ‘Instant Concert,’ ‘Into the Storm’ and ‘Romanesque’,” said freshman intermediate band percussionist Luke Malone.

Malone said that his favorite piece was “Instant Concert” because it was fun to play and had a lot of songs in it. Freshman Mason Moberly and others agreed with his assessment, although Bishop disagreed and said his favorite was “Into the Storm.”

“It has the most energy has the most energy of the all pieces. ‘Instant Concert’ pretty much has one theme through out the entire piece, but ‘Into the Storm’ combines three different themes,” said Bishop.

With the intermediate, advanced, jazz, marching and pep bands playing this is a huge event, not to mention the A and B winter guard and the winter percussion playing. For some, though, it all comes back to why they do it.

“I have a lot of friends in band; everybody gets along, it’s just a cool experience,” said Bishop.

A&E, Forum, JT Samart, Online Only, Patrick Prifogle, Podcasts

Ten Minutes Or Less: Spring Break, Star Trek, Skyrim, and more ramblings

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By Patrick Prifogle and JT Samart

Welcome to ‘Ten Minutes Or Less’, the Bagpiper‘s new weekly podcast. We will be publishing each and every Thursday until the end of the year. This week we have two special guests on the podcast,  junior Tyler Tuma  is here to talk about what he will be up to this spring break and senior Daniel Vance is here to discuss is role in the band’s POPs concert. Additional content covered in the second podcast includes Skyrm and Star Trek.

Click below to hear Patrick and JT’s second podcast.

Ten Minutes Or Less #2

A&E, Michael Pepin

Freezing rain reschedules band concert

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By Michael Pepin

On Thursday Feb. 21, all after school activities taking place after 5:30 p.m. were cancelled due to the prediction of freezing rain.  This included the band spring concert, also known as the POPs Concert.

“I had seen the weather forecast and I was not at all surprised by their decision.  I think they did the right thing, even though the freezing rain never really came,” said band director Harold Yankee.

The rain started around 5 p.m. and continued off and on for several hours, however in many areas it was just rain because the temperature was not right for the precipitation to freeze.

“I am really glad that they cancelled the concert, by the time I got home it there was a thin layer of ice on our driveway already. I know that some areas received next to nothing, but that just comes with freezing rain I guess,” said senior Zachary Butcher.

This is the first time in Floyd Central history that this particular concert had to be rescheduled due to weather. Yankee explains that nearly twenty years ago a band concert was cancelled on account of a tornado warning, but that is the only other time any concert has ever been cancelled and rescheduled.

“I can remember that last year the Parent Show for marching band was cancelled twice on account of heavy rain, but I never thought that the POPs concert would be rescheduled,” said senior Brian Young. “It’s one of those things you think will never happen, then it does.”

The concert has been rescheduled to March 19, nearly a month after its planned time.

“The concert has not really changed anything.  We are just going to keep playing and practicing to get better.  We might try to add a new piece with all the extra time, but otherwise nothing has changed,” said Yankee.

“The weather can’t stop us, only delay us a bit,” said senior Shelby Reynolds.

A&E, Claire DeFrancisci

Band’s ‘pops concert’ represents a vast amount of talent

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By Claire DeFrancisci

The lights dim and applause can be heard as young men and women walk onto stage, instruments in hand, dressed in all black. The wind ensemble begins the pops band concert on Feb. 24.

Wind ensemble is mostly composed of freshmen from band teacher Harold Yankey’s sixth-period class.

The concert kicked off with an interesting piece called “Locomotive Chase.” Freshman Mae Galeza on chimes helped create a scene of a busy train track. Later in the performance a different conductor was introduced. Student teacher Raneigh Prall was brought onto the stage to conduct the song “Tricycle.” It is understandable due to the different skill levels, but overall the Wind Ensemble did well and was followed by an impressive performance from the Wind Symphony.

It was composed of not only wind instruments, but also string instruments. Junior Ian Elmore on bass and seniors Anna Patterson and Kendall Flur on cello added a nice twist to the performance. “Summer of 69′” was an arrangement filled with well-known songs, including “Purple Haze” by Jimi Hendrix and “Proud Mary” by Creedence Clearwater Revival. It was very fun to listen to and recognize the songs. I was very impressed with the performance. They ended on a happy note with a “Wizard of Oz” arrangement.

When the first half of the concert was over, there was an intermission and the audience was encouraged to move to the gymnasium. Although it is a necessary move, it did seem like an inconvenience.

Once the concert had been moved to the gym, it seemed a bit more disorganized. The Pep Band quickly began to play while instruments were moved and the band members were changing clothes.

The Emerald Guard then began their performance. Small mistakes were almost unnoticeable because they quickly bounced back and did not miss a beat. It is clearly seen that all of the girls are having a genuine good time by the smiles on their faces.

After about five to 10 minutes of waiting for props to be prepared, Winter Percussion started their humorous and entertaining show. Titled “Robots vs. Teddy Bears,” the performance had me smiling. Inventive props such as robot helmets and teddy bear masks made the show very amusing, but was not so overdone that it distracted the audience from the talent of the group.

Overall the concert was very entertaining. There were no obvious flaws and besides a bit of confusion after the move to the gym, it was very well put together. The band’s reputation continues to impress and  carry on FC’s great legacy.